Hey guys, I’m refinishing a set of Hemi valve covers for a buddy, what paint and procedure do you use to achieve the wrinkle finish. Not a Gold show car job, just something acceptable will do. Thanks , Jim.

You'll probably only be able to find VHT wrinkle. I know its a hard thing for a guy to do but ...follow the directions on the can.

I did a same set few years ago and quickly realized that paint would not do for such an item. I went with powder coating with excellent results

Yep, the directions are good. Lay it on pretty thick, until it's just about to run.
Let it air dry. Alot of times...it won't wrinkle and folks freak out.
Apply a little heat, and the wrinkle effect will kick in.

I have done a lot of wrinkle finishes over the years and have found that even coats along with the suggested heat works awesome. I have used either a kerosene or 115V oil filled radiant heater as the source of heat. If you watch it, it will wrinkle as the heat travels across the part.

A friend of mine had used the various commonly available aerosols with mixed results. He was at the Harley dealer getting some parts and they had their brand of wrinkle paint. It was expensive, but gave him perfect first time results with 100% wrinkle.

Agree on the Harley paint.

Thanks guys, there is a Harley shop about 50 miles away, I’ll give it a try. Jim.

I suspect the Harley stuff is repackaged VHT ... just 3 times the price. The same stuff was available back in the 70's and today's product doesn't work any better or worse. Back then I used to bake it in the oven at well over the recommended 200 degrees. It stood up to anything you could throw at it. The only way to remove it was to sandblast it - not bead blast ... SANDBLAST !!

I know it is not what you where looking for but I used some black Dupli color truck bed coating and it looked really nice and durable. I think it looks close to the wrinkle finish.

I had thought about the bed liner stuff too. Jim

You guys that used the Harley paint, did you have to bake them after painting? Jim

When I use the VHT paint, I let it sit for maybe 15 minutes so it gets a little tacky.(less likely to run when heat applied) Then I hit it with a heat gun. Make sure to move the heat around and don't have it set on high air speed. One area will start to wrinkle and you can follow the leading edge along with the head gun. If you hold the heat in one spot too long it will bubble.

You don't have to use heat if you don't want to. When redoing my plastic Challenger heater controls, I just let the parts sit in the sun.

There are youtube vids on spraying wrinkle paint. You have to do three coats each at different angles etc. It does require some practice to nail it.

Don’t use bedliner. That is just silly. I’ve done many air cleaners and valve covers, the time between coats and heat is very important. Also shake the cans some for a couple day before painting.
Look at this old thread.

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1943417/Searchpage/1/Main/167993/Words/%2BWrinkle/Search/true/re-quick-survey-best-rattle-can-wrinkle-finish.html#Post1943417

VHT and Harley both work well. The more you apply at one time and the more heat you apply during the drying process will determine the amount of wrinkle. I just use a hair dryer. I can see where powder coat would be a bit tougher finish, but I have never had any issues with the VHT, so I am not sure that the powder coat would be worth the extra coin.