Painting Aluminum-Update

[Peter Rideout]

Restoration work on the house front has narrowed in to the front entry door structure. The jamb, sidelights and surrounding trim date back to the 1840s. The 1960s slab door is sadly out of place, but must serve on a bit longer. The outer storm door, currently removed for painting, hides it somewhat.
I removed the 1960s aluminum storm window frames from the sidelights yesterday, so I can properly scrape and re-paint it all with the chosen pale yellow. You can see the frame in the foreground.
What can I do about the aluminum frames? Can I apply the same pale yellow latex trim paint with a proper primer to the aluminum?
They’re somewhat effective as storm windows and must go back on, but will stick out like a sore thumb if not painted.
A nice, period-appropriate entry system is on my list of things to build.

 

[Mike Stafford]

I painted some aluminum back in the day. It seems that I had to clean the aluminium (English spelling and pronunciation), prime it and apply some exterior enamel paint. That was like 35 years ago so I may be mistaken. It would be the first time....

 

[Jim DeLaney]

Add to what Mike said: Sand it With 100 or 120 grit to provide a 'tooth' for the paint to adhere to.

 

[Chas Jones]

Best to use an Etching Primer to deal with any oxidisation to get best adhesion

This LINK may help in choice of paint as it's from your side of the pond.

 

[Jay Caughron]

You need to use an etching solution first and then prime with zinc primer. The link Chas post is a pretty good rundown of how to go about it

 

[Peter Rideout]

Firstly, thank you all for the advice. We ended up cleaning the aluminum frames with a vinegar solution, then applying an automotive self-etching primer from a spray can. Finally, we applied two coats of an off the shelf spray can enamel, close enough to our chosen trim colour. Could’ve had a custom mix put up in a spray can for a perfect match, but time was of the essence and I mostly just wanted the aluminum storms to be less obvious. Here’s a picture of the final result.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

Basically indistinguishable from where I'm sitting!

Looks good

 

[Jonathan Shively]

Top notch work!!!

 

[Bob Gibson]

Looks great !!

 

[Rennie Heuer]

Great look!