Touching up powder coated aluminum outdoor furniture (Tropitone)

A. Sorry that no one familiar with Tropitone has replied yet. In general it is okay to spray paint a powder coated finish. I'd add the usual warning to try it in an inconspicuous spot first, and suggest that conventional outdoor enamel for metal, like Rustoleum or Krylon, will probably be fine, after scrub brushing with detergent, possibly with a little pumice ⇦this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] in it.

But if you want to be super safe, try to order the spray paint from Tropitone in a color you like to ensure compatibility; their website has repainting instructions. Good luck.

A. Hi Kris. It certainly can't be painted properly with the strapping in place. I'm not familiar with your furniture and not clear on why you can't remove the vinyl strapping. Sorry.

Regards,

A. Hi Emma. Customer service sucks at most companies today, I share your frustration. Still, some companies only work through dealers. GM and Toyota won't sell you paint directly either, and I don't think other patio furniture manufacturers will.

A quarter million Q&A's just on this site alone is testament that it can be problematic to repaint properly. So a company not wanting to sell paint direct, and have consumers display blistering & peeling pieces is understandable, and they don't want to be nagged with how to get overspray off automobiles, what to do if the dog licked the wet paint, etc.. But Tropitone does offers paint through their distributors and they tell you how to repaint at
www.tropitone.com/sites/default/files/page_files/touch_up_paint_aluminum_surfaces_031110.pdf

I'd suggest that you try to go through their distributor as they request, or buy paint from one of the many companies whose business model is to sell paint to consumers. A patio furniture supplier not selling paint to you directly doesn't necessarily condemn the furniture to the landfill. Best of luck!

Regards,

? I am wondering whether a car paint organization (Like Maaco) would be an answer to this issue. Thoughts?

Hi. I don't know about chains like Maaco, but I do know that many small local auto painters will paint or powder coat patio furniture.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. I have Tropitone furniture & we spray painted our furniture using rustoleum multicolored textured spray paint. We wiped a liquid sanding mixture on them first. They look good so far, how they will hold up over the winter I don't know. If this might help you!

A. Hi Linda. Pictures can be deceptive, but it looks to me like once the varnish is gone, the wood graining was gone? Perhaps the aluminum was anodized in a tan color, and this was followed up with a streaky dark varnish stain to give the wood grain look?

If so, it's not going to look good when you sand it and polyurethane it. It might be a good time to substitute paint for the clear coat. Steps (a) through (c) sound fine though.

Regards,

A. Hi--After storing my Telescope Casual aluminum powder-coated outdoor furniture, I see that there are many chips in the finish! After reading the comments and noting that TC will not sell touch-up paint, I intend to look for a close spray of the pebbly finish!