In my past experience..... a clear over a sandblasted piece of metal just looks like shiny sandblast. Gloss-frost if you will. I'd most definately put a base coat of a reflective coating underneath and then a clear coat on top for protection's sake (especially the invironment you're going to use it in. Car parts are never treated kindly unless it's a trailer queen). A word to the wise before I continue on with this subject..... It's best if you are doing this same process to a tire rim to always put a clear coat on. Due to the fact that brake dust when mixed with water or even humidity turns acidic, your coating will most assuredly get hazy looking and such, no matter the colour. It's most noticeable on silver/red/high pigmentation colours as they tend to "fog" first. Clear has no pigmentation to impede the bond of the coating, therefore it's stronger. 'nuff said.
Anyhoo..... I'd put a reflective coating on as my base and then a clear,yes. If a white basecoat then you may "augment" it's appearance by coating with a tinted clear. What one may come up with is a bright honey shade, perhaps a neon looking red or if you have a clear with metallic or prismatic additive.....it will appear "suspended" on your part. Ergo...really bouce out at ya. Nice when done properly.
As for coating on bare stainless with a clear. Hmmmm...Stainless by nature tends to discolor when heated. It's just one of those funny characteristics of the metal and it's alloy contents. You may be able to buff it to a high-gloss with the Caswell compounds(green for stainless if memory serves) and then remove any debris with a wipedown and HcL (hydrochloric acid) wash to bleach the colour out, but like I said before....for automotive application it's usually best to have a two-coat process. If nothing else....for durability sake alone. Stone chips, the errant wrench or possibly any other element unforseen by you. If you don't mind the "non-chrome" look I'd go with the clear on top of bare substrate. Be forewarned though.... I bet even money that it will slightly "yellow" and have a titanium sort of look to it.
Hope that helps bud......post some pictures in this column to show us how it all came out if you can,k?.....Russ
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