Originally Posted by imabenz
I have never seen a Crossfire's engine bay with a "flat finish". My black base model is not flat. Nor were the blaze red limited that I test drove. While they may not be clearcoated ( mine looked like it was ), they definitely do not have a flat finish. A true flat finish could not be waxed because flat paint does not have a smooth finish. Because of this, you would never be able to remove wax that was applied to a "flat" paint job. The best way that I could describe a flat paint finish is think of body part that has a coat of primer on it.
A few weeks ago, I waxed all of the exposed engine bay paint that I could easily access. It was no more difficult to wax than the exterior paint. Opening the hood 90 degrees sure helped.
Flat, to me, means no gloss.
And, my engine bay is flat, as are the underside of the hood, underhood edges of the fenders, radiator support, etc. This is typical on 90% of cars that I've ever worked on (and I worked in a body shop doing paint for a few years).
Typically, when doing a repair on these cars, we spray a base coat only - no clear, which gives the flat finish.
As for the alabaster white not having clear-coat, I'd be really surprised...
SQ