Help!!! Painting Anodized Aluminum

[Ritz]

I have a big problem.... Im trying to paint some art work on an anodized piece of aluminum for a friend of mine. Its a paintball gun and gets knocked around a bit. He wants to keep the anodized color under/around the art work, so no sanding down to bare metal and primeing. Im cleaning the piece with a degreaser then lightly sanding with 800 or 1000 wet sandpaper. Im shooting createx acrylic paint with a bonding agent. After dry Im laying down 3 coats of (dont think too badly of me) Duplo?? (rattle bomb) high gloss truck/SUV clear coat that I picked up at my local automotive parts store. After that dries Im wet sanding down the edges and spraying another coat of clear. The part looks great after it is all dry. The problem: after playing for a couple of weeks and getting a few dings the clear coat is starting to peal and flake.

Short of clear powder coating this part is there any clear that I can shoot over anodized aluminum that wont peal/flake after its been dinged a few times???? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
PS sorry about the spelling, not my strong suit

 

[rex]

Whew,I have no idea how to get around this.The only thing I could suggest is paint it all.If you start with a real fine silver and candy it the color it is now it will kind of duplicate the anodizing.Anodizing is pretty much the same principle as candy,the only problem is duplicating the look of aluminum in paint.

 

[Ritz]

I was kind of hopeing that I wouldnt have to go that route..... Ive checked with some mag wheel custom/repair shops around here. They have told me that they put a protective "clear coat" over the work but I cant get what product they use out of them. Any body out there have any ideas????

 

[rex]

I have seen this stuff advertised for sale but I can't remember where,hopefully someone knows where to get it and if it's good or not.I've heard a few horror stories about cheap aluminum clears flaking and peeling prematurely.