i just bought some Sunfire GT side skirt package, they are black, but i need to paint them white, they dont need to be perfect becuase its going on my daily driver,

i will be painting them with the Spray paint made for plastic, i tried a bit already and it looks pretty good, i might even put on some clear coat. but it chips off easily now. How should i prep this? Paint Remover? wet sand?

Also, while i was transporting them in my car, they got scratched by the screws that were else in the side skirt. how can i sand these scratch marks down?

By sanding.

Next read FAQ

after that start working and figuring things out because as will be said by others. You can only learn body work by practicing.


I accidentally the SHIFT LIGHT!!!!!!!!!!



The proper way of using the word seen. It is not I seen it that would be I saw it. He has seen the car is the right way to use the word. English class is Cool. By the way thats my sig

i did read the faq, thats actually why im asking here, it never mentioned if its the same steps/grit for metal and plastic. it says to use 60-80 grit to start, then up to 120 grit, 320 or 400. it never mentioned if this is the same for plastic.

i just want to know what sandpaper grit i need to use to take off the old clear coat/paint so i can re-paint them with a KRYON Paint for pastic rattle can, it mentions on the can that primer is not needed, is that true?

I haven't read the FAQ but I'm an autobody prepper/painter so I'll just tell you what I know. Prepping it for repaint you can use a scotchbrite pad, like the ones you use on your dishes. Scuff it up til the old finish is dull. As for the scratch marks from the screws, assumeing they aren't deep just use 600 grit wetsand paper til you can't feel them.

Unless your doing a big repair to it you don't need the really coarse grit paper. On plastic I don't use anything under 320 grit. You can paint right over the old paint too. Just wetsand out any chips or scuffs in it. And I used kryon on my interior plastic parts, the first one I forgot to clean properly and it fisheyed. So I just took paint thiner on a rag and lightly whiped it off. takes of any wax or grease. but no primer was needed and after a year an a half they have yet to wear or peel off. mind you an exterior part may be different.

if its not that big of a deal how it looks, put them on black then.. either way its going to look like @!#$.

Heather Thornley wrote:I haven't read the FAQ but I'm an autobody prepper/painter so I'll just tell you what I know. Prepping it for repaint you can use a scotchbrite pad, like the ones you use on your dishes. Scuff it up til the old finish is dull. As for the scratch marks from the screws, assumeing they aren't deep just use 600 grit wetsand paper til you can't feel them.

Sorry man, you can not use the same like your dishes.. There are specific automotive scuff pads for panel prep, auto zone carries them. get you a couple. As for the scratches, just sand them when you sand the whole rest of the piece, being your going to white, you don't need to worry about metal flake sitting, you can use 400grit and sand everything down. Wet or dry doesn't matter. by hand or soft pad d/a. whatever. If the scratches are still there, find you something hard and flat, sometimes we use a broken off piece of a paint stick, and sand the scratches away. after that go back over the area to get rid of any straight line scratches. o and yeah when sanding, don't try to push real hard and work in a circular motion opposed to a straight back and forth motion if your sanding by hand.

Heather Thornley wrote:Unless your doing a big repair to it you don't need the really coarse grit paper. On plastic I don't use anything under 320 grit. You can paint right over the old paint too. Just wetsand out any chips or scuffs in it. And I used kryon on my interior plastic parts, the first one I forgot to clean properly and it fisheyed. So I just took paint thiner on a rag and lightly whiped it off. takes of any wax or grease. but no primer was needed and after a year an a half they have yet to wear or peel off. mind you an exterior part may be different.

Its funny that your questioning that his exterior part may be different.. well first off, it has paint on it.. meaning a plastic paint wont be effective.. it may last a little bit but now he is needing to use well i guess he can use whatever cheap @!#$ he can find in the paint isle, unless he wants to sand the entire bumpers down to bare plastic, he isnt going to get very far using 320 the entire time, so going down to 80,180ish now risking the fuzzy issue with plastic when you sand it, but maybe if he does it by hand the fuzzy issue doesn't happen, haven't cared enough to find out but otherwise meaning he will have to primer the entire piece and sand it down again to get rid of that.

In short for the OP, since you don't care just do this. Buy you a couple automotive 3m red scuff pads, (wal-mart, autozone, etc have them) and just scuff everything down till its dull. buy you some duplicolor white that is the "same" color as your car and go to town. clear it if you want








Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Monday, October 19, 2009 3:51 AM

is this the 3m scuff pad you meant? do i use this wet or dry? i was planning on cutting it to fit my vibrating sander. and ill do the scratch marks by hand with 400 gritt WET sand paper? right?
Thanks in advance.

yes, and I use them dry, only time i've used them wet was with a scuffing paste for raw plastic bumpers we've gotten brand new.
don't put it on your d/a.
yes on the scratches. try scuffin them first and see if they initially disappear.. they could just be surface and nothing major, but if there deep yes wetsand then with 400 and feather them out so you can feel them..

sorry for the newb question, but whats d/a?

dual action sander.. but now thinking about it, the one you have a square pad? like for wood probably? don't use that...

thanks,

yes the one i have is for square pads, the cheap electric sanders from the hardware store.