Front Valence texture?

[Bmw e30 Justin]

So when you order a new valence it comes primed and not textured or rubber coated (rolling off the showroom they were textured)..... How are you guys coating it and in what product. I want to maintain the factory look but I'm having problems finding what to use.

Thanks
Justin

[Jand3rson]

If you really MUST undercoat it, I would go with 3M or DupliColor, they both make a very good product. But I would leave it smooth, looks SO much better. I detextured mine before I installed it when I did my facelift.

[metalsoul]

+1 on smooth, I hate that they're textured from the factory

[THE FEZMAN]

textureing is an art, i would keep it smooth. but if you must texture it 3m makes several products that will texture it, just do your self a favor and practice a lot before trying the final product if you screw it up its a pain in the ass to fix

[619E30]

Sorry to get off topic, but how do you remove the texture?

[kamotors]

keep it smooth

[THE FEZMAN]

Sorry to get off topic, but how do you remove the texture?

sand the hell out of it till its smooth then prime it with a 2k high build primer then sand the hell out of it some more

[Jand3rson]

sand the hell out of it till its smooth then prime it with a 2k high build primer then sand the hell out of it some more

Yeah, have fun with that.

Or you can just remove it completely. If I had to do it again, I would have it sandblasted, but I did it with a Makita grinder and a wire wheel.

[THE FEZMAN]

i try to avoid sand blasting, not only is it a mess it can cause more damage than is necessary, soda blasting is supposed to be the hot lick now, but since i dont have a soda blaster and i dont pay for sand paper.... i just sand everything now if it wont fit in my bead blaster

[Jand3rson]

i try to avoid sand blasting, not only is it a mess it can cause more damage than is necessary, soda blasting is supposed to be the hot lick now, but since i dont have a soda blaster and i dont pay for sand paper.... i just sand everything now if it wont fit in my bead blaster

More damage than necessary? You'll have to explain that one to me, it's sheet metal.

I had my driver side fender sandblasted at a shop after an accident for $25, took it to the body shop for primer and paint, and got it back in better shape than it was before.

[Spaz]

I recommend it smooth as well. I'm looking for pics of the rear done smooth tho hmm

[THE FEZMAN]

More damage than necessary? You'll have to explain that one to me, it's sheet metal.

I had my driver side fender sandblasted at a shop after an accident for $25, took it to the body shop for primer and paint, and got it back in better shape than it was before.

i was going to do a photo essay on the damage caused buy sand blasting sheet metal but i got busy today at work. the short of it is that "media blasting" ie, plastic media, walnut shells or soda blasting is perfectly acceptable for large area stripping. sand, aluminum oxide, glass or garnet is not, they are way way too abrasive to be used on sheet metal.

when using sand or an other "hard" media the metal shrinks and warps also there is a coating that is part of the makeup of the metal that is damaged that can not be replicated buy the aftermarket. any piece of the part that is folded over like a door edge or if there is any spot welded bracket, basically anywhere there is a joint that can not be accessed, sand or what ever other hard media gets behind that joint and will cause rust.

sand blasting is acceptable for small spots of rust or pitting that can not be cleaned any other way but i avoid sand at all costs and when im forced to do it i try to tread as lightly as possible

since im new here i guess i should say that ive been a professional auto body painter and sheet metal fabricator for over twenty years. i am not a hobbyist.... and im a little nutty.... to many paint fumes. :mrgreen:

but this was a hard learned lesson for me, back in the late 80's and early 90's i did a lot of de lamination overalls on ford trucks, the shop that i worked for thought it would be a great idea to sand blast the trucks instead of using plastic media because it was considerably cheaper ..... needless to say i spent about 50+ hours blocking out the first one to get half of the waves out of it... ford was only paying 20, we took a bath on several of them before they wised up to what was going on, i also had a customer decide to sand blast his 66 mustang..... he basically ruined the entire car and i ended up having to coat the entire thing in body filler to fair the surface for paint.

[raafhimself]

valence 1.0 i removed the texture, i used a wire bristle attachment on a drill-- took forever. on the rear valence i ended up using aircraft grade paint stripper, easiest method of all. i ultimately had it re textured (i believe it was wurth stone guard), the asshats who sprayed my front valence used no primer (i gave them bare metal), started to rust up quick.

long story short-- i prefer the aesthetics on the smooth, but dealing with that first rock chip will hurt your soul. stone gaurd FTW.

[ak-]

I recommend it smooth as well. I'm looking for pics of the rear done smooth tho hmm

[dnova89]

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