Required prep for painting plastic bits?

[TurboFox93]

What steps do you all take for painting the grills and side view mirrors?

[drumad]

for the grills, I just wiped em down with acetone

[E30_(1st Musk)_]

i dont know about the side view mirrors but a light sanding on the grills will help. In my opinion people who sand the grill last longer without chipping

[TurboFox93]

What grit? 220? Any sanding required between coats? What about the use of adhesion promoter?

[acefinland]

If u use any less than 400 u will see scratches when they are painted, if u want the paint to stick good spray a plastic primer on them 20min before u paint

[StereoInstaller1]

Use red scotchbrite and acetone only if they are FUCKING nasty, but normally just scrub with 25% Ammonia in warm water with a normal kitchen scrub brush or a scotchbrite, rinse carefully and dry. I use a blowdryer to make sure they are 100% DRY.

The ammonia changes the Ph of the plastic to make for excellent adhesion.

If you feel you aren't getting every trace of nasty old armor all off, hit it with acetone or even carb cleaner. Use "Wax and Grease Remover" if you have that, but always do the ammonia before painting.

I HIGHLY recommend using Duplicolor Adhesion Promoter and "Bumper Finish". You will have an incredibly long lasting flawlessly satin finish that will ALWAYS draw compliments and questions. It 100% kicks the crap out of SEM, and I have been using SEM for over 25 years (it used to kick ass).

I paint new plastics on my car because it is such a sweet finish!

[Jand3rson]

SEM is total garbage now, every time I've used their products for about the last 2 years, they come out like shit. DupliColor is the best stuff now.

[Need4Speed1299]

If u use any less than 400 u will see scratches when they are painted, if u want the paint to stick good spray a plastic primer on them 20min before u paint

+1.

400grit is ideal for painting so it doesnt flake off or show scratches.

[zshopa]

+1.

400grit is ideal for painting so it doesnt flake off or show scratches.

^^what he said, also for prep, I like to use dish soap and rinse it off real well before painting ive had better success with that.

[longms]

Dish soap and sanding. I started with 320 and finished with 600 just cause I had TONS of time and they turned out really well.

[Cloudbase]

I HIGHLY recommend using Duplicolor Adhesion Promoter and "Bumper Finish". You will have an incredibly long lasting flawlessly satin finish that will ALWAYS draw compliments and questions. It 100% kicks the crap out of SEM, and I have been using SEM for over 25 years (it used to kick ass).

The only Duplicolor I could find at my local auto parts store (checker and autozone) is called "Bumper Cover" This looks different than satin, almost complete matte. There was another one called "Trim" that looked similar, but still more matte than satin. Is "Bumper Finish" the exact name of what you use? There are a couple more advanced stores I could check.

Thanks...

[zshopa]

the bumper finish will look fine, and will be more durable, just prime it with a nice high build primer to fill in sand marks then wet sand the primer with 1500 clean that off and spray it with the finish, also if its too flat for you i would get a can of matte clear and it will give it a satin look

[Cloudbase]

Cool thanks. I'll do that for sure.

But I'm still curious if the duplicolor stuff you are using is called "bumper finish", because the stuff I've got is called "bumper cover". Is this what you guys are talking about? I don't think it is...

[zshopa]

yea its fine, spray it on something else and see if you like the finish

[StereoInstaller1]

The only Duplicolor I could find at my local auto parts store (checker and autozone) is called "Bumper Cover" This looks different than satin, almost complete matte. There was another one called "Trim" that looked similar, but still more matte than satin. Is "Bumper Finish" the exact name of what you use? There are a couple more advanced stores I could check.

Thanks...

Yes,that is the exact product. It might be a little closer to matte than satin, but nowhere near flat.

Look for pics of my car. Bumpers, grille, any interior pieces...all that same product. "Trim" is much "flatter", BTW: SEMs trim is flatter yet.

GL!

Luke