rbeermann

i just bought a used L-tuned grille from norycegs4 and its currently painted blue. but since i have a pearl diamond white car, this doesn't help. Can i trust myself to sand and primer it or should i just have the body shop do it? has anyone done this before? thanks

GSXLEX

iTrader: (2)

I guess only you can answer that..Have you painted before?Are you willing to endure trial and error to learn??If not then money lets you blame other people for mistakes

rbeermann

ive sanded before, but never on plastic. anyone know how much a paint shop will charge to strip the old paint?

Agent$mith

iTrader: (2)

I'd let the body shop do it. It doesn't cost much; I think 50-75 when my cousin did his plus it'll be a professional job.

STONER

So funny you should ask this. I bought a used one from a member and it needed to be repainted. I sanded and used goof-off and the first repaint came out pretty good. Then I got restless and thought I could get a little better paint match. I put another couple of coats on of a different color and really liked it this time. I thought "I'd better put some clear on this so it'll be protected" but instead of waiting the proper cure time, I hit it with the clear right away. Mistake, the end result was a dark gray color that looked worse than the original repaint I'd done. I thought, this time I'll do it right, so I bought a $30 can of color match paint in a spray can from automotivetouchup.com. Took about 4 hours of stripping the 8-9 coats that I had on there already to get to a good base. Primed it and painted using the good stuff. It looked just right except it needed a clear coat. I waited an entire day this time. As I was putting on the clear, I realized that I had not wiped down with mineral spirits and was getting these pinhole craters in the paint. It looked like a dust particle was repelling the clear coat from sticking. I panicked and started putting more paint on thinking that it would eventually fill up. It didn't, so in my panicked state I tried to wipe it off. Huge mistake. Too late to make a long story short, but I would take it to a body shop and have them do it. Mine is sitting in my garage waiting for me to get some more time.
I learn stuff the hard way, but I eventually DO learn.