Front spoiler all chipped from rocks, worn down to plastic on some parts. Just want to make sure these steps and process are ok:

1. sand with 1000 grit paper to scuff paint and smooth everything out.

2. tape and spray with primer (# coats ??)

3. sand primer w/ 1500 grit

4. tape and spray with paint of choice (# coats?)

5. finish with clear coat (need sanding prior to clear coat ?)

any help would be great

 

1. Sand surface with 400 grit wet or dry.

2. Primer surface evenly with enough coats to fill in all the rock chips.

3. Sand Primer with 400 grit wet or dry.

4. Apply the color coat with enough coats to match the surrounding panels.

5. Apply about 4 coats of Clear in various thicknesses 1st coat is sprayed very lightly, 2nd coat applied medium, 3rd coat applied medium wet and the last coat applied wet.

6. Color sand the Clear using 1000 grit followed by 1200 grit.

7. Buff with a Wool pad and Polish with a Foam pad using 3M's Perfect-it 3 buffing system.

Here's a picture of my rear spoiler I painted which used to be chalky white.

 

youre the best

i'm on it

 

i am doing the same to my deck lid - any recommendations on "paint of choice"? Just in case it happens to look good when Im done, I want it to be decent paint! Also, I wasnt planning on sanding to bare metal.. do I still need to primer under the paint? I figure it cant look any worse than it does now, so Ill give it a shot.

 

You should also note that if you have any _major_ defects, the primer isn't going to fill that in. You're going to either have to replace the part, or use some type of body filler. Cracks can be re-fiberglassed, bondo makes a nice fiberglass kit, or you can head over to an actual body shop supply store, and pickup the stuff you need.

Also, when applying the paint, make sure you mask off _just_ the parts that you don't want paint on. Don't just section off the bad spot, or you're going to end up with a noticeable line of paint where the new paint meets the old. Mask off your headlights, grille, license plate, and nose decal, but don't extend your masking beyond the part itself or you're going to end up redoing it.

Another tip, when applying paint, paint the area where you're defect is, and then with each coat you add, extend it out a little farther from the defect. This will help you blend the paint, so it isn't so noticeable that you've got brand spanking new paint on one portion of your fascia, and old paint right next to it. That's straight from GM's painting guide, and it works pretty good.

Mathius