I plan on having the Formula painted come springtime, and I'm doing the prep-work myself during the winter. Do I need to sand and prime the plastic pieces (ie- the front facia/bumper/nose deal) or just have it painted over as-is?

 

It has to be primed with a plastic prep primer, and then again with your regular primer with a flex additive. You need to read the tech sheets for the paint system that you are going to use.

Here's a link that gives details for most popular paint systems:

http://www.autolign.com/pdfs/alpaintguide.pdf

BTW---Be careful sanding the plastic part, as you don't want to change the shape of plastic (along the lines of sanding paint off of fiberglass).

 

No flex additive bad....


Use flex, flex is good...

 

i would prime..

 

Is the paint that is on your existing plastic pieces fine? Not peeling off or cracked?

If it is perfect, then it just needs to be scuffed and sealed (with a flex additive). There is no good reason to sand down to plastic, as there is a good chance that you will change the shape of the plastic.

 

Haha, point taken

 

I don't believe there are any paint peels or cracks, I'll look closer though. It's 5:18 A.M. though and it's cold in the garage, so I'll do it later. I just can't sleep tonight....