Well my car just got hit up front, and I plan on doing all the prepwork myself so that I can put the insurance money torwards a paint job and SS hood. What is the best way to prep the plastic/urathane parts of the car for paint? How would I remove the old paint? This includes front and rear bumpers, ground affects and spoilers.
I've never really done this before so I don't really know what kind of problems I will run in to. I will be going from white paint to black, so I know I have a lot of work ahead of me.
Are you supposed to use red primer for a black paint job? Will the fiberglass SS hood need any type of prep work done?
Sorry for the long post guys. Any help I could get would be great.

Brian

 

Anyone know about painting cars?

 

The best way to remove the old paint is with an pneumatic orbital sander if you can get your hands on one. However, you can also do it by hand using 80 grit sandpaper. It sounds pretty coarse, but you have to get to the bottom of all the little harline cracks that are in it from being damaged. After you get it to your liking, you will need to apply a basic primer, then sand it down again with 180, prime again, then wet-sand with 600 grit sandpaper. It should now be good to go. Also, after sanding with 80 grit you may have to fill in some low spots with some "bondo" which will need to be sanded smooth before applying the primer.
In terms of using red primer for a black paint job, I have used several different colors of primer for a black basecoat; it just depends on what kind of tint you are attempting to acheive. Finally, there should be minimal prep work associated with your hood. It should have come with some instructions: Allow the hood to "cure" for a week or two on the car out in the sun, so on and so forth. there is a gel-coat on the hood that makes things a little easier to prep. It is similar to a primer and can be sanded like one. Again, you will want to fill any low spots (dents) in the hood and have it fitted nicely before you prime and paint it. I apologize for the drastically long post and vague instructions; hope this helps!

 

Thank you for the reply. I wasn't aware that you could sand the plastic pieces. I thought that I would have to use a paint thinner or stripper. That's good to know. I can get a pneumatic D/A sander, so that isn't a problem.

 

strippers can eat away at the plastic mouldings do not use them

 

the best way to remove paint from the urethane bumper covers or fiberglass or urethane trim pieces is to have them baking soda blasted.....but its really expensive, but its the fastest method that yields the best results.