I'm taking my car to Maaco on monday to have the hood painted and the hood is all primed except the plastic hood vents. Should I sand the paint off them or just let them paint over the old paint?

 

On mine we sanded the plastic pieces but not through the paint, we used 320, primed, 320, primed, 320, then 600. If you go through the paint they have to be resealed according to my body man. Tiny spots were just recovered with primer on the second pass and just sanded a little more careful.

I cant say this is THE way but its how I am doing mine right now. Hope this helps.

 

Just get a red scotch bright pad and go over every nook and cranny until the color is dull.
Or my honest opinion, don't go to maaco.

 

Kinda too late to say this, but- I hope you taped up anything that should stay black! If you ever see an 85-89 Firebird with it's bumper inserts painted the same color as the body, that means they went to Maaco.

As long as you do the prep yourself, and check the Maaco shop's freshly-painted cars out first, then their jobs don't come out that bad. Just keep maintaining the paint with a ton of washing & waxing... that was my downfall. I did all the bodywork and prep and had it shot for $400. The car looked great until I was having too much fun to wash/wax it anymore!