Respraying Valance With Spray Cans...

[Guest Sergy]

I've got a gti valance to go on my car in graphite grey, but the paint has got scratched and chipped off and has faded quite badly.

 

What would i need to do to respray it with spray cans? Because its already had paint on it, could i simply sand it down, prime it and spray & laquer? wouldnt have to use plastic primer or nething?

 

What sanding is recommended for the paint already there - what grade?

 

Cheers

 

Tom

[Beastie 1]

The golden rule seems to be like this: Whatever gloss finish you want to end up with then you need to acheive the same finish in matt before the top coat goes on. The colour coat will pick out the slightest defect in your paint preparation..... If the valance looks really scabby then I would start off by rubbing down with p400 wet/dry wrapped around a rubber block until you have smoothed all but the deep imperfections out. Scratches should be filled with a resin based stopper with some self etching properties. TopStop Gold from paint factors is good stuff. To stop the paint from lifting off the plastic you need to prime it with Zinc Chromate etching primer if it's down to the plastic anywhere. Then spray on plenty of HighBuild grey primer and let it dry and harden fully. Rub the HighBuild primer down with p1200 and plenty of clean water until it's totally smooth.

Bear in mind that dark colours will highlight imperfections - especially ripples. White is incredibly forgiving though If you want to avoid ripples then always wrap your wet/dry paper around a rubber block. You can use a guide coat to check for ripples before you spray the top coat: Get a can of cheap black paint and use it to speckle the top of the HighBuild primer coat. When it's dry you can "block it" ie: rub it down with the wet/dry and rubber block. Any low spots will remain speckled with black paint. If you have to use body filler then it's best to buy one specifically intended for use with plastic bumpers.

Best of luck!

[Guest Sergy]

Wow thanks beastie for that excellent guide. I dont think the paint on there is too scabby. Where paint has been scratched its not very deep at all, just down to the primer. If its not too scabby should i forget p400 and go to p600 or something? Im 100% sure theres no scratches which have dug into the plastic, just into the top layer of paint. Couldnt those be sanded down?

Cheers

Tom

[Beastie 1]

It sounds like p600 should be okay from the way you describe things. The important thing is to get the primer to key really well so that it doesn't lift, therefore a slightly abraded surface is a good thing to go for. Note that the keyword here is *slightly*! The smooth finish is acheived with the fine wet/dry on the High Build primer. One thing I forgot to mention is choice of topcoat: Some factors (including Halfords) supply acrylic paint in their colour matched aerosols. These can give an okay finish but it won't respond as well as it should to polishing with abrasive compound. This means that it will be harder to "deknib" the paint when it's dry or to polish out any matt areas left by dry spray. Also subsequent touch ups will be trickier because it's not so easy to blend new paint in by compounding. Aerosol spray isn't as thick or durable as two pack sprayed from a gun so never be tempted to polish with a machine - hand rubbing with Farecla G3 compound should be fine. If you can find an automotive paint factor near you (Morelli is great if you can get to one) then they should be able to mix you a custom aerosol of good quality paint as well as supplying good quality consumables like polishing compound. (And no, I don't work for Morelli actually )

[Guest Sergy]

Yet again thats for that gr8 advice, well i fitted the valance today and it looks okay, i shant bother spraying it yet

 

 

You cant see the scratches easily cos they are mainly on the bits that slope down, but it'd be nice to have the whole valance a bit more glossy!

 

Cheers

[jacobs53 0]

what differences are there between the xs/gt valance and the gti, I know there is a radius of arch difference as the gti had bigger radius arch.

 

lee

[sleeper205 0]

Bottom edge of GTI:

 

 

__/'''''''''''''''''''''''''''\__

 

 

Bottom edge of XS:

 

_______________

 

 

 

that help?

Edited June 2, 2003 by sleeper205

[Guest Sergy]

The gti valance sits lower and is more angular, big improvement to the back end - makes it look more agressive.

 

XS VALANCE:

 

 

GTI VALANCE