How did you go about colour coding your plastics? Is it just a case of sand, primer, spray, clear coat/laquer? Or is it different because its plastic? I want to do the same but I'm not 100% sure how exactly.
Hi mate,
What I did was sand down the plastics with 240 grit to start with and gradually increase the grit as I went along. I wet sanded with 240 to 600 to 800 to 1200 to 2000 to 2500 to 3000 but to be honest I think going up to 1200 will do the job. I just wanted to make sure the plastic was super smooth before painting.
I then bought some plastic primer from Halfords. It's quite crucial to use plastic primer and not just regular primer otherwise the paint could crack and flake off. I did about 2-3 coats of this and left it to dry for around 5-6 hours between each coat before wet sanding each coat with 3000 (this might be overkill, you should be able to get away with just sanding down the primer once all the coats have been applied). I then left it overnight to dry and cure.
I then used my Halfords custom colour matched paint and did 2 coats. I wet sanded the first coat after 3-4 hours and then applied and second coat and left it to cure overnight again! (it's quite a long process lol!)
Finally once the colour coat had cured (4-5 hours) I applied the clear lacquer which I bought from Halfords as well. First a light dusting then I layered 2 heavier coats trying not to get any runs. I then left it to dry for overnight before fitting to the car.
*A key tip I would say is to mask off any clips on the plastic as if they get covered in paint they may expand resulting in them not fitting as cleanly when you put them back on the car.
I've gone into a lot of detail there so sorry about that! The quality of your finish will really depend on how much effort you put into them. I'd say give it a go! As your car is black the paint is more likely to be a better match!
Nice to see another 1.2 btw!
All the best with the spraying if you do it!