Blue Oval

Hey the molding on my driver's door is all faded and chipped. Is it okay just to sand it down and paint it with some spray paint? Any suggestions welcomed. Check out the pictures to see what I mean.



[IMG]local://upfiles/18146/FECEB69FE7F44DA8AE4C06BEDB7ADA71.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/18146/85A7A8BD8C36487ABF5991560CB57C15.jpg[/IMG]

Black Snake

I had a friend with the same problem, He sanded it down primered it and spray painted it black it looked really good just make sure its clean and you tape off whatever you dont want colored, show us some pics when you get done.

Blue Oval

Do you think it would be okay to spray everything black so it all matches, like the 1/4 window and the rubber things that touch the window so everything matches? And would ordinary flat black spray paint do the trick?

birdman076

I used the "bumper black" spray can stuff, its made for the molding and bumpers on newer cars so it has some flex agent or something added. It looks great and I used it on both the rubber molding and the plastic around the window channel. The rubber you can wet sand it till its flat again but it will go through the black to a white color if you go to far. The rubber moulding is easily removed to as it is glued on and has 1 retaining screw in the front. I was going to do a write up on it but just don't have the time these days.

birdman076

Found some before and 1/2 way done pics lol. 1st one is the passenger moulding before, 2nd is 1/2 way done with the wet sanding. 3rd is the before of the drivers mirror, 4th is after on the passenger mirror (they both looked equally as bad).

[IMG]local://upfiles/13212/AFCD1CD210BE44C2B39DA82372404B94.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/13212/7FFB577CB53A4711A9A7FDA84F81CD07.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/13212/B155BD2918034BDBB9ECD356CC317DFD.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/13212/C10EC7DD7A26443D83616CFFA512CA10.jpg[/IMG]

Blue Oval

i cant tell but in the first pic was it kind of pitted? thats how my quarter window trim is a little.
i sanded and sprayed my wipers and the grill a few weeks ago with some outboard spray paint i had. check out the before and afters, looks real nice



[IMG]local://upfiles/18146/75710129C3974080BD7C7A338EAC5C93.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/18146/8159057FA8594C5BAA8002FE585EDEB7.jpg[/IMG]

birdman076

Yes, the first pic was pitted, looks good. I wet sanded my moulding for about 3hrs to get it about where I wanted. I took a large body file to the 1/4 window as it was much worse then wet sanded it.

Blue Oval

I'm kinda new to all this, how do you wet sand and how is it different than regular sanding?

birdman076

Wet sanding is done with wet/dry sand paper, its sand paper thats made to get wet and won't fall apart it water. You want to start off with something like a 220 to knock down material and get a good flat surface to work with. Then move up to 300, then 600, then 800, 1000, 1500, and finally 2000 for the mirror like finish. If its really pitted then start with a body file or 40 grit sand paper to knock it down quick but remember whatever paper you use you use a numerically higher or finer grit to take out the scratches you create with the rougher numerically lower paper.


Just a heads up here, they will probably move this thread to general tech so keep an eye for it there.

Blue Oval

So check out what im thinking about doing. I was planning on sanding down the edges of the doors then spraying rust-oleum primer and then the black rust-oleum spray enamel. Just some questions before I do that, would that be a good idea, is it okay to do the plastic trim too, and would you go with flat or high gloss? Thanks.