Spray painting advice needed.

[monte]

I have been wanting to spray the Red lipstick trim on my front grille Silver for months now, and tomorrow is finally gonna be the day.   
But, I am in need of some advice please from you clever peeps. Here are the questions I need help with, 


Will I need to sand the Red trim before using primer and between coats?

If so what grade wet n dry? superfine stuff?

I have a tin of etch primer, is that any good?

After spraying the trim Silver, will I then need to use a clear lacquer?

Is yes to the above, does this procedure seem ok?


Sand -> Primer -> Sand -> Silver -> Sand -> Lacquer


Any Tips or advice on painting/removal/refitting of this trim is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Carlo. 

[monte]

any painters online? 

[damoegan]

You want somethink like a 800 grit wet & dry mate.

Clean the serface down, mask area to paint, key the surface with wet & dry, clean serface again with hot soapy water, dry surface, wipe surface down with a tac cloth or thinners, prime with a few coats of plastic primer leaving enough time between each coat to dry, add a few coats of chosen colour (allow enough drying time again), apply a few coats of laquer (again remember drying time), job done  

Always use very thin coats at a time and feel free to flatten back down after each coat with 1200-2000 wet & dry for best results.

HTH

PS. I'm not a painter but my unlce is and thats what he recommended to me and it works just fine.

[monte]

Thanks Damo  Have you done yours mate? Do you know if the trim comes out easy enough, and also if it clips back in?

I have had the front grill off before and I noticed the clips on the back of the red trim. Do these break easy? 

[damoegan]

No, not done mine mate so I dont know how it comes apart. But thats how I have done parts in the past.

[scooba]

Take plenty of time and don't rush between coats allow it to flash off ,if you put to much paint on i think you may have issues on putting it back together .

[mortygttdi]

Carlo I did mine when I had the Gti mask on and you have the right idea just take your time and don't rush it

Darren

[monte]

Thanks guy's  Sorry for the late reply. I marked all my replies as read, by mistake 

Still not got this done yet. Hopefully tomorrow. 

So do I need to flat the silver paint with 1200/2000 wet n dry before the clear coat?

Thanks again. 

[damoegan]

You dont have to mate 

[Garth]

The problem with painting anything like this is that it will be in the firing line for stone chips. I wrapped mine in silver vinyl so even if it does chip, I can strip and re-apply in 20 mins 

I had sprayed my front VW badge to match the car and it still chipped despite me applying a million layers of laquer. Mind you, my windscreen also looks like someone has taken a machine gun to it because of all the stone chips. I guess that's the downside of doing more than 30k miles a year on the motorway 

[monte]

How easy was it to wrap in vinyl Garth? Sounds like a great idea to me 

Any Tips? What size vinyl? etc

[Garth]

How easy was it to wrap in vinyl Garth? Sounds like a great idea to me 

Any Tips? What size vinyl? etc

Very easy to do. I actually used Vinyl electricians tape  Still going strong after a few months. The advantage of this is that a) it's very cheap, b) it's easy to apply and remove and c) if you don't like it, there's no harm done 

[monte]

Cheers buddy   

Now, where to get some silver tape?

I might have a trip down to the local sign writers. The owner used to live next door to my sis. I will see what he reckons. There is also a good chance that he can print a good Reflex Silver match.

 

[Garth]

Cheers buddy   

Now, where to get some silver tape?

I might have a trip down to the local sign writers. The owner used to live next door to my sis. I will see what he reckons. There is also a good chance that he can print a good Reflex Silver match.

 

Try ebay 
Search for silver electrical tape or something similar 

[monte]

Well I finally got round to doing the stripe in Silver 

£3.50 for a 10m roll of 25mm Silver Vinyl (go-faster stripe stuff from local car accessory place) 

Worked a treat.