my JDM/ Paint matched upper grill piece

[uclap5]

well i finally got to doing it.

i followed kidkorrupt's how to, broke 2 tabs

ordered paint ($30 shipped for 1 spray can with 1 can of clearcoat) from www.paintworldinc.com since i am too lazy to go to a body shop and get the paint. the match is good, though ever so slightly darker.

getting the clearcoat smooth was a pain. i recomment a good layer of clear coat, let it FULLY dry (or you will get fingerprints, like i did the first try) then wet sand it with 1000 grit then 2000 grit, then use polish to get it nice and wet looking. i used mother's reflections (expensive, $10) since they were out of meguires ($4).

Well anyway, here is the pic:

its pretty damn subtle on a dark colored car, but so is everything else, so i can't complain.

 

[aftershock63]

Looks Great man! I like it.
Question Though I have the same color car what is the paint code?

 

[o.g.sk8er]

Hey Allen, that looks pimp!!

I'll gladly pay you Teusday, if you paint my grill..lol

Patrick

 

[uclap5]

thanks for the compliments , the paint code is 22a. (its on the inside of the driver's side door)

haha pat, ill help you paint it if you can pop it off, i dont want to break your tabs as well

 

[CivicEater]

very nice.

the key to a good paint job (rattlecan anyway) is many light coats with good drying time between..

i'd say you're better than like 95% of bodyshops in south florida lol

 

[shawnmp5]

Looks good man, Its nice to see that you still care about your car j/k. Maybe I get to see it at lif plaza this week?

 

[shawnmp5]

Looks good man, Its nice to see that you still care about your car j/k. Maybe I get to see it in person at life plaza this week?

 

[o.g.sk8er]

Nice avatar Shawn!!!!

Patrick

 

[uclap5]

shawn- the pimp daddiness is complete.

i wont be able to make it this weekend, or the next, ill be on cruise to alaska.

so the next one i can make it out to rife is the 10th.

 

[PaulMP3]

LOL i was just about to start a thread on this. I got my paint in last week.

Just curious of steps to take when painting

This is what i planed.

1 sand with very light grit
2. tape everything off very well that doesnt get painted.
3. Prime (how many coats? sand between coats?
4 Paint laser blue (how many coats? obivously very thin coats)
5 Clear coat(how many coats?)



It looks very nice on your blue, I think it will stand out a lil more on my blue since it is brighter. The MSP front end look much better b/c this is done to theirs.

 

[PaulMP3]

I got mine from http://www.paintscratch.com/
cost like 45$ for paint and clearcoat. With a flexable additive for painting plastic.

 

[MP3skaterNC]

I had a body shop do mine while it was in the shop anyway for some other stuff. It makes the front end look cleaner, and cleaner is always good.

 

[uclap5]

i put as many coats as i needed to get the color there. which was like 12 very fine coats. kind of sucks the paint was like 3% too dark, since it would not get any lighter with more coats.

after painting i sanded it down so it wouldnt be "orange peel" then did a very light coat of clear, let it dry, then another light coat of clear, let it dry, then a full coat of clear.

and dont worry too much about imperfections when you spray, as you will be sanding it smooth anyway.

and i took the piece off so i didnt need to tape anything off. i just set it up on peice of scrap wood and sprayed away.

 

[kidkorrupt]

hey looks good man.

a quick note. if you didn't primer or primered in black/dark colors the paint will look darker because of the primer color underneath. I know it doesn't make sense....just keep coating and it'll get to the proper color right? but thats what happens.

similarly, white primer would make the paint color slightly brighter.


the best primer would be a neutral gray.

but seriously, i can' t tell at all in the pics. smashing good job =D

 

[uclap5]

guess i shoulda primered oh well, it looks spiffy anyhow. maybe if it gets some chips in it after a while ill sand it down and primer and redo it.

thanks for the how to and the post paint help kidkorrupt.

 

[kidkorrupt]

no prob man, have fun in alaska.

it's nerdy as hell but i got my painting experiance by painting macross toys. They sell for $500 but hours spent its like making $12 an hour. good car-fixer-upper money =D

macross = robotech in america

anyways, if you scroll down to the pictures near the bottom of the 3rd page you'll see what i mean by darker colors showing through top-coats. for this job i actually wanted the darker color to peek through a little for effects. Prepare for some really nerdy words and descriptions which probably wont make sense, lol.

http://www.macrossworld.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?s=3f2094cb0a93ffff;act=ST;f=8;t=5622;st=40

edit in-also, i don't know if you all know what orange peel is. when a car is painted crappy if you stand at certain angles you'll see these ugly riples throughout the paint job. For a small piece like the grill it won't matter that much but if you want to getrid of it you'll have to wet sand the paint before clearcoating.

 

[PaulMP3]

mine is all sanded down, and i got a coat of primer on it.

You guy got any techniques for wet sanding? i got some 1500 grit wet/dry paper. And a light grey primer.

 

[uclap5]

i wetsanded it in my sink. only thing to watch out for is the edges as if you arent carefull you can oversand them, make sure you dont sand all the way through the colorcoat to the primer or the clearcoat to the colorcoat.

i would sand it, dry it and take a look, then resand till all was gravy.

 

[PaulMP3]

One more question. did you guys finish/prime the back?
Im afraid if i dont it migh peel off. As of tonite i have 3 thin coats of light grey primer on it. Looks real good so far.

 

[uclap5]

i didnt do shiznat to the back, 1 because i didnt think it would do anything, and 2 because i thought it might interfere with the fit of the piece.