Boilermaker
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- Joined
- Nov 4, 2005
- Messages
- 181
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- 6
The best way to go about it would be to remove the flares and bumpers and paint them separately from the body. I didn't want to take the chance of breaking something while removing them, or have them not going on as well as they did from the factory when i put them back on.
Instead i taped around the edge of the flares and bumpers with blue 3m painter's tape. i also cut up some heavy duty paper from home depot and taped that to the body to protect more of the paint. Put plastic bags over the tires, rims and exhaut tips. If you don't remove the flares, this is the most important step. At least on an '05, there is an indentation around the area where the flares attach. If you get paint in there, you aren't getting it off without taking the paint off the flare too. When i did get some overspray on the body, isopropyl alcohol was enough to get it off.
I used black satin krylon paint for plastic and krylon flat clear coat for plastic. There is no need to sand or prime, the paint is designed to adhere to plastic without it. Waited about 20 minutes between coats (it was 95 degrees that day, the paint dried fast). The paint was basically dry to the touch by then, but can chip very easily if something hit it. I put on a total of 4 thin coats of paint and 2 coats of flat clearcoat. After i was done i let it sit about 18 hours before i drove it.
The paint seems to be holding up pretty well, there is a lot of construction in the area and it hasn't chipped yet. It isn't too hard to touch up. On sunday i scratched the back bumper on a bush, the first of the paint i've taken off. (if the paint wasn't there it would have made a nice scrape in the plastic itself). Sanded the area down with 320 grit sandpaper, then 600 grit til the area around the scratch had very little paint left. Retaped the area and repainted as above. Here's a pic, sorry its from a camera on my phone:
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