Need some advice on painting plastic

Anything goes in the world of fiberglass and plastic



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PostPosted: Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:12 am
Ok some background on me. I am NOT a pro but I have done some painting on metal cars in the past. Usually these were old "well worn" cars and I was painting over some scratches or a filled in dent to make them presentable. Not what you would call a professional job, but then it didn't matter on those vehicles and $50 in paint and clear to be "ok" was better than $500 (or more) to be perfect.

Well anyway I recently purchased a 1989 corvette and I need to paint the headlight bezels. These are the peices that go around the pop-up headlights when they are up. With the headlights off the peices are under the hood and not visible anyway. Color match does not need to be perfect as they are only visible usually at night, so I am not going to be blending with the surrounding hood or anything. I do want a good looking paint job though, and I have never painted plastic before. The color is a midnight blue metallic.

So questions:
1. What kind of primer and paint do I need?
2. Do I need to sand anything? Do I need to sand between coats? I will be painting black plastic bezels and the color is midnight blue metallic.
3. How many coats of paint and clear should I use?
4. Can eastwood mix up a metallic color based on the paint code? I realize it won't be perfect no matter what, considering the sun and 29 years time. I think the OEM paint was PPG, but I am not sure.

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PostPosted: Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:42 pm
This would all be a lot easier if you could hookup with a local paint jobber/supplier. Either go straight paint code or have them do a color scan off a gas cap or something you could take in to them. If you aren't really set up for a gun a lot of these jobbers can set you up with that color blended in an aerosol can for the color/base coat. A really professional system of other aerosols that would be easy are the primer and clearcoats in the Spraymax line. Here is me doing a bumper with the SprayMax 2k primer......
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=27152
Just shop around on the net for best pricing on their primers and clears.....
As for steps.... Dawn dish soap in some warm water, clean thoroughly, PrepSol degreaser, sand surface with 180, prime a couple of coats observing flash times, hit with P400, base coat until hiding is achieved, observe flash/dry times to move on to clear coat. Watch flash times between clear coats and you should be done. Considering where this paint is at there really shouldn't be any cutting/buffing needed.
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!

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