Painting plastics

[Quag]

Hi would anyone know the best kind of paint to use/method of painting the plastic panels on mt SE50? they are really ratty looking and i'll have to do some repair work on them. There is a nice thread on how to do the repairs but nothing on painting

[sugarshane]

I'm no professional but here's what I did:

Taped off what I didn't want painted. Wiped down panel with wax/grease remover bought from Orielly's. Sprayed a heavy coat of adhesion promoter, also from Orielly's, on panel and let dry ~ 5 minutes. Followed by 2-3 medium coats of Valspar paint for plastics, purchased from Lowes, with ~ 5-10 minutes between coats. Done on a windless, 80 degree day in the sun. This method exceeded my expectations. Good luck.

[Quag]

Thanx. It is originally white/red. ive found red vinyl for the seat but was thinking of Black/red. After looking at yours i think i have decided. Great job you did there

[GoodDerf]

If you are looking for on the cheap, without having to purchase a lot of accessories I would say just go to your local autostore and pick up any automotive two stage paint. Along with this you will want wax and grease remover, 1000,1500,2000,3000 grit wet/dry-sandpaper, microfiber clothes(you can also use CLEAN old t-shirts) primer, and clear-coat, preferably of the same brand as the paint. Wax is nice too if you want to get it nice and shiny. From there it is all about process.

1) Wipe down the plastics with wax and grease remover, you don't want to be sanding anything into the plastic to be painted.
2) Sand with 1000 grit sandpaper until everything is nice and dull, take your time the better you do here the better the finished product. You will want to wet sand this with a bowl of comfortable water and just a little bit of dish soap.
3)Wipe down the plastics with wax and grease remover.
4) In a warm dry environment (follow the can directions) apply 2-3 coats of primer. It is important to make sure you do not make these coats thick, because proper curing will not occur otherwise. As a rule you it should take you two coats or more to hide the color of the plastics. In between coats wait for the primer to tack up, this is a touchy part because too soon or too late and you will not get proper adhesion. As a test if your unsure touch it lightly with your finger and if it acts like honey you are good to go.
5) Wait for the primer to fully dry and wetsand lightly with the 1500 grit sandpaper. Make sure to not sand through the primer . You are just trying to lightly dull the primer and even out the surface. Repeat 3-5 if necessary to even out minor imperfections in the plastic.
6)Wipe down the plastics with wax and grease remover.
7)Paint in multiple coats according to the cans instructions. If you want to do a multitone you should use 3M blue tape off the designs you want, allow the paint to dry for a couple of hours before taping to make sure you do not peel up what you just painted.
8 )Wipe down the plastics with wax and grease remover.
9)Before 24 hours after you started painting apply the clear coat allowing to tack up between coats. 3-5 coats will usually do for quite a long time, if you want a thicker clear, put on more coats not thicker ones.
10)Once the clear has fully cured lightly wetsand with 2000 then 3000 grit sandpaper. You are trying to remove the orangepeel from the clear, when you look at it before you sand you should be able to see the surface of it looks like an orangepeel. Be VERY CAREFUL around corners, ridges and high spots on the plastic, these are the easiest places to destroy your paint job.
11)Wipe down the plastics with wax and grease remover.
12) Wax if you want to.
13) Enjoy

*Additional tips*

With painting you will want to keep the spray can parallel to the surface you are painting and at an equal distance. This means turn your hand as the plastic turns, and move your body if necessary. Yes you will look funny, but when you are done your paint job wont.

Also with painting you will want to spray in straight lines with a 50% overlap, as if you were mowing the lawn. This means the top of the spray pattern for row #2 should come to the middle of row #1.

Take your time, there is no rush for a good paint job. Is it really worth it to save those few hours for a inferior paint job when you will be staring at it for quite some time?

Be careful with sanding, there is nothing more frustrating than doing the final sanding on the clear only to burn through and have to start again.

Remember it is only paint, it can always be redone if you don't like it so have fun.

Here is my truck I did with that method.


And my guitar (Note this picture is around 5-6 years old)

[bradmeehan]

Here's a great video on how to polish clear coat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdHofsKFVmk

Take your time.

[mkluvin]

i have used fusion on plastic and it worked well. I know rust-olium has a spray primer for plastic then you can use many of their other paints..