Thread: painting front plate filler

so i just got my plate filler but i need to paint it, and i got some questions. what grit should i go down to. i should wet sand it correct? and i was thinking of doing it in a can of touchup paint from autozone, would that be ok? how many coats should i put on? and for clearcoating, how many coats and can i use a regular clear coat or do i have to get an automotive kind? because i already have a can of glossy clear from krylon that i picked up at walmart but dont know if thats what i should be using. sorry if these sound like stupid questions, its the first time im painting anything exterior and dont wanna screw it up lol

Originally Posted by mezzoni

so i just got my plate filler but i need to paint it, and i got some questions. what grit should i go down to. i should wet sand it correct? and i was thinking of doing it in a can of touchup paint from autozone, would that be ok? how many coats should i put on? and for clearcoating, how many coats and can i use a regular clear coat or do i have to get an automotive kind? because i already have a can of glossy clear from krylon that i picked up at walmart but dont know if thats what i should be using. sorry if these sound like stupid questions, its the first time im painting anything exterior and dont wanna screw it up lol

first off, if its got paint on it already, u can just scuff it, and spray the paint. three coats would be plenty there. and then after it dried u need to wet sand it with something like 800, or 1000 grit paper. i would use 800 here. then u spray the clear coat. once again, three coats will be good. then once thats dry, wit sand it with 1500 grit paper, and buff it out with a buffer, or u can do it by hand if u dont have one. just use a rubbing compound, and an applicator pad. dont be afraid of pressure. then just put it on

alrighty well this might sound dumb, but why would i sand in between the paint and clear coat, and after the clear coat? wouldnt that ruin the nice glossy refective black finish?

anybody???

i dont have the answer... but look at the tinting tails thread. You sand, spray paint..let dry... sand, spray paint..let dry.. and then add the layers of paint. I no nothing about painting exteriors..... and if you don't either.. ask a professional.

Good luck and let us know what and how it turned out.

sanding in between the paint and clear removes the paint effect called orange peel. it literally looks like the texture of an orange peel when ur done. if u sand it with 1500 b4 the clear, it makes it look smooth, and right. just trust me on this one bro

ahh alright ill take your word for it so just some final questions, the touch up spray paint will be fine right? can i use the krylon clear coat or should i get something from autozone? and should i buff the 1500 grit between the paint and clear, or just clear right over the 1500 grit? Thanks for all your help!!

ok so i sanded it all down nice and painted it with color matching paint. i wet sanded with 1000 grit and it took off all the shine and reflectiveness of the paint. so i redid it, waited a couple hours so i knew the paint was real nice and dry and boy did it come out good! so i wet sand with 2500 grit to remove the orange peel affect and again it took away all the shine and now it looks crappy and definitley not worthy of putting on the car. what am i doing wrong? im thinking of just painting it and clearing it and leaving the orange peel afffect on there...

after the paint and sand, buffing and waxing brings back that "gloss" effect

after you sanded it , (hope you did this lightly) let it dry then wipe it clean. Then clear coat it with nice even strokes at about 6-8 inches away. Let the first coat dry,then repeat etc. Once its dry (not tacky) you can use the 2500 grit wet sand paper and go over the plate filler nice and smooth making sure you keep the paper wet. Then dry the plate filler. Then use some rubbing/buffing compound on a terry towel or (old t-shirt works too) and use firm pressure to buff out the scratches from the sand paper. once you do this you can apply wax and it will really shine, (wax the filler as you normally would your car)

One other thing that will effect any paint job is the weather, if its really humid/hot out it can effect the way the paint sticks and even dries.

THANK YOU. details are important and you gave them, your the man haha well i got another layer of paint on there now and ill lightly sand it with the 2500, clear it, wait over night then tomorrow morning ill sand it and use the rubbing compound. im excited about the final product its gonna look great!

let me know how it works out for ya. Just remember to take your time and it will come out perfect.

Ya its weird, but u sand it, and u GOTTA buff it. It gives the shine back, and looks smooth. Should come out good

so how did it come out?

well i had a few setbacks. i sanded a bit to hard over the lettering i guess and around a few letter some of the paint came off. its not bad but its not perfect. and theres only a couple spots here and there that i was having trouble with getting rid of the orange peel but its not super noticable. as of now, id say its about a 8 out of 10. i sprayed it with clear and am waiting for that to dry over night and will hopefully finish it up tomorrow

so i just got it all finished up, somewhat satisfied somewhat disappointed. it came out as more of a flat balck, the rest of the bumper has much more of a mirror finish to it. theres some imperfections that im gonna be the only person that will notice but i know they're there and it bothers me. and yea paint just doesnt shine like i was hoping but overall its pretty good. look alot better than having a ct plate on there. and incase no one was aware, it was just painted a flat black before and that was my reason for repainting. ill try to get some pictures up later tonight for you all to see

hmmmm I'll see what else I can recommend once I see pics.

so there it is. as you can see it just doesnt shine with the rest of the bumper. i actually like the contrast with the flat black look it has to the red inlays, which im having second thoughts about putting those in so soon but i was anxious lol anyway, if your really close and from certain angles it shines and reflects the ground about as good as the rest of the bumper if your from a distance it appears to be a flat black. what do you suggest? i havent waxed it or anything the last thing i did was rubbing compound after the clear.

Get some good paste wax like turtle wax or Meguire (sp?) and just give it a nice light coat of wax and wipe it off with nice clean cotton cloth or terry towel. When I did the rear wheel wells on my GP I had done like 3 coats of wax to bring the shine back and that was after buffing it,polishing etc. So try the wax out and see what kind of results you get from that. Let me know how it works out for ya.

forgot to add that your plate filler came out rather nicely. Keep up the good work.