Painting Lowers - Little Different Prep

[agpatel]

So I wanted to paint my lowers and talked to my dad who works for SEM Products. The first thought was to sand down the texture and go from there but he brought home some Scuff and Clean. It is pretty much soap with pumice in it. Using it with a scouring pad it will smooth out the texture enough to were you are able to prime and paint it. It will not get rid of the texture, can if you spend the time to do it, but will take it down a good deal. I felt that it was easier to do it this way than sanding it a few times. On the rear bumper I just put the scouring pad on a DA and used it on med speed.

Below you can see the Scuff and Clean and the plastic prep that was used to clean up the plastic to get rid of the residue from the scuff and clean.



As you can see above the ares above the bumper were taped off so I would not scratch and paint and the lower section was taped off as I wanted to keep that black.

Once everything was cleaned on the car, all the parts were taken off the car and given one final once over.



The side skirt removal was difficult as it was held in by the rail and the tape, ended up pulling a little and just cutting the tape as my dad pulled on the skirt.




The tape was then removed using Xylene(3m adhesive remove will work as it is mostly Xylene) Just soaked a rag in it and put it on top of the foam tape and it just started to come off pretty easily.



Took the parts to my dads work to use their new spray booth:



We tinted the primer red so that it would take less coats of base coat as well if the base coat chips for any reason the priper is red. First a adhesion promoter was sprayed on and allowed to flash then 2 coats of primer were applied:

Pic's Primed and cured 24 hrs:







Went back the next day and started the sanding, first started out with 320 grit to knock off the orange peal and make them smooth then a final pass with 600 grit.









Once everything was sanded, all the parts were solvent cleaned and tack clothed outside the booth, and then once more inside the spray booth.

All the products that have been used and mixing the base coat for spraying:





First coat of PPG base coat was applied as you can see some of the deeper sanding marks can be seen...



Now the 2ed coat of base coat was applied:







Once the 2ed base coat was given time to flash, 2 coats of SEM Real Clear was applied:



The parts were then baked at 140*F for 20 min with a 10 min cool down time. This was to help cure the finish stronger and faster.

Final parts after baking and cool down:

















I have not put them on the car yet but will be doing it soon, waiting a day or so to finish the curing process. The color is a exact match, PPG allows a +/- 0.2% delta from a standard paint color, which the eye can not see the difference of 0.2%. Once put next to the car the color is pretty much exact. Will post installed pics as soon as i get them on and get some tape to put the side skirts on. Which one is most people using, the one i found at the store was 30 mil and seemed to be too thin, do I need 45 or 60 mil?

Let me know if you have any questions. But hope this shows that you don't need to sand it down the whole way and its just another way to prep the texture plastic for painting.

[Icy6]

None of the pics show for me on the thread, but if i go to their url individually it works..

[97C280]

Originally Posted by Icy6

None of the pics show for me on the thread, but if i go to their url individually it works..

x2

[agpatel]

Should be fixed now. Let me know if it is not.

[97C280]

Works. Great write up. When I did mine, I wasn't sure if I should have sanded my base coat. So I just let it dry for a few hours and resprayed another layer on top. Then cleared and sanded it smooth and cleared again. Then did cut and buff. It came out pretty good for a first timer.

[Dredknut]

Pics are coming up fine now. Parts look like they came out nice!

What is that lip I see under your hatch there? I have been looking for something similar to this, as that area under the hatch is getting scratched to shit from hauling my dog's crate in and out of the hatch.

Originally Posted by agpatel

[agpatel]

Its a Kamei sill cover they have one in fake CF and silver:

http://www.parts4vws.com/catalog/pro...rtNumber=42107

http://www.parts4vws.com/catalog/pro...rtNumber=42106

[agpatel]

Originally Posted by 97C280

Works. Great write up. When I did mine, I wasn't sure if I should have sanded my base coat. So I just let it dry for a few hours and resprayed another layer on top. Then cleared and sanded it smooth and cleared again. Then did cut and buff. It came out pretty good for a first timer.

You normally do not wait for the base coat to dry before you put on the clear, just wait for it to tack up. The same with applying the coats of base coat and coats of clear just wait for it to flash and tack up. The only time i waited for the paint to dry was before sanding, for obvious reasons.

[agpatel]

Got the front and back on just now and looks good, cant tell a difference in the paint by eye in the sun. Will get pics up soon. What thickness tape is everyone using for the side, i tried 0.030" but it was to thin, i was thinking about 65 mil (0.065") molding tape would work, just wanted to see what others were using.

[soze]

DUde! Wish you were over here. That looks like a top notch job!

[agpatel]

Pics of the front and rear put on, sides wont be put on till I find the right tape thickness for the side skirts.

[Meat]

looks good so far. must be nice to have a paint booth available to you

[agpatel]

Originally Posted by Meat

looks good so far. must be nice to have a paint booth available to you

Correction it is nice to have a paint booth, all supplies, paint, and material needed available free to you.

Now I do not know the next big project, black wheels? black hood or roof..?

[1canuck2]

Looks great! I would like to do my lowers, but can't justify the $$. If only my dad had a paint shop...

It looks like your rear lower bumper is not pushed all the way into the clips properly.

[darcness]

Looks amazing bud. Good job all around. I too want to do my lowers, but taking them on and off is the main thing holding me back. I don't want to have the skirts end up fitting incorrectly when I put them back on.

Also, where did you get those sick tail lights? They look amazing!

[agpatel]

Originally Posted by 1canuck2

Looks great! I would like to do my lowers, but can't justify the $$. If only my dad had a paint shop...

It looks like your rear lower bumper is not pushed all the way into the clips properly.

It should be pushes in correctly, I took off the whole rear bumper to attach the lower and upper bumper and all the clips showed through the back. What part exactly does not look correct to you and I may have to check it out again.

Dad does not have a paint shop but works for SEM Products, he works in the lab and in r&d, but they make automotive adhesives, interior paints, and some custom finishes. They just have a new paint booth in their new building for training and classes.

[agpatel]

Originally Posted by darcness

Looks amazing bud. Good job all around. I too want to do my lowers, but taking them on and off is the main thing holding me back. I don't want to have the skirts end up fitting incorrectly when I put them back on.

Also, where did you get those sick tail lights? They look amazing!

You cant really put the sides back on wrong as they will ride on a rail so they can only really go on the right way.

[Sam_Shake]

do u think it will crack in the winter cuz the plastic gets hard or gets soft under the sun?

[agpatel]

Should not be a problem as the paint is flexible. On a test panel, piece of sheet metal that had the same number of primer, base coat and clear coats on it it bent 100*+ without cracking around a small radius. There have been many people who have painted their lowers and gone through a few cycle of hot/cold and have not had any issues.

[agpatel]

So I got the tape last night and put on the skirts this afternoon. Just one question for everyone you think I should extend the black stripe onto the side skirt or keep it as it is. I kind of like it this way but may take some vinyl and see how it would looks with it extended. What do you guys think? Also what do most people do with the skirt part that goes into the front wheel well that is colored. I tried to put it behind the wheel liner but didn't look right, was thinking of using black vinyl to cover up the red end cap.

Here is the tape that was used: 3m 06386 - 0.25" wide and 45 mil thick



The skirts installed:

[DSMconvert]

Where did you get the GTI graphics?>

[agpatel]

Originally Posted by DSMconvert

Where did you get the GTI graphics?>

Got it offline from somewhere but they do not make it with the GTI cutout as VW told them they can use that font. I had to get it remade a year ago and just had a vinyl shop make it for me.