practicing plastic painting

ok ive looked into painting my lower valances to visually lower the car. So for a practice i decided to paint some of the underbonnet parts

so engine cover battery cover and top fuse cover all done.

started small and worked up
1st the fuse cover ( center section of the battery cover ) sorta screwed this up with to thick a coats of primer it started to run
then the battery cover. starting to look a bit better
lastly the engine cover think i did a good job of this

all 3 got 3 coats of black primer 4 coats of vw reflex siver paint then around 10 layers of clear coat.

this was my mistake i should have used proper lacquer but i had the clear coat in the cupboard from painting something else. the heat from the engine has added a slight yellow sheen to the silver. actually looks quite nice sorta silver gold pearlescent as long as it dosent go much more yellow than im happy with it

NB you cant see the yellow in the engine cover as the pic was taken after refitting. the sheen was there when i looked at it after a 60 mile round trip

 

[obi_waynne]

Looks good. Do you fancy writing a how to article for the main site? Looks like you have learned a lot from your experience.

Does your lower valance unbolt or will you have to spray it in situ?

 

[pgarner]

not yet still not happy with the outcome of the painting to do an articale.

the lower valances are clip on but i cant see how to get them off. looks like the whole bumper wil have to come off 1st.

 

[Prince]

Looks pretty good. Are you gonna change any of the hoses as well?

 

[pgarner]

not at the minute. the hoses are really inaccessible the only one i was looking at changing was the intake pipe as its prone to collapsing when it gets too hot.

was going to paint the top of the air box as well but ran out of paint. so might do it next time along with the lower engine cover and wiring loom.

 

[obi_waynne]

Do you think the paint will darken more? I've use BBQ paint or hammerite on exhaust manifolds and they keep their colour nicely. (Red paint that I used actually becomes a luminous red almost an orange when it is hot - its very strange to see!)

 

[pgarner]

im hoping it will stay the same as it is.
it was just the standard paint i used. i thought about having to use heat resistant paint with it sitting on the top of the engine. done a search on it and found people had just used normal paint. will wait an see

the yellowing id say is the clearcoat as i dont think its meant for anywhere near heat and its only effected the engine cover the battery and fuse cover are still silver. if id used the lacquer then it might have stayed silver.

 

[roz26]

Hey,
You've done a really good job. I'm currently respraying my interior which is a big job and alot of prep involved but I'm only 18 and with the bank hol I had some spare time on my hands. Hopin to get some pics up soon as its really coming along and I don't understand why people dont do it more often haha. Great job looks fantastic

 

[pgarner]

cheers it needs done again after 11k miles the yellowing has became worse. thinking of bright orange lol might just sand them down and spray them silver again

 

[roz26]

Yeah Orange or any primary colour would look good - the bolder the better