Painting the bodywork

[Rav]

Hi all,

My car is silver but has black sections at the bottom of the front and rear bumpers and along the sides of the car.

Any recomendations on how to paint these?

Anyone done this one thier car??

[bez101]

take it to a body shop and get it colour coded

[zeratul]

As obvious as it sounds - your best bet is to take it to a bodyshop as they will prepare the plastic properly in order that when its painted it won't peel off in a few months/years.

I'm not 100% sure but they rub a 'tack rag' all over it before the proper undercoat, then colourcode it to the car. Incidently, when they colourcode it to the car its normal practice to 'fake in' to the adjacent panels as due to the age of the original paintwork (and the fact its not plastic!) it would usually look a differnent colour if the panel was just painted.

[Hitby]

What's the approximate cost for having this done?

[bez101]

last one i had coded was 175 inc

[Hitby]

cheers

[RickT]

just one thing to add..

Following the painting, you may realise it is not a 100% match even when using the correct paint..

The reason why the paint is a different colour is due to one been on Metal and the other on Plastic..

This is because a special process has to be used when painting modern plastic components and this involves using a flexi-aid and additives in the paint to prevent it cracking when the part bends.

This results from the paint appearing a different shade.. This is like this on every audi… Silver / Blue / Red are the colours you can notice this the most on… on the back wings to the bumpers…

If you take a trip to your local audi garage and have a look you will see..

Rick

[zeratul]

just one thing to add..

Following the painting, you may realise it is not a 100% match even when using the correct paint..

The reason why the paint is a different colour is due to one been on Metal and the other on Plastic..

This is because a special process has to be used when painting modern plastic components and this involves using a flexi-aid and additives in the paint to prevent it cracking when the part bends.

This results from the paint appearing a different shade.. This is like this on every audi… Silver / Blue / Red are the colours you can notice this the most on… on the back wings to the bumpers…

If you take a trip to your local audi garage and have a look you will see..

Rick

A good bodyshop should recommend painting into the adjacent panels called 'faking in' so this change in colour is not noticable. My dad has owned a repitable bodyshop for over 35 years - they have just replaced my rear bumper and there is no noticable change in colour because of this process... unlike my front bumper!

It will obviously cost more!

[RickT]

A good bodyshop should recommend painting into the adjacent panels called 'faking in' so this change in colour is not noticable. My dad has owned a repitable bodyshop for over 35 years - they have just replaced my rear bumper and there is no noticable change in colour because of this process... unlike my front bumper!

It will obviously cost more!

Thinking of long term, over time the paints will fade differently leaving a differance... (well they do from the factor in Germany!)

Rick