Metallic rattle project

[Aerohead]

I need to paint this spoiler which I believe is made of ABS plastic. There are some real skilled painters on here, can I ask some basic questions as just looking at that fountain of info, Y/tube, conflicting advice a plenty.

Am a nearly complete novice at panel painting, and will be using Halfords paint and their better quality laquer. Low budget project, on a low budget car.



Questions:

What went wrong with the existing paint on the spoiler, which has obviously been repainted before?

Sand down how far, what grit? Plan is to hand sand dry.

OK to use thinners to wipe clean after sanding?

Plastic primer or any auto body primer OK to use?

Sand down primer, if so what grit?

Spray lots of this coated red metallic, let dry, do I sand this coat as well? What grit, dry ok?

Spray lots of thin coats laquer, let dry, how long to dry, and use just super fine paper like 800 1000 dry or something else better?

Polish, wax, put back on car, have a beer... this part am good at.

 

[steveo3002]

looks like a previous diy job

sand with 600 wet n dry until you see the orig paint /sound paint

no panel wipe ...thinner is too aggressive

primer...ideally search what type of plastic its made off if you reach bare plastic...otherwise high build primer will do , sand that with 800

base coat....no dont sand it , coat until covered then 20 min wait and on with the clear

 

[ajlelectronics]

I need to paint this spoiler which I believe is made of ABS plastic. There are some real skilled painters on here, can I ask some basic questions as just looking at that fountain of info, Y/tube, conflicting advice a plenty.

Am a nearly complete novice at panel painting, and will be using Halfords paint and their better quality laquer. Low budget project, on a low budget car.



Questions:

What went wrong with the existing paint on the spoiler, which has obviously been repainted before?

Microblisters. Either water in the airline or primer left too long before colour coats.

Sand down how far, what grit? Plan is to hand sand dry.

Take it back to bare ABS at least in the blistered areas. 180 grit dry.

OK to use thinners to wipe clean after sanding?

No you use panel wipe.

Plastic primer or any auto body primer OK to use?

Plastic primer as a minimum, I would epoxy it.

Sand down primer, if so what grit?

320 for sealer coats, then as required for chosen colour coats.

Spray lots of this coated red metallic, let dry, do I sand this coat as well? What grit, dry ok?

Spray little, in a few coats until the panel is coloured. You don't touch the basecoat before lacquer. Final colour coats should be dry and applied in a criss cross fashion to make the particles stand up.

Spray lots of thin coats laquer, let dry, how long to dry, and use just super fine paper like 800 1000 dry or something else better?

You can recoat once the first coat has tacked off. You don't need to sand between. Once fully hardened it depends on how good the surface is. A poor finish might need you to start at 800, a good one would be about 12-1500 grit. 1K lacquer will take many weeks to be hard enough to polish.

Polish, wax, put back on car, have a beer... this part am good at.

 

[Aerohead]

Wow, excellent information, thanks guys! Got good weather, panel wipe orderd, this will happen next week.