I know nothing can beat a professionally done paint job, but I was toying with the idea of ordering the side window louvers, and front air splitter and painting them myself, since they are relatively small-sized items...and it would save quite a few bucks.


I was thinking of getting 12 oz. cans of touch paint from here:
http://www.automotivetouchup.com/spray_paint.asp,

a can of Plastic Parts Adhesion Promoter, and then a can of clear coat.

Anyone with paint experience have any advice? Bad idea? Doable?

I've had experience in painting models as a kid...both with aerosol cans and air brush.

 

KevinV6 painted his own I believe. I paid $60 to get mine professionally painted.





Just got them back today.

 

yep i painted mine, only because i got an outrageaous quote of something like $250!!
so i sanded my own primed, painted, sanded again painted...
had to repaint them though since i switched cars on which the louvers were on.
i got my paint from expresspaint.com or something cant think of it right now..

 

Kevin - did you have to put a clear coat too?

 

I can understand painting your own if you have a white or black car. But if you have a redfire (like the starter of this thread) or any other metallic, it's best to have a professional paint shop match the paint. Depending on the time of day, lighting conditions, temperature, etc... you can spray the same paint at different times and have different colors. If you look at your stock car under very good light, you can notice slight variations in the color of the bumper to the fenders, etc. Because they were painted at different times. Spend the $100 (at most) to have a paint shop do it. It should look a lot better. And, even if it doesn't match, they'll fix it.

 

I'm sure Kevin did put on clear coat too. You definitely need to do this if you paint it yourself.

 

I painted mine myself. I used PPG urethane base coat/clear coat. Before i painted them i used a flex base coat, so if there is any flex the paint does not crack as thay get older.

 

By the time you get your own flex coat, paint and clear coat... you might as well get it done professionally. You will end up spending close to the $60 it's gonna cost to have someone else do it. And if something happens with the paint... whether it doesn't match or if it peels/craxks down the line... the paint shop will take care of it. Not to mention, if you don't have your own paint booth, you risk something flying into the paint while it's drying.