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I'm planning on getting my heat extractors painted black, nothing to it but just would like some opinions from people who did it or have some recommendations.

1st) no plastidip cover up crap, I need this painted in a correct way, paint and clearcoat, factory black color.

2nd) because its a plastic part, would it be painted over the existing paint/clearcoat or they have means of removing the paint from plastic?

and 3rd) should I even bother going to a dealership and see how much it would be over there, or I should just go directly to local shops and get some quotes?

Hadtohaveit'13

Ask your dealer what body shop they use then just go straight to them

houtex

1) You won't have to do the plastidip, plastic is perfectly paintable, even more so with paint already on it.

2) If there's paint already on them, done correctly, it's a breeze to repaint them whatever you want.

3) You should totally do it yourself, it's that easy. Now, depending on the outcome you desire, it might take a couple days, but... yeah, I'm totally doin' that myself.

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Pop them off. Unless they don't pop off, but I bet they do. If they don't well... tape the car off before painting the extractors, but same rules apply.

IF THEY HAVE PAINT on them already... Scuff them with red scotchbrite. Wash with warm soapy water. Let dry. Use some wax and grease remover and a clean, soft, lint free towel. Tack cloth. You now ready to shoot the new paint directly on the old paint.

IF THEY ARE BARE PLASTIC (say, a 2007 Mustang external mirror, as an example), get Bulldog or similar adhesion promoter. Wash and clean the part with warm soapy water, let dry. DO NOT use any other cleaner on the bare plastic, it will burn it into ugly, especially if there's a pattern on it. Just tack it with a tack cloth. Shoot it with Bulldog/adhesion promoter as directed. NOT a heavy film, just... some. It'll say how much. Let it dry.

Here on out the stuff's the same, although I would use primer myself for the bare plastic. You'll get a better cover having primer under the color.



If you choose to primer, fine, use whatever primer you want. I'd pick a gray primer so you can see the black go on. Although, I'm a fan of Self Etching primer myself, especially on metal, which is usually flat army tank green, but will stick like glue, and can be built up quite easily. Sandable too. If you DO primer (and waiting a day), you will probably want to sand that down with wet 600 grit just a little. Wash, dry, wax/grease, tack and then...

Shoot them with your paint of choice, per the directions. A rattle can job can look just fine, using enamel paints. NO lacquer. Just... don't.

For gloss black, shoot it with the gloss black, wait until the next day, wetsand it with 600, wash/dry, wax/grease, tack, then a few coats of clear, wait until the next day and wetsand that with 800, then 1500, then buff and polish. It'll be beautiful.

For Satin or flat, just shoot it with satin/black paint. My particular favorite black satin in a can is Duplicolor Engine Enamel Semi-Gloss Black. It's pretty. Same for the stuff that's flat, but it's *really* flat. Just shoot that and let it be.

I've not ever sanded/buffed those colors, and they come out fine. Part of their appeal, I suppose. The Gloss you have to buff, but it's not a huge deal to do on such small parts, ya ask me.

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You want it to look like bumper trim? Trim paint. It's a nice satiny black. And IT sticks like glue, so far as I can see. I put some directly on plastic, and then tried to scratch it with a fingernail... no marks whatsoever. Better'n the paints.

I'm using the Semi-Gloss engine enamel and the Trim Paint on some of my motorcycle parts, I'll show pics when I get them done.

Bike is a plastic monster. I been workin' on restoring the exterior now for the past month of weekends, plus a week of nights, and I'm STILL not done... Now into weekend 5... I'll be lucky if it gets done before April... I will not be doing this bike again.

Oh, and if you mess it up in some way/ Just sand it back and shoot it again. You can shoot paint on paint or primer. Or the adhesion promoter, to be honest, that's what it's for. Just make it flat again, and shoot it.

You'll feel so much more accomplished.

/And wear protective crap. A *real* fume catcher mask is sorta mandatory, even in open spaces. Some of the cleaners and paint will get to ya.

laserred38

See if someone sells the GT/CS vents pre painted?...

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was looking into that, but with the lack of custom aftermarket vents, people don't sell them off much at this moment. there is a carbon fiber set , but expensive, and not my kind of tea with the carbon fiber look.

I see stangmods selling the OEM set unpainted, but they go for 300 bucks, way too much for this kind of a mod, plus painting them.

Personally, I just dont have enough courage or trust to go ahead, and sand down a good pair of perfect vents, and have a chance of failing. I rather have it done with factory paint and clearcoat. Would love to be able to buy a black prepainted set somewhere, but for now the market is slow.

Gabe

Why not Plasti-Dip?

It's easily removable if you end up wanting them to be the stock color ...

1 Alibi 2

Instead of painting your vents, buy a set of OEM vents and have them painted. A local body shop should be cheaper than a dealership & will do whatever you want.

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would like to do that, but with the lack of places selling them, cheapest online I found is 300$ for unpainted pair, too much in my book just for a simple color swap.

Until they be at maybe 100 bucks each, I cant justify that approach, so the only solution at this time would be to get the ones I have painted.

Don't know, will go and see couple of places and get some ideas and quotes, but if anything I might have to set this mod on a side for the nearest future.

Would be cool if AM had these for sale with their pre-paint service

2014GTCS

I have a question concerning the heat extractors on my 2014 GTCS. What is the cable/wiring going to passenger side heat extractor only? Thanks.

CiniZter

i had planned earlier to paint them factory black, took a quote from local paint shop.. it was $40 a piece to paint.. but i ended up plastic dipping the vents with glossifier... it looks so close to painting. i removed it after a week as it ddnt go well with my stripes.

Varilux

I'd paint them with Plasti-Dip long before I'd paint them with regular paint. The Plasti-Dip looks better, is more durable, and- most importantly- is reversible. I put Plasti-Dip on the center section of our 2011 F-150s grill (to reduce all the chrome), and not a nick on it thousands of miles later. The stuff resists nicks better than regular paint, in my experience.

Personally, I didn't paint them at all. I ordered flat black inserts from Big Worm Graphics (which allowed me to apply flat black to the "slats," but leave the "framework" body color).

If you do paint it, would suggest going with flat black paint (can't envision shiny black paint looking good on the extractors). But to each his own...

CCTking

+1 on plasti-dipping first. Stuff is super durable when done right and its reversible if you decide you have to have it painted. I did my spoiler, decklid, and around the grille on my v6. Looks worlds better and helped me decide that i wanna get it painted flat black with a matte clearcoat

Horspla

Call around to some salvage yards...If you go with the paint your originals option, I would skip the dealer and go straight to a body shop you can trust. Any decent body shop should be able to do a good job with paint match and blowing the paint on them. I had mine done when they painted the stripes on.

John

Moejoe_989

I have a 14 GT and one of the first things I did was plastidip my emblems, spoiler and heat extractors.
+1 being reversible. Non-permanent. Easy to do for sure.

I'll show you some pics. Sort of: before and after

TommyV

I painted mine using a rattle can flat black. One bolt, squeeze some clips, and they pop off. I just cleaned them with alcohol and put three coats on. They've held up great for over a year.

JimC

Here is a pair of fiberglass for $150

http://www.bmcextremecustoms.net/fomugtoemstf.html