Celica Forums General Discussion Exterior ATTN hood scoop, gauge pod, and roof spoiler owners!

Have you ordered yours from the Lost rican? Tell me please, I know it comes primered, but did you have to have it reprimered and sanded and what not BEFORE you had it painted? What had to be done to these prior to painting? Thank you.

Yes on the roof spoiler. thats all I got from him, but i'm pretty sure you would have to do that with anything you buy aftermarket.

yes, it was alreday primed... but


We sanded down, primed, and painted it red. In other words, re-primed. Some kinds of exprericnes are needed, and I recommend you ask some professional experts.

[EDIT]

Sorry Supra_Celica, I prematurely went all off on you - I read your original post as a "slam", rather than reading it as a plea for help

to me... TOPIC RE-OPENED

[ 05-07-2003, 11:02 AM: Message edited by: isaac ]

https://celicahobby.com/feature/bodykits_faq.html

In same cases, you will use more than one coat of primer - the primer is there to display areas where the paint will stick and where the paint will not stick (its kinda like those blue tablets you're doctor usta make you chew, to show you were all the dirt build-up is on your teeth, and the blue would not stick to the smooth/cleaned parts of you teeth - but the primer shows you all the good painting areas instead ). Primer also acts as an agent to help the paint bond to your product

And finally...

from...
https://celicahobby.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000250

Thanks Isaac. I guess I'll get at least 2 coats of paint on these items and a good clear coat. I'm gonna' try to find those links you sent before in another post on how to INSTALL the 3 of these. You can post 'em here if you want. I've been wanting to get it professionally painted from the get-go. I just wanted to know if I had to spend the money for them to sand and re-prime b-cuz it says "primed and ready for paint." Thanks again everyone. Feel free to keep posting.

When someone "primes" something, its no more than just taking a $1.99 can of spray paint found at any automotive shop, and spraying it over the areas you wish to have painted.

This is why you see so many beaters driving around daily with primer'd parts... its realy a no-brainer

So, if I want the whole thing (let's say spoiler) painted, I just get a can of primer and cover it nice and evenly? Or should I sand it down first so it sticks? How much sanding would be involved? Like 5 minutes worth of brief even sanding, or hardcore 30 minutes worth, removing all the "pre-prime?"

The reason for all this is that the body shops in my area are rediculous. They want $300 bucks just to paint these 3 things! It'll be closer to 5-600 with all this priming and sanding that everyone is suggesting. So If I can attempt to sand and prime it myself, I can take the $300 rapeing of my wallet. Hit me back with suggestions on priming and sanding.

Tomorrow I'm gonna' try to disable my day-time running lights. I couldn't find the wire today, but then again, I had to pee really bad so I left it alone

[ 05-07-2003, 03:22 PM: Message edited by: supra_celica ]

Dang, I should have taken photos of what a do-it-yourself paint job (using paint found in the automitive section of the local pepboys/autozone/homedepot) looks like after one month of driving around.

Now discontinued, the Revmotion front lip was my favorite front! ...I could spend a few hours on prime/paint/install of this for less than $10 worth of materials and the front lip itself didnt cost all that much... I would drive around and not worry about running over a curb or into a curb (I've ruined a few Revmotion by doing this)

Anyways - after 2 months and about 4,000+ of miles put on my car, the front lip was all full of rock-chips... it looked like the solar system with all the white spots all over it! (I spent about 30 minutes with a can of black top coat touch up paint tonight, and it looks like brand new again)... but only after 4,000 miles?????

I'd suggest that whatever you have done, get it done professionally - with the correct paints and not the cheap store-bought generic stuffs... you will be much more happier in the long run

The Revmotion front lip (discontinued February 2003)


Some shois charge outrageous prices because they really just dont want to do the job this is why we recommend that you get a quote from 3 different locations.

Several bodyshops are not familiar with aftermarket fiberglass parts because they usually work on cars that have been in collisions rather then show/modified import cars. The difference between aftermarket body kit pieces and OEM (Original Equipment parts) is that OEM parts from directly from the dealership already painted and fitment is perfect because they are made from high quality poly urethane rather then fiberglass. When you get fiberglass aftermarket from ANYPLACE, prep work is always required| weather your getting fiberglass from Kaminari, Veilside or Bomex or wherever.

The bodyshops that work on mostly collision repair jobs have little to no experience with aftermarket speed parts, thus have no idea what the standard procedure is for prep-work before painting aftermarket fiberglass pieces.

BTW, The correct way to finish fiberglass before it is painted would be to spatchula putty over all of the rough edges and pin-holes (5 minutes). Next, use fine sand paper to sand down the finish to make the area even and free of all bumps (10 minutes). Then you will be left with a perfect product that needs a final wet-sanding (10 minutes) to smooth out the entire visible area of your product before shooting with primer and paint and clear cover coat.

[ 05-07-2003, 10:33 PM: Message edited by: isaac ]

Thank you for all that info. That last paragraph is really what i was looking for. Again, I want to do it all EXCEPT paint it myself. Everything else seems relatively easy.

Only thing is, I don't know what wet sanding is and what's a good fiberglass primer to use?

wet sanding - sand using lots of water. Like in the sink or with a hose. Let the water run over what you are sanding, and you are using a very fine grit while doing this.

Remember me mentioning that you may need to wet sand the other night?