Colour coding body trim

[Jamin]

Hi peeps,

What do I need to do to colour the arches,door and bumper trim on my mk3 gti 5 door. Do I need to sand the plastic first or can I just go ahead and apply primer and paint? I'm probably gonna do it with spray cans, will I need to lacquer it as well???

Cheers

Jamin

[thai-wronghorse]

They'll look a lot better if you sand the plastic texture dimples off first.

[Jamin]

  what would I use to do that? If I wanted to keep the texture would I just mask and prime?

The front bumper is sprayed but the dimples weren't smoothed out so just looking to match the whole car.

Cheers thai-wronghorse

[vw-8v]

i think a light sand not trying to take texture off as you will end up with odd smooth areas when finished painting and remember to use plastic primer as it designed for its adheasion(spelling?~). im at mo colour coding all my bump strips and it takes ages to get rid of the textured finish before you even start priming. good luck

[mellow yellow]

cl or l spec side trims would be better as they are already smooth i think?

i can't see rattle can paint sticking to textured bumpers for very long at all, even if you do a good job with it!

[Jamin]

Cheers for the help 

Would it be better to take the trim off the car or will it be ok to do it on the car with a good masking beforehand?? Not sure I want to see what's underneath the arches 

Think I'm gonna stock with the textured finish and the front bumper is colour coded with texture and I quite like it!!!!!!

[VR6_Wherry]

Can take it off, or can leave it on. Much easier taking it off to do though. I did mine left on, make sure you use all the right products though as it will start to come off.

I've since removed it all as i got bored, CL trim is much nicer 

[Benrevs]

If you use a good high-build primer you will not need to sand any of the texture before priming as it will fill in all the low areas itself. Just be sure to give it a few goes so that if it sinks in at a later date it wont show the texture.  Use adhesion promoter or it wont last! Also take it off the car, it saves masking the car up and means the edges will have paint on and be less likely to flake.

[vw-8v]

adhesion promoter ?

 not heard of that one and i'm learning as i go too. i sanded mine down as much as i could and used high build primer as well. mine i took off the car as previously said it far easier and avoids the possibilty of damaging your body paint.

i'm about to do front bump strip and then onto the sides 

[bullens]

If you use a good high-build primer you will not need to sand any of the texture before priming as it will fill in all the low areas itself.

actually to do a proper job the dimples/texture need sanding down properly, high build primer shouldn't be used to just fill up the texture as its sinks and you'll be left with the dimples/texture showing through the paint after a few months