DIY Painting Side Skirts......Any Honda

[geeq]

Not a PRO Job....But looks Good.

Painting side skirt
Ive done this before.. heres a basic step by step of how I did it. I used dupli color products for this project. It wont come out show quality but its good enough for me.

-wetsand with 400 grit sandpaper and then 900 grit sandpaper until smooth
-clean off surface really good with soap and water and let dry
-spary 2 light coats on the surface with Adhesive Promotor if the lip is made of ABS plastic or Poly Urathene.. use Primer if the lip is Fiberglass
-spray light coats of the color paint.. around 4-6 coats should do it but make sure all the surface is painted
-spray 2 coats of clear coat
-wait a day for the paint to dry and cure or if youre impatient like me slap, that bastard on and enjoy

some tips: Id wait around 10 minutes between coats to become dry or at least a little sticky. Make sure not to spray too much or it will drip. All you need is light wet coats. Make sure you do this where dust wont settle on the wet paint and away from things you dont want overspray to get on. Thats all I can think of right now

Anyone else wanna add anything.. I might be leaving a few good pointers out..

http://images3.fotki.com/v31/photos/2/24237/162741/sideskirt-vi.jpg

[Attaus]

Nice writeup.

I'd like to add two things if you don't mind.. you almost covered them, but I'd like to clear it up.

Keep the paint flowing. Spray a light, even coat from 6-8 inches away and keep moving the nozzle. If you don't cover a certain spot, get it on the next coat. Nothing is worse that getting drips.

Paint in a warm, dry place. If you just paint with a top coat, and a piece of debris lands on your object (by wind) you'll be mighty pissed.

I would like to strongly suggest/reinforce the need for a clearcoat. The paint itself looks fine, but a day or so after I painted the mirror I washed it and apparently some of the moisture stayed on the mirror. The next day I noticed some waterspots. Oh, no big deal, I'll get it later. Wrong. The spots had stained the paint and the only way to remove it was through sanding and repainting. A protective layer is a must.

[i<3myLUDE!]

thanx for the info...

gonna be needing this when i get my wwrs side skirts n rear on wednesday.

[InvaderTrax]

Awesome. I'll probably do this this weekend

[mommy]

This is great, and I wish I had the skill to do it myself, but i've tried to paint my own car before and it turned out terrible. It's not as easy as it sounds. Did you the one in the pic yourself? Good job if you did.

[joinerneal]

were these the type of side skirts like on our 4th gens? (you know... the black plastic type)

[2000bb6]

im goin to attempt this on my oem base sides and rear....

[geeq]

were these the type of side skirts like on our 4th gens? (you know... the black plastic type)

Yup, the same OE plastic all hondas have.

[sleepyH22]

do you remove them or leave them on?? how do you get them off?

[JDHondaPrelude]

the more coats of clear the better. After leaving the final clear coat dry for 12hrs at 70 degrees its time for the fun stuff. Get some 1200 or 1500 grit paper and wet sand. Becareful along any edges not to sand through the clear.
Dont sand in any areas where your buffer wont fit. If u do the paint store will sell you an attachment for your drill for small areas. Hope this helps Ive painted my first car and two bumpers and a spoiler so im still learning.

http://www.howecrazy.com/clan/Downloads/Prelude/BeforeAfter2.jpg

Theres alot pic on my website of the total process my son and i went through to get the prelude done

www.howecrazy.com


If u can find this clear in your autopaint store its great for small projects

http://www.kwasny.de/en/b2/p2400.html

[51ludeguy]

Thank you very much!! I'll give it a try next week!!

[my4thgenlude]

oh yeah and another thing...if you don't feel like going through the hassle to take your kit off and want to paint it on the car, make sure to use tape, 3M general painter's tape does a good job of sticking to the body and also be sure to cover your car and wheels with paper or a plastic covering to prevent from getting overspray on anything...if you just had your car painted use "the blue tape" by 3M (found in most local general or automotive stores), lol it doesn't stick as much which can be a b at times but it won't peel your paint right off either...after painting AND clearing, throw a wax job on it for that final shine, but I would recommend that you do this a minimum of 1-2 weeks following the painting...have done this several times on many different materials and cars, all came out perfect, so just some useful tips...

[my4thgenlude]

I just had to add that JDHonda's paintjob is pretty sick, that paint must have been atleast 300 dollars lol, is it base-cleared?? how much did you pay for the job or did you do it yourself?? prettty sick...much props