Painted my side door compartment covers!
 

Over the weekend I deceided to paint my door lid covers artic silver to match the rest of the silver trim and just to make it look cool. They came out really nice. Saved myself some big bucks as usual. Wasn't easy to get the rubber like surface sanded off. But after I put them in my dishwasher and set it on a small load with high temp drying, the rubber like surface peeled right off and it was much easier to sand. One of the many tricks I've learned over the years. Same way I did my color matching bumperret covers. This will remove any amor-all or car polishes you may have used that could have soaked into the material. Anyway, here is what it looks like. Cost me about $12.00 in spray paint, that's all.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y15...h/IMG_3580.jpg

:eek: :eek: Awesome!, please tell us what paint you used inc the whole paint process :) defnately a mod I want to do.

Wow that looks really good, I have to respray my interior peices cause it looks grey when compaired to artic silver..... Where can i get artic silver in a spray can?

Whoa! That looks awesome! Would you be interested in prepping and painting some if I send you mind?

Well done spyder! Looks really professional!

I'm at work right now and can't remember the spay paint name and code. I think it was T229(M). And I think it is made by Dupli-color. I'm not 100% sure, but I will find out when I go home tonight and re-post it along with how I did it tomorrow. Thanks for all the complements! :D

I would love to do this as a side job, but it's hard for me to find the time, and I did this on my dinning room table. Not the most ventalated place. I have a garage, but the it's to cold in there right now, and the temperature has to be jsut right for the paint not to crack and peel. So I'm going to have to decline your offer. If I ever decide to do this full time, I'll let you know. Besides, the misses hates the smell of fresh paint in the house. But I like it! ;)

That looks amazing, nice work. What where the steps and what paint did you use in the bumperettes?

Okay, for starters, this isn't something you can rush. And if you have no experience using spray paint, don't even attempt this. Last thing I want is a load of hate mail sent to me because someone screwed up there door cover lids. Read the paint instructions like you normally would when using any spary paint from a can. So here it goes.

1) Remove your lid covers(of course) you will need some needle nose plyers. There are 2 sets of steel rods on both sides that you will need to remove. Make sure not to loose them and the metal sleeves that they slide into. There are 4 sets of sleeves per door lid. Put them aside for later.

2) You will want to clean the lid covers as best as you can from any type of armor-all or cleaner/polishes you may have used on it in the past. For me, the quickest and easy way to do this, is to place them in your dish washer. (I know it sounds crazy, but it works) use some Cascade Complete, not allot, about half of what is normally needed. This will de-greese and pull out any cleaner/polishes they were used in the past that may have soaked into the plastic. Make sure to use a high temp heat-dry clycle. Set it for your smallest load. When it's done, you will notice the rubber-like surface has started to peel off. Don't panic! That's what we want. You can start rubbing it off using your fingers. It should peel off like latex paint. After you have as much off as posible(prefferably all of it) you can start sanding.

3) I used a medium grade sand paper to start. You will want to remove any access rubber-like paint that is still remaining. Keep sanding until it is all gone and then use a fine sand paper to make sure it is nice and smooth to the touch. Make sure to get all of the edges and smooth out the curved ones too.

4) Paint I used. (1) Can of Grey Primer - Color Place(Brand Name) or any automotive sandable primer will work. 1) Can of Artic Silver Paint - Dupli-Color(Brand Name) Truck, Van & SUV. Paint code T229 Silver (M). Looks exactly like PORSCHE artic silver when your done. 1) Can of Rust-Oleum(Brand Name) Crystal Clear Enamel Paint. All purchased at your local Walmart, except for Dupli-Color Silver Paint. I found it at Pep-Boys.

5) I found it best to lay the lid on a spray can cap at an angle because of the contour of the lid. This way you will avoid overspray on the curved surface. Spray 1 light coat of Grey primer down. I let mine dry for 1 hour before looking for any surface imperfections. If you see any, use your fine grade sand paper to smooth it out. Repeat this step until you no longer see any surface imperfections thought the grey primer paint. I used 2-3 light coats of primer per lid.

6) You are now ready for your first shot of silver paint. I used several light thin coats of paint, instead of 1 or 2 heavy coats(again, use common sense) allowed for 1 hour drying time between coats. I used 3 coats of paint and make sure you get those curved edges.

7) Last, after letting it dry for 24hrs. you can apply the final clear glossy coat. Again, used several thin coats instead of 1 or 2 heavy coats of paint. This will keep the paint fron chipping/peeling off and it makes it look like that factory glossy finish. I used 3 thin coats. Let dry for another 24 hrs. before handling and installing.

8) Re-install the round metal sleeves into the holders of the lid and re-install them onto your door using one steel rod at a time. Then your done. Paint should cure in the next few days and should not be leaned on or used as an arm-rest. Hope this helps everyone! :cheers:

Bumperrets
 

Once again, I'm at work, so I will have to get the paint code when I get home. But I noticed your car is black, where mine is seal grey metalic. I always use Dupli-Color Automotive Spray Paint. They should have a metalic black that matches your car. There is no need to pay for expensive PORSCHE paint made in Germany. I have never had any problems with Dupli-Color paints. There are usually catalogs (at Pep-Boys) that you can cross-reference the factory O.E.M. paint colors with that will give you the best matching color that they have to sell. Not all O.E.M. colors are made. I got lucky when I found a good match. It took me several tries to get the silver color to match the artic silver, but it does match.

I have used this website for ordering my paint, the Arctic Silver they sent matched up great.

And they have all of the color codes for our cars, just select your year and model and pick which color.

They also have a nice DIY guide.

http://expresspaint.com/

Thanks for that link! :cheers:

Thanks Travis! I am thinking of trying the bumperettes myself vs. $275

or paintscratch.com , they even perfectly matched MY color, so arctic silver should be no problem.

also man, that looks very nice and professional job.

but would you recoment doing the same for lets say the door handle (mine is black) and C-clip and all the other interior pieces.

im worried that if i do this, it wont hold up as good as factory from opening the door often, especially the handle

Isn't your handle wrapped in leather?? The "C" clip should be fine. I would only recomend it on parts that are made of the hard plastic meterial.

I picked up the primer,paint and enamel you listed and went to work on some spare parts I had in the garage. I can't seem to keep the shiny finish that the paint has,it dulls after a few minutes and looks like it is VERY slowly coming back out. Could this be happening because it is only 30 outside,or am I missing somewhere?

The temperature could have allot to do with it. I did mine inside at 75 degrees. The last stage of the painting with the Rust-Oleum Crystal Clear should make it really POP! and VERY glossy! If you use several thin coats, it will look much better. But, If you apply it to heavy, it WILL look dull at first, but after a few hours will show the silver color though and should not stay dull and cloudy. :cheers:

Nice!

I once tried to paint these intakes for my Miata. The part was no bigger than those door lids. I must have spent 20 hours in the cellar wet sanding, priming and then going through two cans of body color matched paint cans (from Tower Paint). THe job probably could have been done with a 1/4 of one can.
I think I had to re-do it four times because I didn't wait long enough between coats and the paint started to dry weird, dust, eyelash, .....etc.

thanks 986spyder for great painting guide. here are few pics of my first painting attempt. i live in one bedroom condo and do not have clean garage to use. i had to transform my living room into paiting area... not having much patients and getting the lint and dust off between coating was the worst thing about painting but i'm pretty happy with the final result.

next paiting mod: i picked up extra center console on ebay the other day for $120. i'm going to paint that extra console and see if it's worthy enough to be installed.