Ugly trim no more on the Sport...

[redraif]

If your Sport has spent a decent amount of time outside you have probably been plagued by the delaminating black paint around your windows like mine... YIPES! Seems all the Sports around town have this issue...

Mirrors

or the graying wiper arms,

or even the graying of the factory nerf style step bars.

 

[redraif]

prepping

Well today I'm going to show you how I gave my sport's trim a facelift…

Well you start with washing the whole rig. The last thing you want is to deal with contaminants getting into your paint surface. Now if you have delaminating like I did, you need to get as much of the flaking mess off the surface you are painting.

I had a plastic card, much like a credit card and it used it to scrape the loose stuff off.

Once I scraped loose what I could I choose to get the stubborn parts with a razor blade. I did not use it on the whole thing because I did not want to risk gouging the metal. When I did use the blade I used it on the edges and pulled the blade at and angle towards me, like buttering bread.

Next I moved on to a brass brush.

Now I moved on to the scuffing of the surface to help with paint adhesion. For simple scuff and shoots without repairs, I have combined 2 steps. I found it more efficient to actually wash and sand together. I use a red scotchbrite pad:

I specifically use Dawn as it will strip and oils and grease and give a good decontamination to the surface.

Combine and wet the pad…

I would not recommend it for anything but a basic scuff and shoot with a matte paint. If you want to get a smooth professional finish with a gloss paint, don't skimp and use real sand paper and get the surface as perfect as possible.

Wash/sand the surface… you can see how much the sanding is working loose.

Rinse it down:

Scuffed and ready: all the loose stuff removed...

 

[redraif]

Painting

The paint… Duplicolor Semi-gloss acrylic enamel

Tape up the area to be painted. I use blue so I can get it back off easier with less residue. A trick a painter taught me was to put down a tape line clean against all the edges. Then you don’t have to be as exact when you tape the paper down. Also if you need to change the paper you can without messing up the main edges.

Now add the paper, just be sure you have the edges all sealed tight to avoid overspray.

Time for paint:

Once dry you can peel the tape away:

SOOOO Much better:

 

[redraif]

Final before and Afters

The whole truck:
Before:

And after:

Side bars:
Few more after shots I just took in the garage...

Before:

After:

Wipers
Before :

After:

Mirrors: Before:

After:

 

[jhill15]

Man what a tranformation! Your truck is looking great!!!

 

[Clem]

That looks awesome! Nice work

Clem

 

[Eric M]

Great job!

 

[redraif]

Thank you!

Praying for warmer weather then forcasted this weekend. I'm hoping to finish my makeover... The grey on the rig is also flaking and peeling. I actually want to go to white and black instead of the white and grey... all the grey is damaged anyway, anything I do will be an improvement! I think I will also take it semi gloss like the trim. Fingers crossed it looks good! Poor thing really needs an all over paint job! Too many years out in the sun.

Has anyone matched the Alpine White on the sports to a Dupilcolor spray can avail at the parts store? Need to do some touch ups...

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Wow, such a nice improvement. You should be able to find an online guide or chart for matching the paint, you likely have a local paint shop that can mix a spray can for you as well.

 

[eurosonic]

well done. Looks clean.

 

[redraif]

Wow, such a nice improvement. You should be able to find an online guide or chart for matching the paint, you likely have a local paint shop that can mix a spray can for you as well.

Yes we have a local store that I have used in the past. They sell you the paint to mix at home and use in a can that will atomize the paint like a spray can. I plan to use that when I get a new front bumper in the summer.

 

[redraif]

For the time being on the junk cover I have now... anyone had any luck matching the Alpine white with any spray can paint. I was trying to Find a Duplicolor match... seems all I can find is this:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mitsubis...=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3cf08187d7

Pretty sure the shipping and handling will kill me! LOL! Surely there is something close in the states? Not sure why I can't find color DSC01 (Mitsu Alpine white) somewhere in the states...

 

[PirateMcGee]

Curious how it will hold up under the sun. It looks great though! I'm fortunate enough that the 1 prior owner and myself kept/keep wax on all those bits.

 

[redraif]

well The litle guy is now going to be garage kept, so things should last. I gave the same treatment to my Fiero about 10 years ago and the parts still look as good as when I repainted them. The Civic was done in 2007 and still is holding up great... and its the daily driver.

the inside inner fender wells always have to be touched up once they are done.... but that is to be expected. I hope to work on those this weekend...

 

[clmrt]

If I didn't live in the rust belt, I'd try a little harder to keep mine up like that.

It started to rust along the front hood seam before I bought it,and now all the margins are starting to go despite my frequent washings.