I have an 03 CL-S anthercite/Grey and I've been tryin to do some sudden hilights in red. I painted the acura symbol on the center red caps, painted the brake calibers red. Now I wanna paint at least the engine cover if not more (we'll see down the line). I've never painted plastic before. I'e painted fiberglass, sub boxes & wheels.I never tried a candy. My questins are the platic engine cover has a bumpy plastic texture on it & I want to have all the paint smooth. So should I body filer over the plastic cover & sand it or will it go away as I build up the paint layers? If I have to use the bondo do I have to use somekind of chemical to whipe it down with before apllying the body filler. Befor I paint anything should I use some type of plastic primer? Also I'm gonna atempt a candy paint on it. The paint color is called blood red. I'm going to spray it over some lexus millenium silver I have. Any tips on doing candy paint or do I just lay down the base coat & then just keep spraying light coats of the candy until it looks the right shade?

 

there is a chem you use called bulldog that helps paint stick to plastics. however with proper prep and primer you dont need it.. if you dont know what your doing.. leave it for the pros... or practice a ton first on plastics..

 

My painting has been limited to solids, but I do know that doing a candy paint is a difficult and skilled process. I think the process is quite a bit more difficult than what you expect.

In regards to surface preparation, I wouldn't use any sort of filler or high fill primer on any plastic surface. It would probably be quicker, and provide better results, if you just sanded the surface to the texture that you want. There are plenty of abrasive papers that would smooth down most plastic surfaces. Sanding the surface with a scotch-brite afterwards will provide a good base for the paint to adhere.



Terry

 

Dont use body filler. Get a 3m scuff pad (after washing it with dawn to remove oils and dirt, then get a degreaser and wipe the whole thing down again) scuff it up really well. Get yourself a high build primer. It will build up and fill the bumps. Sand smooth between coats (you will probably only need 1 maybe 2 coats, then use regular primer. Once its all smooth then paint it. That plastic doesnt get moved or flexed, its strong. I have painted many engine covers with that method and have never had issues (i do a lot of automotive painting)

 

 

Probably have better luck in the CL forum since there are several members there who have done custom paint work on their cars... so moving this there

 

If you want it smooth why not just primer it and smooth the primer instead of smoothing out body filler?

 

If using filler use rage gold. It sticks really good
And with candy you don't have any choice but to spray light coats.
Candy paints are really thin and transparent.
It take many coats from what I know just to get to solid looking color with out worring about runs.

 

Get a high temp ceramic primer

 

Not needed on the engine cover. It never gets hot enough to warrant high temp paint of any sort.