So today I was on the phone with a friend who also owns a TL and he gave me a few steps on repainting my lip. Why I want to do this? Well, it's pretty scratched up at the bottom, which is expected. But when my uncle was here, he drove my car and managed to rub a curb on BOTH sides of the lip. So I have a long scratch on one side which I've tried to repair, but no luck. The other side, well the paint was taken off down to the primer.

Painting it flat black... unique, i know.

So here are the steps I was told...

220grit dry sand down
400grit wet sand
3 layers of paint
1000-1500 color sand

anything missing?

 

and lots of time.

take your time.

let the paint cure as well.

after clear coating... you'd want that to cure and then 2000grit wetsand and buff.

i think........

if you want a local guy to paint it. let me kno.

 

I'm not going to clear coat Josh. Just straight flat black. OG shit.

 

they have specific clear coats for flat paints.

if not.. you should put on more layers for the base paint as your front lip, as you would already know, are more prone to getting rock chips like your bumper.

 

Yeah. Don't you just hate those darn rock chips? It's so annoying.

 

you need to primer it before you spray, at least on the areas where the paint rubbed off. Dont buy cheap paint if you are going to rattle can. Jjashaa is right, you still need to clear coat, just doint buy the glossy kind. Clear keeps protect the paint, or else you will find yourself needing to paint very soon.

 

If its really beatup on the bottom you might wanna use a wayyy lower grit.

 

color sand flat black??????

 

ok so primer and add clear. yeah my bottom is pretty f'd up, so im thinkin to drop to 100 grit and work my way up.

i am plannin to buy a rattle can, but what should i get?

 

Start with 80grit, the plastic the lip is made of will take too long to sand, esp if the gouges are deep. Then step sand from there, to at least 400, before spot priming. The paint will cover scratches of 600 and up. For finer grits, you'll need to wet sand, to keep the paper from clogging.