NameIsNotImportant Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Hi there! First post Recently I was a tad careless and I backed out of my drive and smashed my drivers side wing mirror on the bins. I've replaced the glass, but the cover actually blew off when I was driving when a lorry went past. So I've bought a new driver side wing mirror as well. The problem is the only drivers side wing mirror I could find was unpainted. Primed, but unpainted. What do I need to do so I can paint it properly? I've heard a lot about rubbing it down with wet & dry paper, as well as adding a coat of laquer on top of 3 light coats of the colour. Is this correct? I'm completely new at this, so I'd prefer not to balls it up the first time round and have an odd coloured wing mirror . Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeA Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 just go light, 10 light coats are much better than runs. people make the mistake of trying to get it the right colour first coat. After the first coat you should still have grey poking through from the primer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadmetal Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 If it's the first time you spray painted, try to find somthing to practice on before you start spraying car body parts.The wing mirror will need a degrease first, somthing like brake cleaner is good but, how soapy water will do the job.You'll need to rub the primer down with wet and dry 1200/1500 grit so the paint has somthing to stick to.Lots of thin light coats are much better than thick ones as Joe' said.Follow the instructions on the paint (10 mins between coats etc) and you should be good.Clear coat can be a right pain. Again multiple light coats are best. Rubbing the paint back with wet and dry before you aplly the clear is somthing that needs doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koop Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Yep thin coats about 15 mins apart til you've got a nice even coating, leave for 24 hours then rub down with some very fine wet n dry - i used some 2500 grit from halfrauds - just enough to take the shine off, make sure it's completely dry then do a couple of lacquer & the shine will come back tenfold Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koop Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Or what he said, beat me to it Also you'll need a vertical pole type thing to rest it on so you can get all round & underneath, I tried doing one of mine on a flat surface & it was a disaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James827 Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 take your time and Rub down small imperfections Even in the colour coat so it feels smooth to the touch when you rub your hand over it use VERY VERY FINE sandpaper. Halfords to "Contour sanding pads" and there are very good for this (Reusable too ) just damp them down a bit and Obviously only sand when the paints dry and then paint when the case is dry. For a higher gloss Finnish i would do a few light coats of lacquer too! built them up until your happy really. and wait 24 hours after paint for laquer 2 people beat me too it. Nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadmetal Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 and wait 24 hours after paint for laquer I forgot about this. You really NEED to wait as long as you can, atleast 24 hours before putting the clear on. Put it on too soon and the propellant in the paint evaporates through the clear which gives you a nice crazy paving finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NameIsNotImportant Posted April 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Wow thanks for all the responses, wasn't expecting this many! By 'clear', do you mean the laquer finish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeA Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Yeah they do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadmetal Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Yes clear coat aka laquer.I say clear as I forget how to spell laquer lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NameIsNotImportant Posted April 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 Heh, yeah I wasn't too sure about how to spell it either. Ok cool, thanks for the advice, i'll give this a bash tomorrow. Getting pretty sick of hearing my wing mirror howl whenever I go over 50mph . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John taxi driver Posted August 12, 2020 Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 Hi , I spray painted my wing mirrors after primer obviously, in total about 24hrs ago but Iām still not convinced they feel ready to flatten off before applying a couple of extra coats ( because I annoyingly run out of paint) . Will it take longer than I thought to dry or is it never gonna dry totally for some reason, it is touch dry atm šš» Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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