Headlight Bezel R&R

[jae]

All,

Have a set of Salon / 442 headlight bezels and need to scuff & repaint the black portion on them. Was wondering what the best way to scuff them up (was thinking a red scotch brite pad) and then paint them. Figure since the weather's breaking & we're going through a mini-heatwave (hit 60-degrees yesterday) I can start to prep and hopefully shoot these in the garage.

Is the red scotch brite ok or should I go with fine sand paper?
Should the paint be flat / matte black or like a semi-gloss?
Type of paint, i.e. Dupli-color?

Thanks.

 

[3XBrownCutty]

For mine, I wet sanded with 400 grit paper, used duplicolors green self-etching primer, then their semi-gloss black. I just used the instructions on the can :lol: . turned out really nice... love the semi-gloss

 

[Blake442]

A red scotchbrite should be fine, just be careful not to scuff up the un-painted edges!

 

[jae]

For mine, I wet sanded with 400 grit paper, used duplicolors green self-etching primer, then their semi-gloss black. I just used the instructions on the can :lol: . turned out really nice... love the semi-gloss

Thanks for the info. I'm still going back-forth on the flat and semi-gloss, most likely will be the semi-gloss. Will be stopping by the parts store this weekend to check what they have; I'm thinking the paint shouldn't be a problem but not sure about the primer. I hope they have it.

 

[jae]

A red scotchbrite should be fine, just be careful not to scuff up the un-painted edges!

Definitely. I'll be using plenty of tape and blocking off the areas before scuffing / sanding. Chrome portions are in great shape, just need to bring the black up to snuff.

 

[3XBrownCutty]

even if you do get a little paint on the chrome, steel wool cleans it right off and shines it up real nice too. Glad I could help 🙂

 

[Blake442]

:shock: Don't use steel wool!

On regular chrome, it works fantastic, you're right on that.
On the plated plastic, like what the headlight bezels are, it will scratch the sh*t out of the plating.

 

[jae]

For mine, I wet sanded with 400 grit paper, used duplicolors green self-etching primer, then their semi-gloss black. I just used the instructions on the can :lol: . turned out really nice... love the semi-gloss

Two questions:

Did you do any finishing on the semi-gloss, like final wet sanding with 2K-grit, buffing?
Did you use any clear after painting or just run with the duplicolor?

 

[Blake442]

For mine, I wet sanded with 400 grit paper, used duplicolors green self-etching primer, then their semi-gloss black. I just used the instructions on the can :lol: . turned out really nice... love the semi-gloss

Two questions:

Did you do any finishing on the semi-gloss, like final wet sanding with 2K-grit, buffing?
Did you use any clear after painting or just run with the duplicolor?

Sanding and buffing doesn't really work that well with rattle can paint...

And more importantly, buffing a non-glossy finish kind of defeats the purpose of using a non-glossy finish...

Once you spray semi-gloss paint, that's what you get. If it doesn't look good, sand it smooth and try again.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I would polish the edges first. For polishing plastic chrome, I have found that Meguiars Swirl X swirl mark remover works best. It is not very abrasive, if at all, and it cleans all the scum off of the "chrome" without leaving any scratches. I just did my lock switches with it and they turned out beautiful! If you need to remove any leftovers on the chrome after paint, use lacquer thinner, or try just rubbing it off the chrome with a terry cloth towel. I used a similar method when I painted the "LOCK" script in the switches. I first used a paint pen and painted the area, then let it partially dry and I wiped the excess off the top, leaving the paint in the lettered recesses.