how does it work if i want to paint the trim around both bumpers and side moldings to match the car. i know bring it to a body shop. what do they do? i know if you paint over the chrome it will chip off in no time. do they take the trim out and fill in the place where the trim used to be and paint it that way? i want to leave the grille chrome, the eye lid around the headlights and grille chrome, and the strip around the taillights. how much would i be looking at?
If you do it yourself, you're not looking at much. I repainted my entire rear bumper cover on the black 94 but it does take elbow grease and nice if you have a garage to work in.
You need a spray bottle with water, masking tape (since you're doing trim only) and sand paper to use for wet sanding. I would use 800 grit to rough it up for the primer.
Once the primer has been applied with at least two to three coats, wet sand it smooth.
Use Dupli Color primer. Buy a can or two of primer and Dupli Color black acrylic enamel. When you have the primer nice and smooth, make sure what you don't want paint on is taped off. Spray a light coat of black on. Let dry for 10 min. Come back across it again and cover fully but not a heavy coat. Let dry for 15 min. Come across it again with the same coating action previously used. Let dry and you can stop there or do it one more time.
Let the paint set over night and then wet sand until it is smooth and slick. Buy a can or two, if all trim is going to be painted, two cans for sure of primer, paint and acrylic enamel clear, all by Dupli Color.
Once the paint has been wet sanded smooth, dry it off real good. Might want to have a hair dryer or compressed air handy. Spray the clear on the exact same way you did with the paint. 3 coats, maybe 4 should be sufficient. Let the clear cure out over night. Come back with 1000 grit sand paper and wet sand it to remove the orange peel look. Do it again with 1500 grit. You'll see it smoothing out as you wet sand. It's all very simple but time consuming if you want it to stay and look good. You can never use too much water. Remember that.
Once that's finished, use Meguires (Medium Cut) and it can be found at O'Reilly's in the auto body section. This will eliminate all the sanding dullness you created by wet sanding. $10.00 for that one bottle but you'll have plenty left over. Wipe off using micro fiber rags. Have plenty of those to work with, at least 8. Then when that's done, come across it with KIT Scratch Off in a yellow bottle. Don't down it until you have used it for this type of application. Now, when you have done this, you will now see a nice looking shine. Make sure to remove all of it and then use your favorite wax.
Everything I have mentioned can be bought at O'Reillys. Get a pack of tack cloths too. Use them after priming and before painting the first lite coat.
Primer, paint and clear, you're looking at about $30
Meguires Medium Cut is $10
Yellow bottle of scratch off is a few dollars
Sand paper is a few $'s for each grit. You can get by with 800 and 1000.
Micro Fiber rags, well, you know about how much they are and you might even have them already. You're done.
Below is what my rear bumper cover looked like but I did have air tools, DA sander but with trim only, the hand will be all you need.
Then I started applying my black LSC trim.
