Prep and painting a replacement door mirror procedure

[Green Machine]

I bought a replacement drivers side dimming mirror for my 93. it is a different color (plum they said) than my Deep Jewel Green, so obviously it'll need to be painted.
At the risk of sounding like a noob, Can someone tell me the proper procedure to paint this mirror housing with Duplicolor rattlecan spray paint to get the best results?
ie:
what grit sanding paper to use prior to priming, primer? clear?
do i need to prime? or can i just rough up the original paint and shoot it without primer? sanding in between coats needed? final polishing? ....etc. Thanks in advance.

 

[kustomizingkid]

Here is what I did on Tommy's license plate bracket and it turned out great....

Scuffed Original Paint with Red Scotchbrite
3 Coats of Primers
400 Grit to remove a few imperfections
3 Coats of Color
6 Coats of Clear

I did 3 coats of clear but wasn't satisfied so I did three more lol....

 

[Green Machine]

was any sanding needed between paint and clear?

 

[kustomizingkid]

I didn't... the clear had some orange peal too... but meh It's only Tommy's car...

 

[unity]

Is your original shell damaged? Why not swap the mirrors?

 

[98CobraStarLSC]

What duplicolor matches good up against tri coat? I didnt know they were close. I painted a Nitrous Bottle Mystic a couple of years ago that turned out good, but nowhere near the color of the Cobra's!

 

[Blenderhead]

Is the paint on the mirror in good condition? As long as there is nothing you can catch your fingernail on, you should be fine to just "scuff and shoot" it. Get some wax & grease remover, wipe down the mirror with it, then wipe it dry. Now tape up the parts that you don't want painted. It is easiest to use a razor blade to cut out the contours to get nice clean lines. Once it is all taped up, scuff it up with a red scotch brite pad, until there is no shine left anywhere on the mirror. If you have any doubts, scuff it some more, there is no way you can scuff it too much. Once it is all scuffed and there is no shine left, wipe it down with the wax & grease remover again, and wipe it dry. Use latex gloves when you do this, so that once it is wiped down you won't get any oils from your hands on it. After this, go ahead and paint it, no primer necessary. Use several light coats to avoid runs and make sure you get a nice even coat. Once it is all covered, give it about 15 minutes to flash off, then give it a few coats of clear.

If there are any chips or gouges in it, then these will have to be feathered out by sanding with some 180, then 220, then 320 grit sand paper. If you have to sand out chips/gouges, then you have to prime. If you spray primer, depending how good you want it to look, you can either spray color right over it, or let it dry and then wet-sand it. If you spray the primer, then let it flash and spray the color, then let it flash and spray the clear, you will probably have some major orange peel going on. It is only a mirror, so that might be fine to you, but if you want it to look best, you should let the primer dry completely, then wetsand it with some 400, then clean it with the wax & grease remover and paint and clear.

 

[PHIL ANDERSON]

+1 I Took Mine Apart And Switched Out The Internals Not Tough At All

 

[Green Machine]

actually my original mirror shell is excellent condition. is that a complicated ordeal to swap glass and motors from one to another? will the glass and motor assy come out in 1 peice?
i popped the glass off one once and could never get the glass portion back on right. the little tabs broke and i couldnt get them lined up right to the motors. you cant get them anymore from the dealer.

 

[kustomizingkid]

Just undo the two screw in the bottom on all the guts come out....