Spraying plastic trim, any tips?

[RanchoGrande]

Just bought some replacement trim for the rear bumper on my touring and it needs to be painted to match. The piece is already prime coated, does this mean I can buy some spray paint that matches and just crack on? Will I need some clear lacquer as well?

Thought I may as well try and do this job myself rather than take it to a body shop.

Thanks in advance

[to3m]

I spray painted a headlight washer jet cover that came pre-primed. (This sort of size is about all I feel confident doing.) I think it required one coat of colour spray and a couple of coats of lacquer. I bought the spray from Halfords, and the colour was a good match.

If you haven't done this before: beware. Getting a good, smooth-looking finish is very difficult, and might require multiple attempts. But, depending on what size area you're spraying, and how visible it generally is, good enough might be good enough. After a week, my headlight washer jet cover was covered in grime and insects anyway.

[RanchoGrande]

It's a a tow bar cover which is approx 15cm by 15cm and it sits towards the underside of the bumper so it's likely nobody will notice a slightly shoddy finish! Spray and laquer it is then. Seems to be a few places that sell kits pre matched to your car colour so will give it a whirl.

Thanks for the advice

[4rephill]

RanchoGrande said:

It's a a tow bar cover which is approx 15cm by 15cm and it sits towards the underside of the bumper so it's likely nobody will notice a slightly shoddy finish! Spray and laquer it is then. Seems to be a few places that sell kits pre matched to your car colour so will give it a whirl.

Thanks for the advice

Don't rule out Halfords for the paint (if they have the right colour of course).

I did some rust repairs on previous E36 328i sport, and the Halfords Montreal blue paint was a perfect match - The repair was invisible.

[cdrick4]

I would use a paint intended for plastics like the Krylon Fusion.

[anonymous-user]

Lightly abrade primed surface and clean

spray with 2 lightish colour coats

spray with clear

job done