Hey I was hoping someone could help me out here, not sure if this is in the right section though. Anyhoo, I have a black Ralliart and, as such, find that the colour of the strut bar is quite poor and clashes with the rest of the car. I have a couple days off work and was looking for something to do, so I thought 'Hey, you should repaint your strut bar black, to match the rest of the car." Sounds good to me, except for one thing; I'm not really sure what I need to do.

I've never done any automotive painting, so Im not sure of what exactly I'm going to have to do.

Do I need to sand the red paint off?

Do I use primar on it?

What kind of paints should I use?


any help would be appreciated, I feel like a tard asking though

 

Some Duplicolor paint from your corner auto parts shop should do the trick. I could be completely off, but I recommend first wet-sanding the strut bar with 600 grit paper to remove the clear coat and to rough the finish slightly. Clean it then put on a few thin coats of paint (allowing dry time between each coat). Check for smoothness, using steel wool when necessary. Put on a final coat of paint, then when dry, put on a coat of clearcoat. After all that, if you want it really shiny, use car polish and wax on it.

 

no, that's actually exactly how you would do this. Otter's advice should work perfectly!

Personally, I would sand the bastard down to the bare metal and apply primer, but you should be ok.

 

hmmm getting the strut bar out of the engine seems easier said than done, I'm almost about ready to get the impact hammer out, are they just bolted in really tight? I couldnt get any of them to budge at all.