Repainting bits and pieces

[nine-fiver]

The Hirsch needs a few little things done on her Cosmetics. (why is every car a 'her' the eight year old asks..?.).

Door handles, wheels and rear 'diffuser' panel. No surprises there.

My question is, what have you guys done in this department and what products have you used?
Also looking to paint up the door pulls too to get rid of the peeling rubber film. (what Were they thinking when they went to this stuff,???)

Now, just got to get the keys back from SWLTDMC...

[ScarbSaab]

(why is every car a 'her' the eight year old asks..?.)

Because they need lots of love and care to be happy every day!

Also looking to paint up the door pulls too to get rid of the peeling rubber film. (what Were they thinking when they went to this stuff,???)

How do you plan to do this? I've bought a set of used handles for this purpose but time has been against me. However, I've been wondering about the best way of getting it to adhere to the surface. I'm thinking of getting the espresso paint to match the car's body, but could still be swayed to plain black.

[Audax]

Because they need lots of love and care to be happy every day!

....and cost vast amounts of money to own and run and you always find yourself lusting after younger models... 

[nine-fiver]

Nice to get 'looks' in the the traffic last night....the car....not me....(interestingly from Merc Amg-man)

Anyway...door pulls (interiors) are going to be black, being an 04 car, so I figure I would  gently wet and dry off the rubber film, using mineral turpentine (turps down here), to dissolve it a bit. Then hit them with plasti prime and filler primer. Then sand back progressively with wet and dry to 600 grade. Then satin black paint.
I figure it can't be worse than it currently is. 

The exterior pulls can be done by masking up heavily with lots and lots of 'gaffer tape' so nothing gets scratched. Then wet and dry the handles, prime, sand and satin-black too.

Looking forward to it. An easy enough job that will lift the presentation a bit more.

[chris aka zaphod]

I'm planning to give Plastidip a go, on the internal door handles and the black bits outside.

[ScarbSaab]

The exterior pulls can be done by masking up heavily with lots and lots of 'gaffer tape' so nothing gets scratched.

Are you referring to masking tape? (Preferably the 3M blue stuff.) Around our way gaffer tape refers to duct tape, and whilst it would come off, so might the paint!

[chris aka zaphod]

A smear of grease works as well as masking tape, BTW.

[nine-fiver]

Gaffer is a black cloth reinforced tape that is pretty sticky but won't take off the paint. 3M, Bear, etc. The grey duct tape is also excellent and very sticky, but don't leave it on the car for more than a few days in one go. A hair dryer is good for softening the tape a bit prior to pulling it off.

[ScarbSaab]

We are thinking of the same stuff then! (Though I see now there is a subtle difference to duct tape.) You're a braver man than I, putting that on the paintwork. But then I have limited success with masking and painting. My father-in-law used it to hold the sides of his bumper on whilst he got new clips, and even with the hairdryer I was terrified it was going to remove the lacquer.

[Saabman]

I have painted the odd bit on mine but in the body colour, I think it looks good 

[nine-fiver]

NICE!
What a great color too. We never got that down here. I thought Merlot was good but yours looks fabulous. What's the name of the color?

[sgould]

Painting door handles in body colour is a common mod. 

On our 2003 Merlot, the black plastic around the door mirror brackets has gone white in patches.  No peeling or corrosion though.  I seem to have been successful - it's lasted four months with no sign of failing - with AutoGlym Black Dye.  It's designed for this sort of thing.  It's not readily available in Halfords etc.  But I got some from their stall at a show. 

It's a spray.  To avoid all that masking, I sprayed it onto a cloth pad and rubbed it in.  looks fine.

I can't find it listed as "Black Dye" which is on my tin.  I think it's the same as this, just a new name "Satin Matt Black"

http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/autoglym/satin-matt-black.aspx

[edit]

NO!!!!!

Black dye is still listed separately......  Not the same as Satin Matt Black

http://shop.autoglym.com/rubber-plastics-and-trims

[nine-fiver]

So the BlackDye is a pigment in a paste that reconditions the outer layer of the plastic? It soaks in a bit?

Could be really good for the diffuser panel and windscreen aprons that fade out.

[Saabman]

NICE!
What a great color too. We never got that down here. I thought Merlot was good but yours looks fabulous. What's the name of the color?

If you mean mine it's called Fusion Blue, colour code 300. The car came from factory with the exterior door handles colour coded so it seemed like the right thing to do making all the black coloured mouldings the same colour, I can't understand why Saab never did it (apart from on the older style 9-3ss cab that had the facelift front end) as most manufacturers have non-painted door/bumper moulds on base models and then colour code them on higher spec ones. I think it improves the looks and also makes it look more modern 

[sgould]

So the BlackDye is a pigment in a paste that reconditions the outer layer of the plastic? It soaks in a bit?

Could be really good for the diffuser panel and windscreen aprons that fade out.

I've only done the mirrors so far and the front bumper insert.  But it looks good, so I plan to do the windscreen panel next.   It's a very thin liquid with a black pigment.  It must soak in a bit.  Certainly recommended on my experience so far.