Stripping paint off door mirrors

[Andy^mk3]

Hi all, recently bought some electric door mirrors. They've been painted by the previous owner (pretty badly ) and I was wondering what the best way to go about stripping the paint off them. The bits that are meant to be black are also painted, which I'd like to be black again!

Obviously they're plastic so I guess you have to be a little more careful than stripping it off metal? Also it would be a hell of a job to rub them down.

A couple of pics to help show what I mean:





Any advice is muchly appreciated thanks

[Nemesis]

Sand it back with wet and dry till you reach their original colour, then prime and apply your paint.

It wont be too hard to sand, that's a **** job lmao

[Andy^mk3]

I've never done any kind of painting or prep before. I've got a pack of wet and dry with lots of grades in it. Should I always use it wet or is there a way I should go about it? I guess I'll have to paint the bits that are meant to be black in black.

[richie00boy]

Look for a product in DIY shops called Homestrip. It strips the paint off and is OK to use on plastics I think. Loads safer/nicer than Nitromors anyway, just takes a bit longer.

[Andy^mk3]

Look for a product in DIY shops called Homestrip. It strips the paint off and is OK to use on plastics I think. Loads safer/nicer than Nitromors anyway, just takes a bit longer.

I'll have a look out for that, cheers!

[RodOGW]

I was going to say use it wet - dipping it in a bucket/bowl of warm water with a few squirts of washing up liquid in it - nothing coarser than 400 grade and work down to finer grades - but as you are talking about electric door mirrors maybe wet isn't such a good idea....

[ardenvxr]

but as you are talking about electric door mirrors maybe wet isn't such a good idea....

doesn't make a difference

[Andy^mk3]

I was going to say use it wet - dipping it in a bucket/bowl of warm water with a few squirts of washing up liquid in it - nothing coarser than 400 grade and work down to finer grades - but as you are talking about electric door mirrors maybe wet isn't such a good idea....

I'd imagine I should be able to take out the electrical components so that's not a problem. Thanks though, I've got something to go from now as I wouldn't have had a clue where to start from!

[RodOGW]

doesn't make a difference

True - they are out in the rain after all... Doh!

[ardenvxr]

being a painter i would suggest getting some good quality snding discs, like 180/320/400, use 180 to get the majority of the runs/chips flatted and then work up the grades, if you repainting them you don't need to go all way down to plastic, just so they are smooth/flat then you can prime over the paint on them

[Andy^mk3]

Ok thanks Looks like I'll be sanding them down then!

[Andy^mk3]

I've spent the last hour or so sanding down, I've worked my way from 400-600-800 so far. Do I need to go to 1200?

How it looks:




Thanks

[ardenvxr]

prime them and then wet sand with 1200

[Andy^mk3]

Nice one thanks!

[Nemesis]

To get a good result I'd suggest reading up a bit on rattlecan techniques, there's quite a few things to consider (temperature, keying surface, spray pattern/distance, time between coats)

Do some homework!

[Violet]

On flat surfaces, like abonnet, you can spray quite a bit. On wing mirrors, I'd do the really thin coats. Make sure to do about 10 coats, and don't try and cut it for about two weeks.

[ardenvxr]

10 coats? you don't need anywhere near that many 3-4 coats is perfectly fine

[the-darkhorse]

10 coats ...................................... pmsl , its a door mirror on a car, not the ark royal ffs lol

[ardenvxr]

not the ark royal ffs lol

the ark royal only has something like 3-4 coat of paint lol

[the-darkhorse]

but the paint they used on that was probally an inch thick , i used some paint on my paintshop floor they use on ship decks the stuff is unbelivable , but i guess u would still only need one coat on the door mirror if u like battleship grey lol