Painting Experiment

Last night I decided to try something that I have been thinking about doing for a while now. The front grill pieces on the van were horribly faded black plastic. I've wanted to paint them but I was concerned that it either wouldn't look right or wouldn't last long and I'd just end up ruining the parts. Well after an inspiring post along with several encouraging replys on the Vanagon mailing list I decided that as long as I spent a good bit of time prepping the pieces and I used a good outdoor paint designed for plastic then it was worth a shot.

Last night I decided to try the smaller radiator cover first to see how it would turn out. I used a 220 grit sand paper all over and made sure that the entire surface was equally roughed up and that I had gotten rid of as much grime as possible. After that I took some 409 and a plastic brilo pad and gave it a good scrubbing. Once the piece was dry I used Rustolium black textured plastic spray paint for outdoor use. I used broad sweeping motions from about a foot and a half away to layer on several passes from several angles. After letting it dry overnight I put it next to the untouched gril piece as a comparison.

While it isn't absolutely perfect it does have the look of a new part. The subtle texture keeps it from feeling spray painted and I'm sure helps to hide any imperfections. I'm happy with the results so far. I might have to paint them again in a couple of years but I'm not too put off by that. Here's to hoping that it holds up well.