How to paint outside trim?

[ShortThrow50]

Is there a write up anywhere? This winter I was thinkin of painting the trim for something to do. I saw a few pics on this forum a while ago of a fox that had all the windows around the trim and paint taped offf for trim painting. There is metal trim around the front and back windows and plastic around some of the side windows. Is there an effective way to do this type of paint so that it sticks? What type of prep? what type of paint/primer?

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

Take off all the trim first.

Scuff

Paint

Reinstall.

The only ones I would prime is the door sills...those are always rough and sun rotted. Sandind them first with 150 move to 320 then prime and sand and repeat until desired finish is reached...then paint. I would do your quarter glass moldings the same way if they are bad.....pull them out of the car though. Doing them in the car won't give you the same results.

 

[87foxstang]

im not sure if there is a write up on this but heres what I did:

I took all the trim off, but you can do it on the car. I sanded them all down and took the old paint off with 220 grit. Then i used 360 grit to take any major scratches out. Then hit them again with 400 the 600 grit to smooth them off and take out the small scratches.

Right before painting obviously blow them off and wipe them with something like final clean to remove oils or dirt.

As for painting, i used the adhesion promoter called bulldog. It helps when painting trim and rubber material. It goes on clear and makes them very flat and smooth.

I painted them with single stage black enamel but you can you whatever you want. After 3 coats they were flat, smooth, shiny and looked 100% better than they did.

Hope that helps

 

[ShortThrow50]

Thanks guys. As far as the quarter windows go, Ill have to post up pics of the one side. Looks like the preivous owner scuffed the one up pretty good with a buffer or something. I would like to clean that up. Ill have to post a pic up later.

 

[Fast63]

50resto.com has some primer and paint for trim. The primer is designed to stick to plastic and bare metal. The paint does not shine like enamel does, but it looks good IMO. I did it on my 85, but my trim is not supposed to shine a lot, I don't know if yours is.

 

[cobradvm]

Duplicolor makes a nice black trim paint - I would avoid using primer - just scuff it well with a scuff pad, use a good quality wax/grease remover, dry well, and shoot 2-3 coats of the trim paint - the duplicolor comes out with an nice satin appearance. Pretty much all of the trim is easy to remove - I removed the trim on the that goes above the door at the edge of the roof, the side mirrors (need to remove the door panels to get the wiring connector disconnected) the trim along the bottom of the window, all the window trim - difficult to get off - I made my own trim removal tool using a putty knife and a grinder, the metal trim that goes around the upper frame of the door. Then masked off the door and painted the black part of the doors. Takes a fair amount of work, but looks like new when done. Avoid sandpaper as much as possible, as it will leave scratch marks - just scuff it, degrease it and shoot the paint.

 

[HaynStang]

Agreed, the Dupli-Color Trim Paint is pretty good and is readily available. I painted my cowl grille and wiper arms with it 3 years ago and it's holding up well. Didn't use anything except a green scotch brite pad to scuff them up and rubbing alcohol to clean them.

Does anyone have specific instructions on removing the trim around the side & rear windows?

 

[Shakerhood]

SEM Trim Paint works great too, it is just the right color Black.

 

[cobradvm]

Removing trim around the windows is tricky - you can buy a trim removal tool or can make one like I did from a putty knife - you cannot remove it without one of these tools or you will damage the trim. To remove the trim, you have to slide the trim tool underneath the trim - you're coming it with the tool flat on the glass, and slide it under the trim. Then slide the tool along underneath the trim until you hit one of the clips. To release the trim from the clip, you have to catch the clip with the spike end of the trim tool, and pull it outwards. This pulls the clip in the direction you're pulling the tool, and releases the trim from the clip. Sometimes you have to come at the same clip from both sides.

In order to do it without damaging the trim, I went to a junk yard and ripped a couple of pieces of the trim off to see exactly how it was held on and how many clips there were and where they were located.

Installing the trim after you have painted it, is simply a matter of pushing it on, and it snaps into place - make sure you have it lined up right, because you can't slide it once it clips in, and then you will have to try to remove it without damaging your nice new paint job.

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

SEM Duplicolor make good trim black. SEM stuff is about 10 bucks a can though. Duplicolor is about 4-5.

 

[ShortThrow50]

oh hell yeah. Awesome replies guys

 

[DREAMZOFHIRPM]

good luck with the rear 1/4 windows,, it all one piece but ino they sell kits that u scuff anf glue these new trims directly onto the old trim ive seen them in person and they dont look too bad i still thin id scuf fn paint em tho carefully rather then glueing the piece on becuase u cna tell it wasnt originally ther ebeuase it sticks out an 1/8 of an inch more then all the rest of the trim,,, but the duplicolor is ok i used it to do wiper arms as well, worke dnice holding up nice too