Finishing painted mirror covers ?

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Mudder

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So I decided to try my hand at painting some mirror covers to match instead of shelling out $700 for color matched mirrors. Ordered some gloss black covers, knocked the shine off them and painted them today. I've got 3-4 coats of spray can clear on them now. They look ok but I was thinking I'd wet sand them tomorrow. From what I've read I should wet sand, then hit them with a polishing compound and then wax. Does that sound about right? I was going to use 2000 grit to wet sand with.


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DRkNESS

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I had both of mine painted for about $150.00. Of course white isn't the easiest color to match, but they did a great job.88a971519ae0b8433210867c9af92728.jpg


F.O.F
 
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Mudder

Mudder

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I called around here. Most body shops wouldn't do it cause they'd "lose money" by occupying their booth on a noninsurance job. The couple places that would do it were gonna charge me around $400.

So far I've got about $80 in it. $40 for the covers and then adhesion promoter, paint, sand paper, and clear. I'll have to go get some polishing compound and more sand paper tomorrow to finish it off. But I'll be happy if it looks decent for under $100.


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Rzrman328

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Make sure to post pics!

I hit mine up with rattlecan a while back and they came out pretty good IMO...but I didn't do any sanding.
 

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Deepc6

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I had both of mine painted for about $150.00. Of course white isn't the easiest color to match, but they did a great job.88a971519ae0b8433210867c9af92728.jpg


F.O.F



Looks good I was considering doing the same thing


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DRkNESS

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Just checked with (2) body shops in this area just to see what's the going price. Without install and reinstall, they were both quoting between $450-500 to do solely the mirrors. Still cheaper then buying the color coded ones from the dealers, but still some COIN...
 

Deepc6

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Just checked with (2) body shops in this area just to see what's the going price. Without install and reinstall, they were both quoting between $450-500 to do solely the mirrors. Still cheaper then buying the color coded ones from the dealers, but still some COIN...



I inquired from a shop near me and they quoted me $1500 for prepping, sanding etc my front and rear bumpers, removing the RAM on the tailgate and painting the new mirror covers.


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DRkNESS

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Now see that seems reasonable as they would need to fill in the holes left from the " Ram " removal. Plus removing and prepping bumpers, mirrors and that tailgate is some work. What color is your Ram ?
 

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Delmonico Red


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Mudder

Mudder

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Well, here are my results. Sanded, adhesion promoter, about 5 thin coats, resanded, cleared, wet sanded, polished and waxed. Not super pleased. They don't look terrible but they are not very shiny. Just not sure you can get much shine out of a can. Idk if I'll leave them on or not.

43113946998db65a72d6ab900dc8ce4b.jpg


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Mudder

Mudder

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Now I'm wondering if I could just pop these off, take them to a local shop and they could clear them for me. Surely that wouldn't be too much and then I'd have the shine I'm after.


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Mudder

Mudder

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Yes, you can just pop them off. First mirror needs to be removed, then 3 screws hold the cap on.



No no, the caps are what they quoted me $400 to paint. These are just stick on covers. The caps were so much because they are textured. He said there would be a lot of prep work to get them smooth. Idk, I may just save up and drop the coin on a factory set. We shall see.


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BlownGP

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No no, the caps are what they quoted me $400 to paint. These are just stick on covers. The caps were so much because they are textured. He said there would be a lot of prep work to get them smooth. Idk, I may just save up and drop the coin on a factory set. We shall see.


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You can wet sand that textured part yourself. That's what I did when I bought new mirrors. Takes a little time but mine came out fine.

I used color matched paint from a rattle can too. Got it from Touch Up Paint and accessories | AutomotiveTouchup

If you only cleared them ONCE. That's why they are not shiny. Do 3-4 coats of clear.

IMG_20161209_232220.jpg
 
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Mudder

Mudder

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Looks really good. I did 3 coats of clear. Followed the directions, waited 10 minutes between coats.


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Robocop_9

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^^^^^ What blowngp said. You can sand them smooth yourself. Takes some time and patience but they will look good and save you literally hundreds!!!
062422dda4ca3b5ba4eccd96078042d6.jpg

I did mine myself


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Mudder

Mudder

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So what's the consensus on where I've screwed up? I sanded it, adhesion promoter, painted it with dupli color paint, cleared it with dupli color clear, wet sanded, polished and waxed and I still don't have much shine. It's smooth to the touch, just not as shiny and the other paint.


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Veritech

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I wanted to pop my mirrors (glass) out to remove and wrap my chrome cover but the glass was not wanting to give way. I was more worried of screwing up the motors than breaking the mirror glass. Sprayed WD40 behind the glass and pulled from the top but eventually gave up (aka became a chicken) lol

This thread is renewing my courage though!
 

Robocop_9

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I wanted to pop my mirrors (glass) out to remove and wrap my chrome cover but the glass was not wanting to give way. I was more worried of screwing up the motors than breaking the mirror glass. Sprayed WD40 behind the glass and pulled from the top but eventually gave up (aka became a chicken) lol

This thread is renewing my courage though!



YouTube is your friend. Depending on the year you tilt the mirror all the way down and there are 2 clips on top that need un snapped. Then it will lay down freely and you'll see the place to un hook the bottom then there are 3 screws that will allow you to separate the mirror


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Veritech

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YouTube is your friend. Depending on the year you tilt the mirror all the way down and there are 2 clips on top that need un snapped. Then it will lay down freely and you'll see the place to un hook the bottom then there are 3 screws that will allow you to separate the mirror

Oh I've seen the videos, just chickened out at the amount of force needed lol. I'll give it another go on my next free weekend (will also be adding blind spot cameras)
 

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