Paint on Girlfriend's Festiva

[Eviljimchicken]

As most of us know, there is a very fine line between trashy and super cool with Festivas. Unfortunately my girlfriend's car is beginning to cross that line to trashy due to the paint being in terrible shape.

I have considered getting the whole car re sprayed, but because the frame isn't totally straight I don't think it's worth it. Also the paint on all of the non replaceable panels is in good shape for some reason.



I have decided that I want to try and just rattle can the bad parts for now which include the bumpers, one door, the hood, the grille, and both quarter panels.

The reason that I am making this post is because I know there are a lot of really knowledgeable body guys on here and I am kind of a noob when it comes to this stuff. I have no idea what paint/primer to get etc.

One part of this that I am somewhat concerned about is stripping the paint and painting the bumpers. As far as I know getting paint to adhere to and flex properly on plastic is extremely difficult.


I'm really looking forwards to bringing this car back across the aforementioned line to super cool status!

[bravekozak]

Regular paint will not adhere properly to TPO (grey, gas resistant bumpers)
Only a special acid catalyzed, heat cure paint will adhere properly, Since TPO will deflect ( sag and deform)
under high heat, temperature control is critical.
Buy a set of factory painted bumpers, or don't paint them with regular paint, because it flake off all over again.

As for the rest of the car, buffing compound followed by a silicone wax should make it pop.

I would remove the fender and give it to a body shop to paint. They will sand it and electrostatically paint your fender properly.

I had my hood, both fenders, one door and hatch all painted separately.
No problem.
You have to really look close to figure it out.

[Eviljimchicken]

Regular paint will not adhere properly to TPO (grey, gas resistant bumpers)
Only a special acid catalyzed, heat cure paint will adhere properly, Since TPO will deflect ( sag and deform)
under high heat, temperature control is critical.
Buy a set of factory painted bumpers, or don't paint them with regular paint, because it flake off all over again.

As for the rest of the car, buffing compound followed by a silicone wax should make it pop.

I would remove the fender and give it to a body shop to paint. They will sand it and electrostatically paint your fender properly.

I had my hood, both fenders, one door and hatch all painted separately.
No problem.
You have to really look close to figure it out.

For some reason dropping the panels off at a paint place never occurred to me, I think I'll get a quote tomorrow or the day after. If I do go that route I think I would want to attempt to prep it myself.

It's kind of hard to tell in the pictures, but the paint on the front right quarter panel and left door was painted by hand and you can see brush strokes lmao. I don't think that will buff out. The clear coat on the hood is totally done and is flaking off in huge chunks.

Here is the Imgur album with higher res pictures so you can see just how ruined some of the panels are.

Thanks for all of the tips Brave!

[Dex~]

I painted my bumpers with gloss black dollar store spray paint and 3 months later they still look great.
Even survived that ice storm we had fine

The gloss shows dirt and salt really easily but that's the only problem I've had so far, i just hosed the bumpers off with brake cleaner, wiped em down with paper towel, and sprayed em black.


I'll get pictures up tomorrow when it's light out and my potato of a camera at least has a chance at getting a half decent photo

[loudrango]

there is also a product called adhesion promoter.it can be used on the whole car but it really helps the paint to stick better to plastic and rubber parts so it doesn't flake off.

[Eviljimchicken]

I painted my bumpers with gloss black dollar store spray paint and 3 months later they still look great.
Even survived that ice storm we had fine

The gloss shows dirt and salt really easily but that's the only problem I've had so far, i just hosed the bumpers off with brake cleaner, wiped em down with paper towel, and sprayed em black.


I'll get pictures up tomorrow when it's light out and my potato of a camera at least has a chance at getting a half decent photo

I'm incredibly surprised at how well that turned out lol. Too bad matched paint for this car is pretty expensive.

[Eviljimchicken]

there is also a product called adhesion promoter.it can be used on the whole car but it really helps the paint to stick better to plastic and rubber parts so it doesn't flake off.

I like that idea, I had no idea that existed. So it will allow any spay paint to be flexible?

[loudrango]

to an extent yes

[theastronaut]

It looks like the car has had a very poor repaint in the past. The clear has failed and is flaking, so all of the remaining clear will need to be sanded off. The exposed base coat will be UV damaged. The bumpers and the side trim strips will need to be stripped to bare plastic as well. If the base coat (and possibly a primer coat too) under the clear is in bad shape or isn't adhered well to the original layer of paint then it needs to be sanded off as well. For best results you'll want to strip the car back to the original paint. If you run into any old bodywork under the paint then we can guide you through dealing with that.


Once it's stripped/sanded all over you'll need to use a primer/sealer to go over the remaining old paint. I would recommend Southern Polyurethanes Inc epoxy primer. You'll need a paint gun to spray it. Two quarts with two quarts of activator will be plenty. Do three light coats so there's enough material to wetsand to prep for paint. If you have to pay a friend to spray it for you it will be well worth the added effort and cost.

https://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/

The bumpers will need an adhesion promoter sprayed first, then 2-3 coats of a flexible high build primer. I recommend SEM's high build primer surfacer made for flexible plasics. After that you can use the normal auto paint with a flex additive mixed in.

Another option is to skip the primer and paint and use grey SEM trim paint, which would replicate the look of the unpainted bumpers on L models. This type of coating won't need an adhesion promotor or a flex agent added in.

https://www.semproducts.com/product/high-build-primer-surfacer/42013

https://www.semproducts.com/product/bumper-coatertm-aerosols

Once it's primed give it a few days to cure and sand it with 500 grit to prep for paint. For paint, PPG's Omni line is a lot less expensive than their top-quality line of paints and holds up well. I would go back with Omni's MTK line of single stage urethane instead of base/clear. Again, it will be well worth spending extra here to do it properly. The paint will last and look good for many years if the prep work and quality automotive paint is used. Rattle can will look bad within a year and all your prep work will be wasted, and cheap automotive paint will quickly fail and look just like the current paint job.

[loudrango]

x2.another vote for PPG's Omni line.I've used it in the past and it does hold up very well.

[WmWatt]

You should probably remove the bumpers to refinish them. I've had both mine off. Not a big job.

[helloish12321]

Been looking forward to this one for a while.

Were festivas painted using clear coat from the factory?
I always assumed they would have used single stage since its cheaper.
When I buffed my paint out the removed material was the color of the paint, which I thought would mean it was single stage paint.

[1990new]

Neither my original 1990 Surf Blue LPlus nor Nellie, my 1990 Yellow LPlus had clear coat. If you keep them clean and put a good coat of wax on them occasionally, the paint will look like new for a very long time. The fact that Nellie has been kept in a garage most of here life probably helped too. Every other Festiva that I've owned that had clear coat, it eventually peeled in some places.

[theastronaut]

I'm pretty sure that solid colors were single stage and metallic colors had clear coat.

[Rick the Quick]

Jim, you can do most of the work yourself. John Glenn outlined it well. Do it right, do it once. I just wanted to add that if you are overwhelmed with stripping the old finish and prepping it, do as I have done in the past : concentrate on one or two panels a week until the entire car is done. Painting it is fast and easy. It's the prep work that is time consuming and also the important foundation for your final results. Don't be tempted to use cheap products and stay away from the cheap $35 a gallon lacquer primers that will shrink and reveal bodywork and scratches a few months down the road. Spend the extra time and do it right. When it comes down to putting the color on, stop if you find that your bodywork needs some more finishing. Go back and correct your defects before the color goes on because once it has been painted it sure is a lot of work to go back and fix your mistakes. You tube has some good videos that will walk you through it. Good luck, ask questions if you have any and.......keep us posted!