Pagoda SL Group

W113 Pagoda SL Group => Body, interior, paint, chrome, and cosmetic items => Topic started by: perry113 on March 22, 2010, 00:02:05

Title: Painting hubcaps
Post by: perry113 on March 22, 2010, 00:02:05

I have been in desperate need to paint my center caps on the 230SL. I finally bit the bullet and painted them on Saturday. Instead of using a stencil I taped off the non painted chrome areas using flexible rubberized masking tape. The whole thing took 4 hours to do.
They came out fantastic.
My car now finally has colored caps to match its beautiful Light Ivory paint.

Title: Re: Painting hubcaps
Post by: menesesjesse on March 22, 2010, 02:36:46

Peter
Great job on the hubcaps.  They look great.
Jesse

Title: Re: Painting hubcaps
Post by: Ulf on March 22, 2010, 12:31:53

That just encouraged me to do the same thing, did you use a scalpel to cut the tape in place or was it flexible enough to follow the rounded contours?

Ulf

Title: Re: Painting hubcaps
Post by: al_lieffring on March 22, 2010, 18:17:40

instead od trying to follow the coutours of the star and ring with the tape, I just run straight pieces of masking tape over the entire area, trim it with an X-acto knife and peel away the area to be painted. This way takes less than an hour to do all 4 wheels.

Title: Re: Painting hubcaps
Post by: w113dude on March 22, 2010, 22:29:22

Good job Peter!

Title: Re: Painting hubcaps
Post by: perry113 on March 28, 2010, 04:07:54

Quote from: Ulf on March 22, 2010, 12:31:53

That just encouraged me to do the same thing, did you use a scalpel to cut the tape in place or was it flexible enough to follow the rounded contours?

Ulf

Hi,

It's special flexible tape and bends beautifully.

Title: Re: Painting hubcaps
Post by: ja17 on March 28, 2010, 12:56:35

Hello,

I also use Al's flat tape process.

I usually lightly sandblast the untaped areas after masking and before priming so the primer gets good adhesion. I also use a "etch" primer.  The same tape job works on the sandblasti and the painting. Be gentle.

The secret to a good job is to use just enough paint and primer to do the job. A very light coat of primer and just enough paint to cover is best.  Heavy paint build up causes heavy, thick paint edges when the masking is removed.

Title: Re: Painting hubcaps
Post by: perry113 on March 31, 2010, 13:34:23

I scuffed the areas to be painted with a red 3M scuff pad (320). You take off the tape within 45 minutes after painting. If you wait too long you can run into a problem of pulling off painted surfaces.

I think the flexible tape is called fine line. It's blue and comes in several widths.

Best of luck to all who are going to do the same.

Cheers

Peter

Title: Re: Painting hubcaps
Post by: Ulf on April 27, 2010, 09:08:28

I gave up on finding that special, flexible tape and used regular masking tape and a fine scalpel - that worked fine as well, at least I'm quite proud of the result as I'm not usually very good at doing stuff like that :)

Title: Re: Painting hubcaps
Post by: Iconic on April 27, 2010, 17:09:41

And now you, in turn, have given me motivation. Thank you.

Title: Re: Painting hubcaps
Post by: Ulf on May 03, 2010, 06:45:08

You're welcome - have fun! ;)