Paint body kit - or not?

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Oz Merkur
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Paint body kit - or not?

Post by Oz Merkur »

Hello fellow XR4ti tradgic's :D

I am pondering on this..... I have a Red XR4ti I am restoring......its pretty orginal and tidy. I have repainted the body. But I really wish to paint the body kit, bumpers etc in matching red. So the debate is:

a) Red body kit looks so much better and they should have always been colour coordinated

vrs

b) No the orginal design should be kept - they are getting rarer and orginal is better


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thesameguy
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Re: Paint body kit - or not?

Post by thesameguy »

I think religious discussions are prohibited on this forum.
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John Brennan
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Re: Paint body kit - or not?

Post by John Brennan »

Bear in mind that the grey cladding is of a rougher texture than the later, monochrome, "smooth" cladding. If you're going monochrome, I would suggest the later cladding; it'll turn out a lot better.
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merkurdriver
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Re: Paint body kit - or not?

Post by merkurdriver »

John Brennan wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 11:34 am Bear in mind that the grey cladding is of a rougher texture than the later, monochrome, "smooth" cladding. If you're going monochrome, I would suggest the later cladding; it'll turn out a lot better.
You can sand down the grey to where the material is yellow (and smooth) underneath, the prime and paint. I've seen it done a few times and it came out really well.
morlynon
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Re: Paint body kit - or not?

Post by morlynon »

So what route did you take, OP? Post some pictures when you can.
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andyofcolumbusmerkur
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Re: Paint body kit - or not?

Post by andyofcolumbusmerkur »

I painted a "textured" front bumper. Mike from Merkur Depo said that Maaco or other places may refuse to paint over this rough surface. So I wiped it down with strong solvent to remove grease and oil. Sprayed it with Krylon grey primer, then sanded lightly leaving primer down in the low areas, and sprayed it again. A few years later the paint is still sticking. However I'd say swap over all the plastic cladding from a mono donor xr if possible.
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eaton53
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Re: Paint body kit - or not?

Post by eaton53 »

andyofcolumbusmerkur wrote: Sun Jun 10, 2018 9:17 am I painted a "textured" front bumper. Mike from Merkur Depo said that Maaco or other places may refuse to paint over this rough surface. So I wiped it down with strong solvent to remove grease and oil. Sprayed it with Krylon grey primer, then sanded lightly leaving primer down in the low areas, and sprayed it again. A few years later the paint is still sticking. However I'd say swap over all the plastic cladding from a mono donor xr if possible.
I got the cladding on my white '85 painted. The white monotone look (white wheels, too) were a big thing back then.
The paint stuck for awhile. If I were recreating that look today, I'd also do a mono cladding swap.
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Re: Paint body kit - or not?

Post by Ed Lijewski »

Local club guy had that White over chrome spatulas sections with white painted inner sections. So-called "California Wheels" IIRC.

Soooo much nicer and durable than the black over black wheel fad.

YMMV
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