Evening all , today i painted my side strips on my punto with help from a m8 .....and they come out looking THE BOY ! i was worried at first because things can go rong and its better to get it done professionaly but after by the grigio steel paint from halfords and primer + laquor me and a m8 went for it !

So thought id post the steps that we took on here.

1) first off we bought the paint (grigio steel) which we had to get mixed up. Also the pimer and laquor this all together come to twenty odd quid.

2) Taping up around the area we wanted to spray. Using masking tape , parcel tape and Thesun newspaper. we used the parcel tape to get rite close to the side side strips basicaly coz the masking tape woodnt stik very well. We covered most of the side of the car and half the windows.

3) Then using a very fine grade of sand paper and abit of water we rubbed down the side strips getting rid of the any shine or dirt that was on there ...but dont rub so hard that u dent the side strip with hard scratches.

4) Next we used the primer ...after heating the primer up a lil bit and giving it a thura shake we began the spraying , small bursts and going from left to rite on the side strip worked best and covered all areas . we went over this about 2 times.

5) Then once the primer was covered all over we started with the paint .
Repaeting the same as step 3 ....small bursts backwards and forwards left to rite. With our job the paint reacted abit so we w8ed about 10-20 mins for it to dry and settle then sprayed another coat on . this sorted the reaction out . we put about 2-3 coats on .

6) Lastly the Laquor . We were happy with our job and everything went nicely so we began laquoring , just like in step 4/5 . Small burst backwards and forwards left and right . If however u are not happy with your Job then do not laquor , as u can rub down the side strip with sand paper and repeat the prosess ...i think .....lol .

A few points to remember .

Make sure if the cans of paint are cold to warm up and give a gd shake.

Spray abit of your paint on the wall to make sure it is the rite colour you want ( the last thing u want is a pink blob on the side of ur blue punto ).

Make sure you use parcel tape or masking tape ( masking tape recommended). As parcel tape can leave abit of glur on the body work ( but this can easily be sorted with a bit of polish and a cloth ).

If u decide to give your car / side strips a clean before spraying , do NOT use back to black or any type of polish on the side strip. Just water will do.


Heres how mine turned out.

Hope You find this usefull.

Sorry for any dodgey spelling.

you say there was reaction so you painted over it again. the reaction was mostly caused by silicone on the plastic. silicone is a killer and contaminates bodyshops. if there was a reaction as you stated then there is a very high risk that over a short while the paint will peel off because it wont have a good base because of the silicone.

When i say reaction ...it looked like it was running a lil bit and maybe a slite bit of bubbling but it disapeared after a while of letting it dry. So is it gunna be a problem ?

Wow looks gr8 i will prob do mine soon. Tint your back lights lol

Hi you have done a good job there it looks alot better colour coded,my only suggestion is you havent said anything about a plastic adhesive,or did the primer have it included?if not it will flake in time ie cleaning with a power hose,

if it hasnt just be careful round the trims,but otherwise you have done a spot on job:worship:

when silicone causes reaction you get a little bubble effect sort of thing going on. when you see that it is a sign to stop and reclean the plastic

sorry to be negative but i think it looks crap.

you should either leave them black (they break up the colour nicely) or remove them all together, looked so much better before paint match looks pretty poor too, as expected by halfords.

looks good to me mate. I just removed mine.

Why not paint the mirrors and handles at the same time??

Wouldn't of taken much longer to do.

beau said:

sorry to be negative but i think it looks crap.

you should either leave them black (they break up the colour nicely) or remove them all together, looked so much better before paint match looks pretty poor too, as expected by halfords.

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No christmas card for u then ! Every heard of " if youve got nothing nice to then say nothing at all " And you must have sum WIKED set of eyes to say the colours dont match coz to me and most of the other members they look fine . And Crap is a bit strong aint it ? ok if u think it looks tacky or bad then fine but if i thought sumin looked that CRAP then i woodnt bother commenting on it .

Ye im planning on tinting the back lights .
And i think the plastic adhesive stuff was included in the primer.
And yes im planning on spraying the wing mirrors but not to sure on the handles !

easy now boyz !

beau said:

sorry to be negative but i think it looks crap.

you should either leave them black (they break up the colour nicely) or remove them all together, looked so much better before paint match looks pretty poor too, as expected by halfords.

Click to expand...

You wont see the colour match. The only way you can see a colour match is by seeing two flat surfaces against each other as the light will hit the surfaces equally. Note the rubbing strips are proud and angled hence reflecting different amounts of light to the door and quarter panel.


ginn.NFS..... Did you use a plastic primer? Is a special primer type that adhere's to plastics. If spraying in cold conditions paint can build up too much as it does not dry fast enough. Care should be taken when spraying base coats as the paint can bloom and discolour. For future reference after wet n drying the plastics, panel wipe can be applied which removes contaminants
personally I think it looks good

bridges said:

You wont see the colour match. The only way you can see a colour match is by seeing two flat surfaces against each other as the light will hit the surfaces equally. Note the rubbing strips are proud and angled hence reflecting different amounts of light to the door and quarter panel.


ginn.NFS..... Did you use a plastic primer? Is a special primer type that adhere's to plastics. If spraying in cold conditions paint can build up too much as it does not dry fast enough. Care should be taken when spraying base coats as the paint can bloom and discolour. For future reference after wet n drying the plastics, panel wipe can be applied which removes contaminants
personally I think it looks good

Click to expand...

All i used was The Grey Primer , paint , and laquor from halfords.....wether that is a plastic primer aswell im not sure . Thanks

beau said:

sorry to be negative but i think it looks crap.

you should either leave them black (they break up the colour nicely) or remove them all together, looked so much better before paint match looks pretty poor too, as expected by halfords.

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and the wheels on your green (snoby colour) punto really match too.
Dont put peoples hard work down, because maybe one day it will be people like him that you need help from...

csperformance said:

and the wheels on your green (snoby colour) punto really match too.
Dont put peoples hard work down, because maybe one day it will be people like him that you need help from...

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i was only saying i think the car needs the black strips down the side to break the colour up, as you can see on mine in my sig, black strips down the side left to break the colour up, looks great

ermmm yeah suppose they do match, match with the interior, thanks

I think the painted strips look gr8 on the silver car.

but i agree that they look better un painted on the green punto.

i think it depends what colour you have mine is black and would look better with matcghing black ones. Also two different cars that have a different shape and different strips.

Each to there own then

that looks good

yea looks very good mate! i was thinking of doing mine, i have a white punto, always a dodgy colour to copy :bang:
but... your car looks better coded, you've done a god job
ignore the bad comments, i think it all is peoples own opinion.
(you've seen some really dodgy cars & thought OMG! but the drivers thinks there cool!) its each to their own!