Prepping my Metro door panels for paint and .... ?

[Mr Lee]

I have a beautiful pair of brand new Challenger door panels in black from Metro and I have the SEM products to paint them green.  I am using the SEM soap and the grey scotch brite pads that SEM provides to clean the door panels.  So I'm cleaning them and getting some nice lather going.  Then grab a damp sponge to wipe them off and the sponge is totally black.  huh?  They're brand new.  Why is the sponge black?  So I rinse them off and wash them again.  And again... black on the sponge.  So I washed them a third time and I am still getting some black on my sponge.  Has anyone encountered this?   Should I keep washing them?  I feel like it's not going to stop.  Any adivce?  Thanks.

[Cuda Cody]

I use Dawn dish soap and then the SEM soap and it worked awesome.  If you scrub them hard with 400 to 600 grit grey scotch brite it might have opened up the plastic so you might be getting so off gas color.  Should be fine if you paint them.  Just make sure they are clean and dry before painting.

[Mr Lee]

Yeah I started using some Simple Green as a pre-wash, figuring that it would help me to save from using up all the SEM soap early on because I was going through it pretty fast.  I assume that Simple green would be good since it's a degreaser but not harsh, and not a solvent.    It seemed to work well.  Then I finished with the SEM soap.   

Yeah it's weird, I wasn't scrubbing the new door panels hard or anything.  Was really surprised to see them get my sponge all black.
off gas color?  Was that a typo or...  not sure what that means?  I wonder if these aftermarket panels are a different type of plastic than the originals.
The next step after the SEM soap was to wipe with the SEM Plastic / Leather Prep which is a solvent, and when I did that, the rag turned black also.  Again, these are brand new.  There shouldn't be any significant dirt on there.  It was clearly the plastic rubbing off on the rag.  Strange. 
In any case, I got them clean and I am gonna shoot them today, hopefully.   

[jimynick]

I took some dish soup and washed my door panels and when they were rinsed and dry, I took a rag and wetted it with MEK- methyl ethyl ketone- and quickly but completely wiped them with it. The MEK softens the plastic and improves the adhesion, but be careful and wear gloves and respirator and don't overwipe. Then I painted them with the SEM in 3 light coats and so far, it's stuck perfectly. For what it's worth. 

[Rich G.]

I use Sem plastic adhesion promoter before shooting color.

[anlauto]

I use Dawn dish soap and then the SEM soap and it worked awesome.  If you scrub them hard with 400 to 600 grit grey scotch brite it might have opened up the plastic so you might be getting so off gas color.  Should be fine if you paint them.  Just make sure they are clean and dry before painting.

Great advice right here, and don't forget the adhesion promotor 

[Mr Lee]

YES on the respirator, the gloves, and the adhesion promoter, indeed!  Now I understand why that stuff works so well.  It's STICKY!  Its like spraying a thin mist of glue on there.
Just finished doing most of my plastics.  Still have to do the dashpad but I think this SEM paint looks very nice indeed. 
Pics attached - (might look a little glossy but I took these right after I was done so it may still be a lil wet) 

[anlauto]

Fantastic job panels look brand new

[JS29]

  They look factory from the pictures. 

[Cbridgewater]

Any tips of what to do if your panels have cracks/scratches/gouges?

[Mr Lee]

Any tips of what to do if your panels have cracks/scratches/gouges?

Yeah, learn to live with it.  lol    That or replace the panel.  I don't know of any way to really do any bodywork to them but I'm sure one could if they were resourceful enough. 
The paint is actually pretty good at making them less noticeable because you're working with a textured surface.   The deep ones are still visible, but less noticeable.  Really depends on what your expectations are I guess. 

[ec_co]

Any tips of what to do if your panels have cracks/scratches/gouges?

one of my a-pillar pieces had a tab break off, I successfully used a 2 part plastic epoxy weld on the back side (roughed it up a little for better adhesion) and you can barely see it now. if I had to paint it, it probably wouldn't show. but they are my originals and didn't want repops (nor repainting in blue)

[jimynick]

We used to have a vinyl repair guy come in to the shop and one day, I watched him. He repaired the crack via plastic welding and adding raw vinyl until he had the surface built up to where it needed to be. Then he mixed up a 2" puddle of bondo and applied it right on top of the patterned vinyl beside the repair. Watching it carefully, he waited until the bondo was setting, but not fully hard and he lifted it off the vinyl surface. He'd just made a pattern of the vinyl pebbling and using the heat gun on the raw vinyl, he softened it up and pressed the pattern into it until it cooled and then removed the bondo leaving an excellent similar surface. He then took his airbrush out and mixed some vinyl paints together to get a colour match and applied it. He feathered it out and coated it until the blend was virtually invisible, leaving me with the impression that this guy'd just done a wee piece of magic- right there before me. So after a very long tale, yes, you CAN repair plastic, but you've GOT to know what you're doing. Have fun. 

[Mr Lee]

Thats awesome. [emoji106]


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[Jocigar]

Mr Lee,

If you don't mind, take a group picture of the products you used for me to reference down the road 

Looks like the paint added texture?