Hood/Grill Paint Job!

Body kits, spoilers, lights, and anything on the exterior of the vehicle
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ShadowSnF
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Apr 26, 2013 3:48 pm
Location: Erie PA
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Hood/Grill Paint Job!

Post by ShadowSnF »

I spent my entire day prepping and painting the hood on my beautiful Vibe!

Materials used:
Ajax degreaser dish soap/bucket of water
Air powered sander
12mm socket and 3/8 drive
Flat blade and Philips head screwdrivers
Krylon Satin Black Covermax spray paint (2cans)
Krylon Satin Covermax spray clearcoat (1can)
2 saw horses
Blue painter's tape
Utility knife
Newspaper
Large Sheets of Cardboard

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Step 1: Get tools set up!
The preliminary things I did:
Use 12mm socket to remove the 4 bolts securing hood to hinges, disconnect windshield washer lines from sprayers on hood, remove hood and set on saw horses, washed hood with soapy water (ajax), and finally carefully use flat bladed screw driver to pry washer nozzles from top of hood. I then used blue painters tape to make the boundary where I would be painting (ie the top of the ridges on the hood.) Then turned on my compressor and hooked up the sander! I do not remember the grain of the sand paper, but can fetch that for those who need to know!

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Step 2: Sand down the hood!
I used the air sander to go in circles around the center of the hood and sand off a few layers of the factory paint, scuffing it to receive the new paint! The bare metal patch you see was a series of dents that I pounded back out, then sanded to metal because they were showing rust.

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The car with no hood lol Looks to be a lot of room for a turbo ;)

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Step 3: Wash sanded hood!
Now that the hood was sanded down I washed it with soapy water again, then rinsed with the hose and let sun dry. This removes all dust and grease to allow the paint to stick!

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Step 3.5: Don't make mistakes, unless you have touchup paint!
I was done sanding, almost put my sander down and saw a rust spot in the paint outside the area I intended to sand..... so instinctively I pulled the trigger and sanded the rust spot.... on the grey paint. Well, now I'll be buying a can of Shadow touchup from my dealer to make sure those spots don't rust lol

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Step 4: Painting the grill area!
I used a flat head screw drive and phillips head screw driver to remove the 5 or so snaps and screws that held in the honeycombs in the grill. I then taped off the lip of the grill with painters tape. After I had the lip taped I used more painters tape to secure the newspaper to catch over spray as well as a large piece of cardboard to cover the engine bay. I would actually suggest a bed sheet, but I didn't have one handy to use. It would have made life a whole lot easier! Also used painters taped to cover the pontiac emblem, and the utility knife to cut out the tape to only be on the emblem.

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Step 5: Painting!!
I used rattle cans, which suck to paint with but were the paint that matches my body paint. I applied coat 1 on the hood working left to right, coat 2 up and down, coat 3 left to right, and coat 4 up and down then left to right lightly on both takes.
For the nose I moved from left to right and applied coats 1 thru 3 the same way. Coat 4 was light and all over; just a dusting!
Clearcoat was applied in the exact same way on both, 4 coats each!

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The finished product!!
I apologize for the dust looking hood. I still need to wet sand it and buff it, but ran out of time for the day! I tried wiping it off, but it need washed pretty good or maybe a coat or 2 more of clearcoat!
K&N Typhoon SRI, DC Sports Header, Bosal Sports Muffler, Six-Speed Swap, Canuck Lowering Springs, 17x7.5 Black Six Spoke Wheels, Two-Tone Paint, LED Interior Accents

Racing is life, anything before or after is just waiting...
Doug14
Posts: 403
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2012 11:37 am
Location: London, Ontario

Re: Hood/Grill Paint Job!

Post by Doug14 »

looks good! wish i had the old grill style
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dannyboy
Posts: 32
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 5:26 pm
Location: Gander, Newfoundland

Re: Hood/Grill Paint Job!

Post by dannyboy »

I would love to do this to my '06, I've got a few big scratches that I've tried to touchup but can't get to blend right so I've been thinking about doing the whole hood. Were you able to get the finish buffed back to match the rest of the car?
2006 AWD 'Stealth Grey'
My Garage
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ShadowSnF
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Apr 26, 2013 3:48 pm
Location: Erie PA
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Re: Hood/Grill Paint Job!

Post by ShadowSnF »

The short answer... no lol

If I had used higher quality clearcoat it would have, but I used Rust-o-Leum gloss clear and it gave it a different sheen close up. From about 5-10 feet out, and onward, both sides of the hood look identical. However, up close, you can see the texture difference, as well as more of the metal flake in the paint. I've sanded, and polished it many times to try and even it out, but after so long I just gave up. It looks great anyways, but it definitely isn't perfect.

My gf got me the upper rear spoiler for christmas, so I may be sanding it all down again, and repainting it when I paint the wing!

I got my paint (the shadow grey metallic) from expresspaint.com, and it matched 100% perfect! Just plug in your paint code, and they'll send you exact match paint in aerosal or any other kind of paint you want. It was reasonably priced too!
K&N Typhoon SRI, DC Sports Header, Bosal Sports Muffler, Six-Speed Swap, Canuck Lowering Springs, 17x7.5 Black Six Spoke Wheels, Two-Tone Paint, LED Interior Accents

Racing is life, anything before or after is just waiting...
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A Psycho Martyr
Posts: 2598
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2010 6:13 am
Location: Cullman, Alabama

Re: Hood/Grill Paint Job!

Post by A Psycho Martyr »

damn fine job man.
I like seeing good prep work and thought going into this stuff.
Too many people rush jobs and get sub-par results
this looks great :D
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