Can I repaint the lower valence with spray paint?

The lower valence of my car (My BMW, but I assume this will also apply to MGB's) is tremendously stone-chipped with a couple hundred mostly small chips. This is ugly. I'd like to get it repainted but it would cost hundreds of dollars. Can I do this myself?

I have no painting equipment and don't really want to get into that. I suppose I could go to Maaco or some other cheap-o place. But, can I do this myself with sandpaper, primer, spray paint? Or is that just going to create a mess? The lower valence isn't so visible (beneath the bumper) so perfection isn't really critical like it would be on other parts of the car. On the BMW I think the valence is that plastic stuff, not metal as on the MGB, if that matters.

Any thoughts?

For the BMW I bet you could get the local auto body shop paint it at a good price if you remove it and do the prep work yourself.

For the MG, spray paint would probably work fine if you can match the color.

I'm of the mind: what have you got to lose? It can't look much worse than a stone-chipped valance. Paint it flat black & it will "disappear" even more!

...and if it looks THAT awful after you spray it, take it to Maaco. LOL

Talk to some folks at an auto paint store. a lot of them can load aerosol cans for you (or there are refillable cans) with factory colors and with flex additive. You could also hit with a rubberized undercoat, then paint which may help a little with future chips.

I vote for Tom's solution. Have the paint supply folks match your body color then load it into a couple of spray cans. You can do it yourself/save some big bucks/and appreciate it all the more because you did do it.

Prep is the key...then mask everything off real well. Build up the finish with several lighter coats as it says on the can label, rather than spray heavy and risk running the paint.

If the spoiler is very flexible you can use an additive to make the paint flex as well, but most spoilers/airdams are not really that flexible once mounted.

There is a lot of prep and painting info online.

Have at it!

My panel shop suggested "stone guard" paint for the valance. I have been looking for the actual name of the product but I can't find it (3M has a product called "Stone Guard" but that isn't it).

It is thick and textured but you can't really notice it on the valance. It is supposedly very chip resistant. It looks great.

He even painted the boot floor in it and it looks pretty cool (of course if you had a carpet/rubber for the floor of the boot you wouldn't see it at all).

I don't believe it is THAT hard to apply and I would assume the texture would cover any small application mistakes.

Maybe someone has an idea of a product name?

http://www.paintscratch.com/

They'll match pretty much any automotive paint color you can find. You can get touch-up sticks or brushes, as well as aerosol cans.

I like Eric's idea... I have used a "stone guard" product successfully on rockers and it does seem to prevent further chipping. Sorry, no longer have the rattlecan, but most of the big chain auto parts stores have something like it.

The best part is that the finished surface is not smooth... it looks kinda "lumpy"... so no one can critique your painting skills!

Chip-guard, stone-guard, gravel-guard. And other variations. Could even look at a rattle can of bed liner. Depends how visible your valance is!

Stone gaurd mastic or Schutz, does a good job, but it is rough enough, even when painted to a nice gloss, to sometimes collect some wax over time and look a bit different than the smoother panels next to it. I shot schutz along my rockers and lower chip prone areas when I painted my GT many years ago, and altho it does do a great job of resisting stone chipping, I am not sure I would do it again.

Otherwise, doing what Rick and Tom suggest will likely clean up the appearance. I would just suggest, tho, that when you repaint, you use the toughest paint you can get in a spray aeorsol can. I note that Eastwood does sell a refillable aeorsol can for 2 part paints, which would probably give you your best protection, but it also might be more bother than its worth.

saffyres Wrote:

Or read up on the "$50 Paint Job". Just the valance should cost you about $1.25!

Thanks for the good ideas here.

This gives you some idea of what the "stone guard" paint looks like (just rushed out and took a flash shot of it in the dark).

That stoneguard paint looks just fine -- about what my normal spray painting usually ends up looking like anyway! Thanks Eric for taking the time to take a photo. I've "copied" these ideas into my painting notes. Looks like I'll be visiting my local auto paint shop soon. Can't look any worse when I'm done than it looks now with 300 paint chips. It's like I follow gravel trucks around or something!