Front valance respray Q...

[trimmer]

My front valance (facelift) appears to be coated with some sort of plastic/gel coat type finish. Is this common to all facelift e30s?

I want to respray the whole thing, can I sand and paint/prime straight onto this stuff or will the paint just crack off?

Thanks

[sideshowbob]

I think you will find that the front valence is painted with a product called 'stone chip' It does what it says on the tin prevent stone chips. It is the same finish that is applied to the sills and rear valence for the same reason.
Stock stone chip comes in aerosol cans and is if I remember black, grey or possibly silver. You could probably re-apply grey and then colour code it to the colour of the rest of the car.
I am not a professional but as a good amateur you should clean the original surface remove all traces of grease, polish and wax then a light sand and you can spray with more stone chip, or primer and top coat. Getting the dimply surface clean is a bit of a problem I found a green pan scourer and strong soapy detergent worked OK.

[trimmer]

Thanks for the advice, the dimply surface does look like stone chip, but its peeling away at the corners which I why I think there's a gel coat under there. I'll try and get a photo so show what I mean....

[trimmer]

Ok here's a pic of what I mean:



Is this normal?? And am i better off peeling it all away from the bumper and starting again?

[Grrrmachine]

Yeah, mines gone like that too, so I peeled off what I could and attacked the rest with a wire brush on a drill. Trouble is, to really do a proper job would involve taking the whole valance off (which means bumper, wings and lights too.) Easy, but time consuming.

The aerosol stuff is rather thin, so if you try and match it to the existing stuff you'll need a hell of a lot of coats to build it up to the same thickness. You can get brush-on stuff (like underseal) and then sand it smooth when it's dry.

[trimmer]

Good to know, thanks Looks like I have some dismantling to do this weekend (if it stays dry )

[DHFiS]

I dont think you need to remove the wings and lights to remove the the valance, just the bumper and headlight grills.

[Grrrmachine]

wings bolt over it at the front tips, so you'll have to undo SOME wing nuts and do some jostling to get it out.

[DHFiS]

Thats right, you undo the screws through the valance into the wings near the lights and it can be dropped down and out of the car.

[Grrrmachine]

Ah, I thought it would involve some significant "persuasion" of the wings to let the valance drop out from underneath, which risks serious paint chipping when putting it back on. But I've never done it meself, so I'll take your word for it

[trimmer]

Thanks guys, will be attempting this at the weekend so very helpful.