I've never heard of using soap though, that sounds kind of iffy to me.

 

It's suppose to be some kind of secret thing body guys do.
I guess if it's car wash soap, there's no harm.

 

You're stock front bumper is abs plastic, so it'd be the same as doing you're moldings, or lips.

 

I have a quick question.
I know how to paint small body parts like my stock side skirts. The color match came out ok and the clear came out ok too. My question is how to get that deep shiny color like stock. My skirts shine, but not even close to the body. Do I wet sand the clear coat and reapply? What do I have to do?

Thanks!

 

they will not match because your car is sunfaded,..which means the paint of your car has faded from sitting in the sun and what not,...professional shops usually try to match the color by blending surrounding body panels,...the only real way to get everything to match is to paint the whole car at one time

 

Clear coat in a can will never shine like how the rest of the body of the car does. The key is to make the last coat very wet, but not dripping or running. Most people I know paint their own stuff, and then have a shop clear coat the pieces for them.

 

I am not sure if your local auto paint supply store has it but... The one around here can match the paint on your car and put it in a spray can so you can paint things your self they even can put the clear in spray cans. Its not some cheap paint either its the same paint they sale to our body shops but they just put it in a spray can for you.

 

how many coats of clear did you put on the skirts. If you put enough coats. 3 or so. you can wet sand with 1500 grit. be extremely careful not to burn through. Use a compound and an orbital sander after. this will give you a paint with out any orange peel in it. Do not do this to a stock paint job because it doesnt have enough coats of clear on it

 

what if you used 600 grit. is that bad? how many cans of paint would it take to paint the trims, skirts, license plate holder, door handles and antenna body on a 4 door?

 

Alot.
I take 3 cans just to paint my front bumper.