i actually just bought my mirror caps to the body shop on monday , at first they said they couldnt do b/c of the texture, i laughed and said paint them. I should be picking them up today or tomorrow

 

Service companies and/or any company are allowed to turn down jobs/bids for work. They don't always have to provide the reason why. The reasons can range from lack of time all the way to family emergencies to financial restrictions to just plain not wanting to do the job... they don't have to share all that to the public.

When I got my mirror caps painted, I bought primed ones from F150partsguy and took mine to the body shop, they acted like they would have turned them down if I just brought in the textured ones for them to prep. Like some have said it is more cost effective for them to paint the primed ones. I also bought a maroon upper bumper cover to have painted oxford white as opposed to using my textured one.

 

True, and thats the best way to have them done.

 

Exactly, some people come into these shops and expect you to take the work. I saw it in my dad's shop and the customer would make it sound like they were doing him a favor by coming to him for work. Um, can you say "I don't want your work" Not referring to people here, but just backing up GreenBuck50's post.

 

Bottom line to help you out with your dilemma...

It is a very easy task to get anything that is the textured plastic ready for paint. However, it is extremely time consuming. This is why most shops will not accept jobs like that. You have to start with a very low grit sand paper, like 120 grit. Then you keep working the piece up to 800 grit with incremental steps in papers. Once you do that (literally hours of work for a small piece) you can paint it, or have it painted. It is recommended to use a plastic adhesion promoter but I personally have never used one, and never had a issue. I go straight to the base "etch" primer, then a regular high build primer after that. Wet sand, and it is ready for paint.

Just for reference, the tailgate strip that is on the back of the tailgate is the same textured plastic. Here is a picture of mine after I was finished with it. And yes, this little 1" wide 4' long strip took me a few hours of sanding to get the plastic ready for primer and paint.



If you need more info shoot me a PM

 

Its not hard work, but not worth it for the .3 labor hour each would include. I think the tailgate pad would be easier then a single door handle. lol Being a painters helper/backup painter I understand the time it takes for what most average people assume to be a quick easy job.

 

you are a goober.

 

I went to a body shop that knew what they were doing and what they did was they quoted the cost of the materials and the labor and gave me the estimate.
You see, if it takes a long time to prep something, you pay the guy to prep it. For example if what you want done requires 15hours of prep, you didn't waste 15hours of the guys time, you paid him for it (probably an arm and a leg)....

The only way it would be a waste for a shop is if they didn't factor prep into the labor, otherwise they are just scared they couldn't do the job correctly and gave you an excuse.

 

Sounds like there are alot of painters and body shop guys here, being that u all have a strong opinion about what a body shop will say and do. Tell me this how is it any different than any other plastic thats painted. Sounds like some of them just arent confident in that its going to last vs bugs rocks etc. and that they may not want to warranty the work. Why not say yeah sure we will paint it....but not sure how long it will last and it being plastic and not fiberglass we cant give you a warranty for the work. Just my opinion but i would buy that over other excuses or just a flat out NO we wont do it.

 

Its hard to explain. Textured plastic isnt fun to mess with when trying to smooth it out and paint it. I've done it and the final product looked great and lasted, but the time it takes to sand every little corner of a door handle is not worth it. If the shop gave a high estimate for something so small, the customer will probably say no and put a bad word out for the shop. Its not a "small" job but in the customers head it should be super easy and relatively inexpensive.

I guess I just hate them because I do the paint prepping at my shop, been in the auto body business for 4 years now and thinking of sanding on textured parts all day makes me sick. lol I would buy the primed ones from ford which will come all nice and smooth, which can be prepped in miunutes vs hours for the textured set.

 

If done the correct way its not even an issue.

Scuff up the plastic
Spray adhesion promotor
Spray high build primer
Sand
Repeat above 2 steps until no texture is left
Wetsand
Basecoat
Wetsand
Clearcoat

I started with 180 grit and worked up to 600

AND DONT USE SPRAYPAINT IN A CAN!!!

 

I used spray paint oem color coded from a can and I guarantee you could not tell them from a factory painted set

 

Whatever.

 

Spent way too many years in the body trade (not where I ended thank goodness). There are a lot of different plastics used in the automotive trade and you have to know what you're dealing with before you even start, in order to have a chance of it sticking and holding up. The worst I have ever personally worked with was Volvo back in the '80's. (may still use the same today). It was waxey and fibrous, very difficult to get anything to stick to, even with adhesion promoter. You couldn't get the stuff to sand smooth- had that "hairy" effect.

 

x2 This man speaks the truth.