[neel]

My 97 CSE Anniversary 2.0 LPT Manual came with the aero bodykit consisting of body coloured bumpers, spoilers etc and looks ravishing (after the wife and me laboured for an hour for the last 3 days waxing and polishing it). The only thing about its looks that does not impress me is the black plastic mirror covers particularly seeing even the Clios and Polos having body coloured mirrors .

Anyone got any ideas on how to get the mirrors to look body coloured? Like any stick on caps or any kind of paint which can make it look similar to the body colour. Has anyone done it? BTW, my 9000 is midnight blue coloured.

Any tips gratefully accepted
Neel.

 

[neel]

Just noticed my status has moved up to Saab Fan

Thanks Admin!

Neel.

 

[dicreamio]

Hi Neel,

I know guys that have carried out that job themselves by

a) painting the mirror cover with a special coat of primer that sticks to the plastic and provides a base for the next layer of paint.

B) Then painting over the base coat with paint that matches the cars paint code.

Its important that a primer is used otherwise the paint will not hold on the plastic and would just flake off after a short while.

There maybe a few more steps involved in it however thats should be the basic way of doing it.

Michael


Michael

 

[neel]

Hi Michael,

Thanks! that was very quick.

Would you know by any chance what primer that is? And about the colour code, does it need to be the usual car paints available at stores like Halfords? And would they match the Saab Midnight blue shade exactly? I don't want to try doing it and then have the car look bad. So would appreciate if you could provide me with any more detail. Sorry if I am being thick!

Neel.

 

[ylee coyote]

the carly's came with body colour mirrors
and I am assuming that ,as dicremio states ,it is a quick rub down,a spray with the plastic primer and a couple of coats of the colour..
metallic will need a few coats of laquer as well
I am sure saabman will correct us if we are wrong !!

 

[ylee coyote]

to answer your next questions
there are people that will make you up spray cans exactly matching your paint
I think I have even seen it in one of the big halfords as well...
I would phone around some of the paint suppliers

 

[dicreamio]

Yep,

Its a special primer you can get, I seen a can of it the last time I was down at my local autofactors.

If by any chance you know someone that works in a bodyshop maybe they should be able to do it for you and it would look alot better. As Id be a bit worried about going at it with aerosol cans of spray paint.

Unless you can do a few practice runs first on an old bit of plastic or something. As theres a bit of a knack in getting it right without paint running etc.

Im thinking of doing the same job on mine however Im a bit luckier as my car is white .

Anyway as ylee coyote said metallic paint requires a bit more work. Lets hope saabman can shed more light on the subject.

Michael

 

[saabman]

I only just fell on this subject by chance
Right here goes,basically key the plastic with grey/red scotchbright,plastic prime,flat if needed,paint,laquer if needed.
If you needed a smooth finish instead of the grained finish of the original mirror you would need to apply a good few coats of primer after the plastic primer and then flat with 800's-1000's grade wet and dry (wet) to acheive a smooth finish for the paint.
I'll find my link about painting plastic and post it here in a few minutes

 

[saabman]

http://www.saabscene.co.uk/ubb/ultimatebb....t=000317#000000

 

[Anthony B]

Hi all

I did mine on my (black) aero a few weeks back.
First of all I removed all of the innards.
Then I rubbed down the outside with approx 80 grit paper and then progressively finer grades to get rid of the grained finish and moulding lines. I then sprayed with a normal type of grey primer, rubbed down with wet or dry used wet, spray again etc etc until the primer was glassy smooth.

I then sprayed with a normal aerosl, left it to dry a few days and then T Cutted them.

The result looks just as good as many factory mirrors I have seen. The plastic appears to be a pretty inert type with no bad reactions to the paint. I bought the paint at a motosave shop but I guess any primer will do. You can buy spray cans of the appropriate colour at Saab dealers. I used one big can of each for 2 mirrors

HTH
Ant

 

[microcat36]

Halfords mix and fill into spray cans mixing any colour of saab paint ,have used this 3 to 4 times (back panel,mirrors,ect) and i have always had a great match as scarab green is not the easiest paint to match and metallic, just take your paint code into them.

 

[neel]

Thank you very much Gents!

Last thick question

. Can this procedure be safely carried out without removing the mirrors (masking out the parts which don't need to be sprayed)? Or is it essential to remove all the mirrors (which I don't have the faintest idea how to do)?

Cheers,
Neel.

 

[dicreamio]

Ney Neel,

From reading saabmans instructions and my own limited expierence I would say take them off and do them.

Its been a while since I last took the mirrors off my car but the mirror itself is handy enought. If you look under the bottom of the mirror itself and you should see a small round hole. Inside that should be a be a piece of white plastic/nylon with notches in it. You should be able to with a flat screw driver move it in one direction (cant remember) this should unlock the mirror glass itself.

Then remove the heater wires from the rear of the glass itself. And then loosen the screws that hold in the motor unit there should be around 4 of them. Then the rest should be held in by a spring loaded mechanism from what I remember (sorry its been over a year). You should be able to get the jist of it from there on if not im sure some of the other folk around should be able to give more detail.

However if you want to paint the whole unit it might be easier to take the whole unit off complete from the door itself. I havent done that one yet but Im sure its pretty straight forward.

Hope that kinda helps

Regards
Michael

 

[neel]

Will try to have a look and understand how to do it. And as far as painting it goes, I think I am first going to buy the primer, spray can and try doing it to pieces of plastic (from something unwanted in the house) get the whole procedure right and then try out on the mirrors. Will let you know of my progress when I get round to doing it.

Thanks a lot, Michael. I do appreciate this.

Cheers,
Neel.

 

[mark e]

Originally posted by dicreamio:
[qb]However if you want to paint the whole unit it might be easier to take the whole unit off complete from the door itself. I havent done that one yet but Im sure its pretty straight forward.
[/qb][/b]

Definitely the easiest way to tackle it. Remove the triangular black trim panel insde the door and then you will be able to access the screws that secure the mirror assembly to the door.

 

[dicreamio]

No probs Neel,

Im thinking about attempting the same pretty shortly, might go one step further and do the spoiler aswell . Just gunna have to get the right code of paint.

Good Luck!

Michael