I need to repaint my moonroof cuz there's a patch of paint that fell off and was filled with rustoleum or something. I was wondering what you guys would suggest. Should I take it into a paint shop or just attempt to do it myself? I'd like to get a fairly good match to my white gxl.

 

www.paintscratch.com. Great stuff. Count on buying double the paint they recommend. Also don't forget, sandpaper, tape, etc. Plus you need a hair net and a clean, undisturbed, closed garage. Figure the cost of all that and the time spent and compare to the quote you get from a paint shop. I mean for the surface prep and base coat. You should have a shop do the clear and buff it regardless (paintscratch.com doesn't sell good clear). So you're looking for cost of shop for all vs. shop for clear+buff only (plus cost of DIY). If your moonroof is bad enough it'll probably be cheaper and easier to take it to a shop for everything.

If you have a buddy with a good paint gun, etc., you can pay canned paint from paintscratch.com and do everything including the clear for less money. But you should still have it professionally buffed unless you know someone who can do this. If it's a very very small area you can hand buff it.

Don't buy paint at the local auto store, or it'll turn out absolutely horrible. That stuff is for doing a ghetto job on your whole car. Not that it can't yield an okay paint job, it just won't match stock and won't look as good as stock.

 

Remove the sunroof panel and do it yourself.

Pop open the sunroof. Not completely open, but popped up and moved back about an inch.
Slip your fingers up under the sunroof's headliner at the front of it, and feel for the clips. When you find one, pull it down until it snaps out. And don't worry if one rips out of the cardboard headliner because you can just put it back in and it'll be alright.

Once the headliner piece is out, you'll see the two arms that support the sunroof panel itself. There are six 10mm nuts. Remove them, and off goes the panel.

The rubber gasket comes off easily. You'll know how to do it.

Get yourself one of those cheap paint sanding kits. It's got like 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500 and 2000 grit pieces in it.

Wet the paper and the panel and sand with the 600, moving up to 800 and if needed (but not), 1000. You'll take the paint off down to the gray primer. This is fine.

Clean the sunroof panel thoroughly after sanding and dry it COMPLETELY before attempting to paint.

Now, you've got two options for paint. Regular white semi-gloss paint...or you can go to a paint shop, match your paint color exactly and have them fill a spray can with it. It shouldn't be more than $20.
Also, pick up a can of clear acrylic.

Find your place to paint and go to town.

Do light coats. If you find that the paint is drying a bit before it hits the panel, then you're holding the can too far away from the surface. If it's going on too thick and a run has started, then you're holding it too close.

Do enough coats to have uniform color and then some. Let it dry. Really, you should let the paint cure completely before clearing it...but let's face it. Having no roof on your car could be a disaster. I've done clear without letting the paint cure many many times before and not had a cracking, chipping or flaking issue.

Put a few coats of clear on it and let it dry.

Now, if you have a really inconsistent surface you may want to wet sand it. If it's super terrible then start with 1,500 and go up, remembering to keep the surface well lubricated. If it's not that bad but you want it a lil smoother...just use 2,000.

 

^ Takes a lot of clear if you want to be able to sand it smooth afterwards. But also works. I was just saying earlier don't expect rattle-can clear to come out even close to smooth right off the bat and don't expect generic white paint to match or go on smooth. Make sure you figure out the extra cost of the paint this way, and compare that to your shop quote.

paintscratch.com has much nicer nozzles that put out a super fine mist so the basecoat (white paint) will be smooth. That's why I recommended them. Their other paint (not the color coat) is the same sucky stuff you can get anywhere.

 

Spray paint is fine if you know what you're doing.

 

Ya I'm just saying what the consequences and workarounds will be. It can work okay, especially since it's hard to tell with white paint, but it's not the same as a paint gun, etc.

 

I've painted tail lights, sunroof panels, interior parts, computers and even whole cars with spray paint. Been at it for several years. If you're careful and know the SIMPLE do's and don'ts, everything will be fine.

 

Just because you *can* paint a car with a spray balm and have it look fine doesn't mean it will stand up to the elements well.

OEM's use real paint for a reason. And they stopped using enamels in the 80's because they suck in the longevity department.

But by the sounds of what the OP is after, just pack it full of filler and paint it with a spray balm - done.

If you want to do it right, buy a new panel for ~$290 from mazda.

 

hmmm I was looking to get it repainted at a shop since a friend said it'd only be like $60. But I called in and a guy said it would be like $300-$400, which as classicauto said...it'd be the price of a new panel. So is the $300-$400 quote way overboard? Is $50-60 a reasonable price for just repainting a sun/moonroof?

 

3-400 sounds reasonable if they're replacing the panel.

$60 sounds astonishingly low for a body shop, but if the guys a friend I could see it. My labour rate if $52/hr and I'm sure that I couldn't repair, paint, an reinstall the panel in 1.1hrs...........and even then, I wouldn't be charging you anything for material.

 

he quoted $3-400 for repainting. I can remove it and stuff myself. All I would need is a repaint. I was hoping to get it repainted under $100 haha. So probably the best route is diy?

 

That sounds like the typical price to repaint a panel. Painting & body work is never cheap. But I'd think it'd be cheaper if you removed the panel for him and detached anything that would otherwise need to be masked off. If you also removed any rust/etc. maybe that'd help. I'd call and ask. It's also often a pain to do, which is why shops charge so much. Plan ahead of time, see what it'd take to DIY. Then compare.

Btw, I found this at paintscratch.com:
Is that any good?

 

Withstand the elements? I've never had ANY issue with fading or anything like that at all.

 

why don't you just buy primer, color and clear from http://www.automotivetouchup.com/index.htm available in aerosols if you don't have the equipment to do paint yourself.

Perfect color match and real automotive paints...not some crap from walmart

 

Yeah, withstand UV, absrasion and weather for years.

I must be wrong though. If you've never had problems that you've noticed, then enamel must be as durable as modern urethanes.....what was I thinking making such a ludicrous claim....I should write a letter to GM, Jaguar, Daimler Benz, Toyota and Mazda to tell them to stop painting with BASF and move onto Autozone brand spray balms for better results.

 

I think I will take your suggestion =). Looks like they do match the color!

 

Also, if I'm sanding down to the primer, do I do another primer coat or no?

 

hmmm does anyone know if I should redo the primer or if I should just sand down to the primer and then start the basecoat?

 

if its already painted, scuff it back with a scotch pad or some 400ish grit sand paper, and then go from there.

You just want it so there is enough scratches for the paint to hang on, and then build it out from there.

And remember, many many thin coats isntead of few thick coats, avoid runs, and dries quicker between coats.

 

First off its not a moonroof, its a sunroof there 2 similar yet different things.
Do it yourself, here I'm bored so I'll give a complete guide.
First, examine the piece. Sand the sunroof with 400 grit paper to get rid of the paint's glossyness. Once the paint is dull everywhere its done. Theres no need to re-primer unless theres bare metal showing. Now, after its sanded properly. Clean the surface with a beeswax tack cloth to remove the majority of dust and contaminants. Clean with paint solvent before painting. Get your paint, mix it 2-1 with reducer...I think don't rely on that one I can't remember that. Well, adjust the gun properly (hopefully you know how) and prepare to paint. Spray as many coats as you want, I'd probably do 3 or 4. Depending on how glossy you want it spray clear, clear is way trickier than paint and it likes to run and orange peel easy. If it runs, let it run off the panel and scrape the excess with a razor blade. If it orange peels, wet sand it. The more coats of clear the shinier it will be, but like I said its tricky stuff. Oh try to spray base coat and clear coat in the same day to prevent any airborne contaminants from laying in the base coat overnight. After the clear is dry, I can't remember its flash time sorry..Buff it with one of those dual action buffers so you can't burn through, or use a rotary one slowly and trigger on and off.

Oh one more thing, don't buff the clear after it drys...give it a day or so then do it.