I am going to be painting the plastic that surrounds the headlight white and I just wanted to know the proper way to do this so that way when it is done it does not look screwed up. I would also like to know what kind of paint to use?

 

Take it off, scuff it down with 320 grit sandpaper until it's smooth to the touch - then use whatever paint you want to make it whatever color you want, and for longevity go over it all with a lot of clear. Don't do it on the car, but pay attention to how it comes off so that you don't scuff it going back on, and make sure you wait until it's dry.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

^^^ what he said basically, but if youre trying to paint it white, use some gray primer first, 2 coats, then sand with 400 or higher sandpaper, then paint with white, like 3-4 light coats, then clear, like 3-4 light coats.

 

Yeah I would probably use some prep sol on them as well before painting, as they probably have been amour all'd.

 

Not to mention getting some self-etching primer. It will stick to the plastic and will not peel like most regular primers because of the different characteristics plastic has. As soon as you prime the plastic with self etching primer you can paint it what you want. All you need is something good for the paint to stick to.

 

With the sanding you're probably not going to run into adhesion problems - but if you feel better doing it you can buy a can of adhesion promoter to spray before you paint - you don't need to go higher than 320 before you paint because the smoother it is, the less likely the paint is to stick to it, 400 should be okay, but 320 is the generally accepted standard for sanding a primer coat. And you don't have to use a primer with plastic, but if you do use a primer you'll use less paint changing it to white. However, if you decide to prime it, I'd go with a lower grit sandpaper before, like a 150 or 220, then prime it, and then 320 afterwards. Etching primers are for bonding to bare metal. Changing white to black you're going to use a lot of paint anyway, but you'll know that when you're done you've got a uniform white. Plus when you sand the black it's going to gray up anyway.
I've painted a couple of cars, both turned out damned nice and one won best in class at a carshow here, and the RIGHT way to do it is to sand it with 150, dust it off with a clean towel, use an adhesion promoter, then a high build primer, then sand with 320 (no wet sanding on a primer coat), dust with a NEW clean towel, if you go through the primer at all, respray and sand again, etc until you don't burn through, then after dusting, paint with your white, DON'T sand, spray a LOT of clear (especially if you're using rattle cans) then wet hand sand it out with 800 to get rid of orange peel until it feels as smooth as glass, then wet hand sand with 1000 until it feels smooth as glass again, then wet hand sand with 1200 until if feels smooth as glass again, then use a hand rubbing compound (not a machine rubbing compound, the bottle should tell you) then a hand polishing compound, and you'll have headlight covers that shine better than your whole car.

That being said, what I would do if it were me, even if it were for a show car, is just rough up the black plastic with 320, clean it with windex, clean THAT with rubbing alcohol, dust and dry, then paint until it all looks white, then clear that and be done with no sanding - the color will match and won't out reflect your car.