pontious

I have a Dover White NA with a steel hood. I just bought a aluminium hood (a few months back). I have future plans to get the entire car painted, but I want to know what I can do to get the Al hood to look halfway decent on my car now. of course, I should tell you that the "new" hood is a peeling red . I think that is the color code. The paint is in VERY bad shape. so at least I will be stripping it and priming it right?

1) Should I try and find dover white and paint it myself?
2) forget it and wait
3) Paint it <fill in color> till the entire car is painted, because:
a) you won't find dover white and if you do it will look wierd compared to the rest of the 18 year old car.
4) other option????

Thanks guys.,

Valkyrie

I'd stick with factory paint if I was you. Partially because I like factory colors and partially because I think cars with OEM paint are worth more (Isn't it? Factory paint is a good thing for buying/selling a car because it's proof that the car hasn't been damaged).

So my vote is to find Dover White or get Mazda to paint the hood for you.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

strip it down to the metal, polish it to a mirror like shine and then clear coat it. BAM! chrome looking hood!

pontious

That is really what I am leaning towards. I actually like the color of the car already. I guess I might want to wait to put the hood on until I get the whole car done. I just wonder if I might be able to stip the paint, get some shaker can Dover white and do it myself. Then eventually get the whole car done in dover at some point in the future...

pontious

Hmm. I wonder how this would look with an almost 20 year oud paint job on the rest of the car. if I had o guess I would say tacky though, maybe not. I shoudl photshop a polish al hood onto my car to get an idea...

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

i always wondered what it would look like to have a chromed car. perfect candidate would be a Delorean. "blinding" would be the word that comes to mind.

therotaryrocket

what about a black hood on a white car? a little too ricey? Make sure you fill in the low spots, sand it down then use sandable primer or body filler if need be, then lightly spray flat black paint and guide coat with wet sandpaper which is sanding with a straight block wrapped in sandpaper. Keep guide coating until all the low spots are filled (low spots are indicated as darker flat black where the straight sanding block couldn't bend down in there), I think this is the correct process all though it's been a while since I took autobody class. Good luck, post pics.

BklynRX7

Black hood on a white car looks like your tryna imitate carbon fiber sadly. I would just either find the closest duplicolor color or go to http://www.automotivetouchup.com/ and get a couple spray cans of dover . Im tryna find an AL hood in my area too and if I do ill be doing the same thing. I found the perfect duplicolor color and will be spraying the whole thing.

rs_1101

yea thats not a hard white to duplicate.

eatcivics... whats your experience with the duplicolor? i did a test on my old door and someone thought it looked like factory quality paint.

Valkyrie

Yep, and even thinking of doing that makes you a ricer in my book

Real carbon fiber is cool though. Even cooler is carbon fiber parts painted to look stock, unless you prefer the two-tone effect (even better when you have CF headlight covers too).

BklynRX7

Ive been using it alot recently mostly on en experimental basis. i have a tornado silver metallic fc (s4 color) And my hood and roof is badly faded. I picked out a color by site alone and matched the cap to my car and it looked almost perfect. i sprayed some on my rear bumper and it matched great. I eventually roughly sprayed my sunroof panel which i am replacing and a square design in the center of my hood so compare further. it looks great but when the sun hits it directly it reflects and looks bright silver. A friend told me he had the same issue and the reason is because there is no clearcoat so im gonna try that soon.
as for the use, if you follow the instructions it is really hard to screw up. The can sprays in a fan pattern like a miniature spray gun and goes on in light coats so its not easy to screw up and get runs.

I sprayed some on a near perfect sunroof panel i am repairing right now and i couldnt tell where i sprayed 10 minutes later. I really like this stuff.

pontious

What is the best way to prep my AL hood? Chemical strip, sandpaper? Are there and good docs on this?

BklynRX7

Im preparing to paint my car myself and i am going to just wetsand the existing paint with 400-660 grit and spraya way btu since your putting white over black i woudl definitely wetsand them prime with a white primer and then paint, to make sure the shade isnt affected.

FDNewbie

iTrader: (10)

I can tell you my body shop definitely does NOT recommend trying to strip the paint off of RX7 aluminum hoods because it can damage it. They use Marine/Aircraft paint remover, and it works like a charm. That's def. what I'd suggest as well. Oh, and this shop prob has more experience working on RX7s than any in the area, if not the country. Literally.