The two bumperettes in my 1998 XK8 are badly scratched up. I would like advice on what kind of spray paint to use (gloss, semi-gloss, flat black, etc.)

Thanks!
Truman

 

wolfy, I tried this myself and failed miserably. I got some dark grey with a little metallic flake in it, auto paint (fine spray nozzle) and it came out pretty bad. Of course, I was filling holes from the license plate holder with bondo, then primer, then paint, then clear. But it didn't look half as good as the body shop, so they got my $150 to repaint them for me.

If you just want to sand them down and go with a spray paint, they might look ok.

 

They are suppose to be painted Dorchester Gray which in the UK is paint code LDP, it is a 2 pack paint so you will need lacquer too, any paint supplier will be able to knock you up a couple of spray cans but you wont be able to beat doing it with a small detail gun and a compressor.

Good luck

 

I Like the bumperettes better in Black than in the factory gray. Krylon Fushion paint for plastic works. Wet sand the factory paint to get good adhesion. Krylon also makes an adhesion promoter spray that I don't believe I used.

 

I must admit given the choice I would do away with them and put a full mesh grille in

 

Not me, every time I see a mesh grille in an XK8/R, especially the full mesh grilles it reminds me of a 15 year old with a mouth full of dental braces, although I do think the bumperettes are the lesser of two poor designs. Different tastes for different folks. I do like the mesh, in fact prefer it, in the Xjs S and X-Types.

 

Better a mouth full of teeth , rather then two K-9 teeth (Vampish)

 

One's choice of poisons, I guess. Neither is all that appealing to me, but I'd still rather have the two buck teeth than the mouth full of braces. The factory option on the R of both buck teeth AND braces is a bad enough look, which I still think looks better than the full mesh braces some put on from the aftermarket. The oval is just too large on the XK8/R for a tasteful grille in any option I've seen.

 

Good to know you have an opinion. I kinda dig it.. But your own car tends to grow on you.
Regards

 

This thread has strayed so I'm continuing in the vein...it's funny how when cars are newish people modify them to personalize them. But as they get more "collectable" the desire is for them to be completely stock/original...this is especially true with Vettes and Muscle cars form the 60-70s. I like the look of the full mesh grill, but since my XKR is nice and stock that's the way i'll keep her. BUT, as the car came from Texas which requires front license plates; some yahoo drilled into the Teeth and a screw broke off when I tried removing it. Now I have to fill the holes and paint them, so I'd like the correct paint code (are they all very dark metallic gray?) if anyone has it

 

My car had the same thing Steve, my bumperettes had the holes from the license plate frame. And yes, that color has been the same for all model years 97-04. XKRacer gave you the paintcode LDP, dorchester gray above in post #3. My shop here in TX could not find that 'code' so they matched it up from their sample book and the final result looked great.