What To Do About This Painted Trim…

[slippyd]

Hi everyone; been reading these forums for a while now and I guess It's time to chime in. I bought my first Porsche last December (a 1976 911 S) and have slowly been working to fix and restore what the PO had done in a hurry. Right now she's leaking oil (just need to get her over to John Walker sooner or later ;-D), so I'm taking the time to fix some things I can't normally remove and still be able to drive it around.

Specifically, I want to get the trim black again (it was black when I bought it), not black with little chips of chrome showing through all over. I've read on here that there's plenty of folks out there willing to trade original plated black trim for chrome trim, but since mine was already painted, I decided I've got nothing to lose by stripping the paint first.

I shortly found out why it was it painted, besides updating the look: the chrome/metal was quite worn around the edges and corners.

So now I'm at a crossroads. I'm not sure if anyone would want to swap with me for metal they'd have to get re-chromed anyway; I don't have the tools to re-plate it myself; and doing a thorough painting myself (a primer coat, color coat, and sealer coat of something like Krylon) is looking mighty tempting (especially since it's sunny in Seattle and I want to drive!)

Attached are pictures of her when I got her and of the wear on the door handle (after stripping the paint). Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice!





(reposted here since I didn't get any bites on the 5 - Miscellaneous > Paint & Bodywork Discussion Forum)

[carrera turbo]

hello there and welcome aboard

since you want to drive this baby "nice car by the way" go to your local paint supplier and get a product called Upol or SEM . and just repaint your trim and keep going. if you trade for black trim it will most likely need painted anyways since the factory stuff is a anodizing and fades over the years.

sorry i couldn't be more help.

cheers ed

[Paulporsche]

I vote for repainting. There are lots of threads here on repainting trim. BTW car looks nice.

[tcar]

So, not quite stock... that's a Carrera ('84 -'89) front valence.

Looks like you've got SC or Carrera rear flares also (hard to tell).

[ben parrish]

The trim was probably worn on the edges from sanding prior to the last painting.
Strip off everything...scuff up and degrease. Use a self-etching primer and then use a satin finish spray paint. Wurth is good but so is Rustoleum. Many thin coats and it will be there forever. If you skip the self-etching primer, the finish will not last and you will get the chips that you now have.
Ben

[slippyd]

carrera turbo & ben parrish: Thanks for the advice! Looks like I'm going paint shopping this weekend!

tcar: Yeah, it's been updated a bit. No flares in the back, but there is a tail to match to valance; I'll post a photo later.

[jonbot]

I've used the SEM Trim Black more times than I can count. If you prep it properly, it will always come out looking like a factory job.

[slippyd]

The Carrera tail:

[Jgordon]

I typically don't like white, but on some cars (like yours) it looks beautiful. I'll second that it looks more sanded, as in prepped for painting, rather than worn. Repaint and drive asap. You guys get little enough sun as is.

[jkarolyi]

Actually, you do have rear flares...a stock '76 911S has flat rear fenders that have wheel cutouts much like those on your front fenders.

In '78, Porsche introduced the 911SC which had small flares like your car currently has. Most people call these "SC Flares". These flares were continued through the Carrera 3.2 which was sold from '84-89.

You are probably thinking of Turbo flares, which are much bigger. A lot of '74-77 owners put these SC flares on to make them look newer and so wider Fuchs can be fitted. Looks like you have 7" and 8" Fuchs...a great combo. Very sharp 911 you have! Hang out here...you'll learn a ton.

[slippyd]

Very interesting about the flares... and good to know.

From what I've heard, when flares are added it involves welding; since I was unaware of this prior, should I be checking that the welds are still solid and there is no rust build-up?

[Laneco]

You can look if you are curious and see if any surface corrosion appears from the bottom side. Clean, sand, reseal as needed. But if you had any sort of significant problem, it would be VERY obvious from the topside - LOL! Cracking, rust streaks, etc.

Another very lovely option for your trim (since it's already off) is to anodize it or have it powder coated. Ask about the UV fading on the powder coating, some is better than others. We've done a couple of cars with powder coat and it looks fantastic. Also painted them with success when the directions given above are followed. Not as nice as powder-coating, but still, very nice.

angela

[slippyd]

The thing that worries me about powder-coating is that I'd have to have the pieces fully ready for them to paint as a whole. As it stands, I'm not planning on removing the glass from the two triangle pieces on either side, since they've already been re-sealed recently by the PO (probably when they did their painting on top of the chrome).

On a side note, how much does powder-coating run for the 12 (by my count) trim pieces? Or, is there a website that has rates posted for trim on 911s?

Thanks again everyone for all the helpful info!!!

[slippyd]

Called up a local place and got a rough quote: they said about a couple hundred. Decisions, decisions...

[stormmaster]

I used Rustoleom Semi Gloss Black (to match my wheels) on all the trim on my car a few years ago.....still looks great....satin black would have been closer to factory look....but I wanted just a bit more shine....took less than a can to do the whole car....

[slippyd]

Update:

I now have the paint (mostly) stripped off of the driver-side trim. (I'm doing half at a time just in case I mess something up, I will only need to replace half the trim.) Time to roughen up the chrome!