body colors

[john911sc]

need a little help....1974 2.0 914...what color should the rocker panels, valance (front and back), and bumpers be....?


black....gloss....flat...?...


thanks ...john c.

[JmuRiz]

Last year I removed all my pieces and sprayed them in Rustoluim Satin Black...the color is great and they look like new.
Make sure to remove the pieces from the car, don't just tape it off or anything. This also gives you a chance to clean out all the crud in the rockers (you won't believe how much stuff is in there if you've never done it before!)
Good luck.

Nathan

[HMeeder]

Like Nathan, I repainted all my lower body parts with Rustoleum Satin Black.

I know that some people have the rockers and valances body color but for my $.02 I think that the darker color visually "grounds" the car and makes it look even lower. The Satin tends to hide splatters and such better than a gloss paint would. Another added benefit is that it is pretty easy to remove the valances (the rocker panels can be tougher, due to the rivets or screws, but they are actually pretty easy to replace with a hand rivet-popper) and repaint them should scraping a cone for the length of an AutoX track bang them up (ask me how I know!)

[Mark Howard]

Last year during my resto I removed both rockers, front and rear valances, chemically stripped them, sanded any surface rust, repaired the holes and dents with bondo, primed them with Rustolem primer, and coated them with spray on bed liner that I got from Auto Zone. After drying for a day or so, I painted over the bedliner with satin black to get an even color.

The result is that the slight orange peel surface of the bedliner hides any small existing dings and cushions the metal surface from any new dings. It's been about a year of driving and they still look new. Used it on the targa top as well, same system, no stripping though.

Just my $.02

[JmuRiz]

How does the targa top look? Did you do the primer and all that on the targa top like you did the rockers before spraying the bed liner? This might be a good way to get a good look on an old tattered targa top. I also know that Chris Campbell sprayed his side targa vinyl parts w/ a textured paint and says it looks good and is zero maint.

Nathan

[Mark Howard]

Targa turned out fine. All I did was wash it real well, sand it lightly to remove any rough spots, sprayed the liner on (alittle extra in spots that were worn or scratched) and painted it black. The only time I use the top is when I wash the car, but it still looks good. Make sure you let it dry for 24 - 48+ hours before you handle it. Might be good to wait until spring to do this job, really need zero humidity for it to work well.

[JmuRiz]

You need zero humidity....you live in Louisianna don't you

Nathan

[roadtrp204]

This is for the top only. I was wondering what I was going to do to mine, sand smooth, body color, or retexture it, when I saw someone do something that never occured to me. The top I saw was covered in black canvas like a convertable top. It looked really clean and fit with the rest of the car perfectly. I now know how I am going to refinish the top.

[SteveStromberg]

I use Black Chrome on the top and it works great, it give the top a unifrom black color and lasts for about a year in Sunny So Cal before you need to re apply. Steve ps my rockers on the DD are whitte thanks to the PO

[norustscott]

I tried something a little different. I use pickup truck bed liner spray on ...flat black in color with a slight texture and what I hope is some durability...

[Racer Chris]

Textured Rocker Panel Spray is available from auto paint stores in spray cans. It goes on after priming and gives the paint the same surface as the factory roof and rockers. Also it's more durable that way than smooth painted surfaces.