The running boards on my SUV are starting to fade quite a bit. I'm thinking about taking them off and hitting them with some spray paint, but I'm not well versed in rattle-canning anything, especially plastic. Is there anything I need to do in order to properly prep the plastic besides giving it a good wash?
Give it a good wash with Dawn. Once it's dry, take some rubbing alcohol to clean them off as the last step before painting. The alcohol will get rid of any residual oils and junk so the paint sticks good. I use rubbing alcohol all the time for stuff like that as well as windows. You can buy a bottle of the stuff and dilute it about 50:50 with water in a spray bottle. It's a godsend.
Make sure you use a quality paint designed for plastic. Plastic can be weird because it is basically non-porous so normal paint doesn't always stick well. Truck bed coating or similar is a decent option, but like most paints (especially black) might fade over time on a hard-hit area like running boards.
Or just mineral spirits. But the main point is, make sure it's clean as frig before you paint.
What kind of plastic?
Quote from: Soup DeVille on March 05, 2020, 07:24:36 PM
What kind of plastic?
Lightly textured, rigid. Not sure what else to call it.
ABS reacts differently than polypropelene, which is why the question. There is also a SEM product (that you might find from other manufacturers) that promotes adhesion on plastics. I use it for painting black plastic in body color.
https://www.amazon.com/SEM-39863-Plastic-Adhesion-Promoter/dp/B007VTSRZ8/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=plastic+adhesion+promoter+spray&link_code=qs&qid=1594818446