Repainting aero side skirts...

So, I'm considering DIYing the repaint on my aero kit's side skirts. I nailed a cone on the passenger side, just ahead of the rear tire, shortly after getting the car, and the paint cracked beneath the clear bra. When I removed the clear bra a month or so ago because it had some additional damage, I peeled a patch of paint off of the side skirt with it. There was cursing. Anyway, I'm toying with the idea of repainting it myself - it's a fairly small part, and it isn't really something you look closely at, so it seems like a candidate for my first DIY auto paint attempt. I have a compressor and paint guns, though I'll probably pick up an auto-specific paint gun if I can find one cheep. Anything I need to know that I won't learn from the countless "DIY auto paint" tutorials on the Interweb? For those of you who are now dizzy from the blood pressure spike induced by someone being crazy enough to repaint a Porsche - the part is already damaged, so I can't really mess it up much worse than it already is. If I screw it up beyond belief, I can always get it resprayed by someone who knows what they're doing, and this is a skill I'd like to have and an opportunity to pick it up... Thanks for any tips...

Kudo's for trying something new. I was almost ready to shell out the money for a stereo install but I am leaning towards doing it myself. Even though I can afford it, I hate putting out that much money for something that appears so simple. Keep us posted ! All I can say is, preparation is 90% of the work, and 100% responsible for the finished outcome.

Prep and mask it properly and you should be good to go. Photos when you are doing it please.

I've painted 3 cars and several parts before. Based on the current price of paint to shoot out of a gun, it might be worthwhile to just have a shop do it. I know for jobs like this, my local places can get it done for under $150. Otherwise, you have to factor in all the equipment and supply cost, not to mention the prep time(prep is 80% of the work) and working environment. Not sure if you have dust free warm/low humidity environment. Even after the paint, most likely you will have to polish it at the minimum, unless your technique/mix ratio/gun spits out a lot of orange peel, in which case you'll have to wet sand and then polish. You gotta also consider overspray and also getting a mask as well. If doing yourself, make sure you have good ventilation and spray the floors down with water beforehand and setup makeshift booth with pull fans and plastic sheet walls. Now if you're not really OCD and wanted to just come out ok, get a spray can from automotivetouchup.com and get their clear coat(best out of the can clear coat I've used) and it should come out good too assuming your prep work is good. I've done this on one of my bumpers and it's still the same looking on my daily driver after 5 years including winters and numerous car washes.

I've rigged up ghetto paint booths in the past - I've just never shot the paint onto a car before. None of the "cons" are especially scary, but car paint in a rattle-can also sounds intriguing, so I'm gonna check that out as well. Thanks for the tip.

Car paint in the rattle cans suck if it's metallic. The pressure simply isn't high enough to get the right dispersion between the metallic and the base while spraying. From first hand experience, the Seal Grey Metallic looks darker and a bit speckled. It looks like yours is black, so that may be a non-issue for you.

I say go for it! Like you said, you're not gonna hurt anything by giving it a shot. One word of caution- overspray. I'd want to tape/cover everything else on the car before painting, as overspray will find it's way into, onto and around everything. You don't want to have it come out great only to spend the next 3 days with a clay bar!

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Metallic is tough to get 100%. The things that help it match up is to vigourously shake the can for a long time so all the metal flakes get distributed as evenly as possible in the paint. Second is to put the can in a pail of hot water for a few minutes as this will allow the pressure to build up to shoot it properly at a higher pressure. Key thing is you must shoot it sooner than later after shaking the can for the best consistency. Once again, I found automotivetouchup.com spray tips to be better for these types of things.

I've seen some rattle can jobs turn out really nice, it's all in the prep and paint - well actually clear coat. One of my buddies painted his old motorcycle using a cheapie gloss black, but then used some $40/can automotive grade clear coat. It turned out amazing. If you enjoy DIYs, I'd say go for it.

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Exactly, the clear coat is the key. The one I'm talking about actually has a warning label indicating for Professional Use only due to the carcinogens contained in it which requires a mask to be worn as well.

That sounds about right.

Since your talking about clear bras and hitting cones, have you looked at the PlastiDip videos on You Tube. I've seen where people are dipping (spraying)the leading edges for racing protection and such. You could go totally wild with some crazy colors and just peel them off and start over.

One for sale in Lancaster Porsche Autohouse has this on the side skirts. Something you may consider doing if the spray fails. Don't know if I like the red. Maybe a color more subtle to match up with the rims would look more appropriate, maybe a Grey.

Good call Hurdi. I like that idea on an aero car. Might try it on mine to break up the all black look.

If I'm going to put **** on my car, I'll at least choose stickers that produce 10-15 HP per sticker - K&N, AEM, JDM, maybe a Type-R or perhaps a Nismo - but I sure as hell am not going to plaster an enormous red Porsche sticker on the side of my Porsche. Dafuq is wrong with you guys tonight? Into the schnapps? You're gonna wear the shirt of the band you're going to go see? Don't be that guy! Don't Be That Guy - YouTube

Schnelly, I agree with Alpine. Order some paint from automotivetouchup.com. That's where I get mine. Their quality and color match is excellent. I think that for the side skirts you will be just fine. My daughter scraped up the front bumper on her bug, and I painted it with paint I ordered from there. You wouldn't notice, unless it was pointed out to you. Nothing too tricky about it. Clean the area well, sand smooth any edges around where the paint peeled off, and scuff the area to be painted with some extremely fine wet-dry paper. The toughest part is just figuring out the proper distance to hold the can, and the proper sweep rate. Practice first on a scrap of plastic. As you say, if you are not happy with it, you can always get it re-done by a shop and it won't cost you any more than it would have (other than the $$ you spent at automotivetouchup.com). I would never try this for something like a fender or door panel, but for a skirt, I bet it will come out just fine.

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x2. Spray cans usually only work good on parts with small non-continuous surface area. You don't want tackle any parts with a lot of surface area like a hood, for example.

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Thanks for the advice. The prep is going to suck - the chunks of clear/color coat/primer that flaked off are probably half a mm thick, and I'm not yet sure how I'll (a) get enough of the damaged paint off to ensure I won't see more cracking, and (b) how to fill the low spots left by the damaged paint. I hate to go the Bondo route, but I'm not sure I can get it sanded down flush without eating into the underlying material.

OOOH! Me! Me! Me!. Let me do it. I love to paint BC/CC, especially smaller repairs, fenders, etc. Black is super easy. After getting tired of using my old crappy guns I finally bought a new Devilbiss Finishline gun that does beautiful BC/CC work. As stated, bad news is materials are very expensive. Lucky for you black is not.

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If you do, spend a few dollars more and get the better stuff.