Long story short, our weekly rubbish pick-up is Tues and Fri. That's important because it was a rogue rubbish bin that attacked my side mirror and damaged the outer cover on the passenger side. The night before pick-up, these tall, huge bins are dragged down our driveways to the street by housekeepers, butlers, or in my case ... ME. I allegedly came too close to one my neighbor's bins and it jumped out, viciously attacked, and deeply scraped my mirror cover, smashing it into the folded position.
The dealer quoted $174.75 for a new cover, $225 for paint / labor (it comes in primer only), $90 to remove / install it for a total of: $489.75
I declined.
I went home, and used google to save me. I bought the following:
OEM exact part number mirror cover from Infinitipartsonline 98.00
3M Scotch-bright pad to sand / prep the surface: 6.22
Dupli-color paint promoter: 15.92
Dupli-color Perfect Match clear coat 10.79
Harpy Motors QAA OEM paint (1 can base + 1 can top coat) 27.99
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Total: $ 158.92
I thoroughly cleaned the cover with 99% alcohol, wet sanded it, then cleaned again with alcohol, then re-sanded it smooth. I followed the directions on each of the cans to apply promoter, paint, and clear coat. As you know, QAA paint is a three stage paint process with base, pearl top coat, and then clear to protect it. The idea that these paint cans could accurately create a finish similar to what a paint shop can do was rather unlikely, but it was worth a try to avoid $500 for a pro job.
The painted plastic mirror cover is NOT attached to the car. Rather, it simply snaps onto the main mirror housing. It was easy to remove. If I'm honest, The cleaning, sanding, re-cleaning, priming, re-sanding, two step painting, final clear coating, and polishing was a bit cumbersome and there was time spent waiting coats just staring at it, LOL. Not difficult like rocket science, but it took loads of patience to make sure the plastic would accept the paint evenly and loads of care to avoid paint runs or overspray. Mind you, anybody can do this - but you have to follow the instructions to the letter. That is where, frankly, I sometimes fall a bit short of the mark, LOL. Everything you see listed above came from Amazon and all but the paint arrives in 2 days free if you're a prime member. The paint took 4 days. I sprayed multiple thin coats of promoter, lightly sanded nit smooth, then multiple thin coats both paints, then 5 thin coats of clear. The final stage came a few days later. After I was sure the surface had cured, I used my orbital and Griot's BOSS polish to refine the surface of the clear coat to match the shine and depth of the rest of the car.
When you view the result, you have to agree that Harpy Motors (a rather funny name) makes a great product and a nearly perfect match to the factory pearl effect. To provide this color in touch-up bottles, pens, and spray cans is a welcome thing indeed. I highly recommend them.
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