Stillen facsia- Painted as 1 piece, is this bad?

[tomce']

I have my Stillen front fascia at the body shop now and they painted it as one piece. The cover looks great but will I have a problem with the paint cracking at the seems under normal driving or weather related conditions?

[xeene]

it should crack inside the seam and not be visible unless they used a lot of paint and glued the two panels together with a layer of paint, i wouldn't worry about it.

[tomce']

I hope your wright . Thanks. Butt would it start to flake?
Modified by tomce' at 5:55 PM 4/14/2009

[dangeris]

If you're shop is any good, they'd know how to prep the urethane before painting. Make sure that they wash it really well with some comet cleanser and lots of hot water to get all the oils out that was used as release agents form the molds. Then they need to make sure that they use a good promotion adhesion and primer! Some shops don't use the primer and skip over that part. Stillen's direction explicitly says to USE PRIMER If your shop doesn't follow the directions that were included with the fascia, you'll have problems later on down the road such as peeling, cracking or even flaking.

Find out what the shop's warranty policy too just in case.

[LongBeachCoupe]

thats a stupid shop... just regular stress causes the pieces to move slightly which I think will cause it to look stupid, if it doesnt wind up flaking off...

Was there a reason for them doing it like this?

[Rob.Vegan]

My shop didn't primer I had no decision in the shop though, My car was at the dealer and they would refuse to talk to me, they only talked to my dad. So my dad had them take it to a shop (repaint driver front fender and fascia) The fascia was bubbling when I got my car back, and I scraped against a high curb and the paint just fell off, nothing underneath just the urethane

[dangeris]

My shop didn't primer I had no decision in the shop though, My car was at the dealer and they would refuse to talk to me, they only talked to my dad. So my dad had them take it to a shop (repaint driver front fender and fascia) The fascia was bubbling when I got my car back, and I scraped against a high curb and the paint just fell off, nothing underneath just the urethane

Yup,..I bet if you got some high pressure air behind that paint, it'd come off in one piece.

[Curtieson]

I hope your wright

Butt would it start to flake?

I have to...

Do you hope he is Wilbur or Orville?

And...

I got nothing...it is But, not Butt...Butt is what you sit on.

[dangeris]

I have to...

Do you hope he is Wilbur or Orville?

And...

I got nothing...it is But, not Butt...Butt is what you sit on.

[AppleBonker]

Then they need to make sure that they use a good promotion adhesion and primer! Some shops don't use the primer and skip over that part. Stillen's direction explicitly says to USE PRIMER If your shop doesn't follow the directions that were included with the fascia, you'll have problems later on down the road such as peeling, cracking or even flaking.

This may not be entirely true. The most common materials in the OEM fascia industry are all TPO (thermoplastic polyolefins), not urethanes. Also, urethane is a very vague term. I would be interested in knowing what the Stillen fascia is actually made of. If someone from Stillen reads this, is there any way you can elaborate on your materials?

The most common urethanes in the automotive substrate industry would be TPU (thermoplastic polyurethanes). If this is indeed what the Stillen fascia is made of (which would be my assumption), most one component (high bake) and two component (low bake) paint systems will adhere directly to the TPU surface (no primer). Cleaning the mold release is of primary importance, but primer may not be (this will depend on the paint system being used). If Stillen is manufacturing TPU fascias, might anyone know the grade of substrate being used (are there any markings on the back of the fascia)?

Again, I work in the coatings (read: paint) industry on the manufacturing side (actually more the technical support side, but at a manufacturing facility). I probably spray TPU panels on nearly a daily basis. I can assure you that my lab-grade TPU is of fairly poor quality (reduces cost with the number of panels that are consumed daily), but paint sticks to it (assuming the mold release is cleaned off - I use rubbing alcohol for my prep work). Stillen may use a completely different grade (which completely changes things - hence my trying to figure that out), but most large paint suppliers will stick directly to TPU.

However, if the surface is cleaned with a Scotch-Brite pad, it will be scuffed. DO NOT spray paint directly on to this surface. It will probably stick, but the scuffed surface will telegraph through the paint. The primer in the case has a great deal of filler and will cover up the surface imperfections.

If I can gather any more information on specifics about the Stillen fascia, I would be more than happy to do some more investigation on optimum paint procedure. Actually, can anyone from Stillen get me some scrap material from the molding of one of their fascias? I would love to spray some up and test it for various OEM-spec tests so I can relay the best possible method for painting (to ensure longevity of the coating/fascia).