Painting Rubber Parts

[Jeremy]

My bus incorporates a whole variety of rubber trim mouldings running both horizontally and vertically across the body, as can be seen pic below. When I eventually come to paint the bus (a long, long way ahead at the moment) all these thick black stripes running across the body are going to mess up whatever fancy paint scheme I decide upon, unless I can find a way of painting the rubber itself in such a way that the paint will stick properly and look right.

So the question is - does anyone know of a product that will allow me to paint the rubber properly? I know about the Formula 40 stuff, but that is really a rubber / plastic dye intended for interior use. What I really want to be able to do is to paint all the rubber parts with some kind of special primer first, then paint the whole bus at the same time with the same top coat paint. If I have to use a different top coat on the rubber parts then, even if it was theoritically the same colour, I suspect it would never look right. I know you can add plasticizer to regular automotive paint to make it more flexible, but I don't know whether it would be flexible enough to stay stuck to the rubber - anyone with any experience?

If the worst comes to the worst I will have to design a paint scheme that includes areas of satin black into the design that co-incide with the rubber parts, but given that I really want to paint the whole bus orange and silver that would kind of spoil things.

Thanks in advance

Jeremy

[tekebird]

your paint shop will have the appropriate primer and paint.

even so those will be the first places to likely lose paint.

I do not think that these moldings would detract significantly from any paint job.

[Jeremy]

I do not think that these moldings would detract significantly from any paint job.

You might be right, and I'd certainly rather have the fairly modern-looking black mouldings than old-fashioned chrome strips everywhere, but then again I would rather have neither - I really love the flush, smooth, fully coloured bodywork of modern buses.

Jeremy

[tekebird]

ahh not that much   different.

the new bus has a molding/bodyline that is curved yours is straight.

the rub rail on the lowers....remove it if you don't like it.

although it is easier to replace that than a whole door.

[Hobie]

I worked in a body shop and we used the 'flex' additive to the paint for the flexible bumpers.  Normally they were masked off and painted after the car was shot.  But the color never matched perfectly.   

So I mixed up a separate gun with the additive and masked off everything except the bumpers.  Shot usually 2 coats on the bumpers, waited until it was tacky removed the masking and shot the rest of the car including the bumpers.  Now the color matched perfectly and there was only a very thin color coat over the flexible bumper. 

It worked well for that application.  I'm thinking you it will work for you as your bus is now a few years old and the rubber has probably hardened a bit.  And that moulding should not flex a lot given that is a trim piece.  I would test the technique on a junk piece of the rubber now before the whole bus gets painted.  Try to force it to fail by heating with a heat lamp then cooling, etc. 

You said you liked the smooth look.  If those mouldings are not covering a seam, why not remove them and fill the holes?  I also like the idea of incorporating them without painting into the new paint layout.  I'm thinking geometric design. 

Another idea is the new vinyl 'wraps'.  They seem to work well over irregular surfaces. 

[Jeremy]

As you have both guessed, it is the lower moulding over the bay doors which I really dislike - it's a huge, ugly thing, and obviously an optional extra when the bus was new as most Plaxton Paramounts don't seem to have it running around the whole of the bus as mine does. If I were sensible I would keep it, but I suspect I won't be sensible when the time comes and it will get removed.

The 'middle' strip is actually also the hinge for the bay doors, so that will have to stay. That strip is quite a bit smaller, so I could live with it as it is, but I may well take Hobies' good advice and experiment with test painting a bit, or even covering it in vinyl, which is an idea which hadn't occured to me at all.

There are two other thick mouldings above and below the windows, but being next to the tinted glass they tend not to show up too badly, so again they can stay as they are (although the flush, bonded glass on that gold Merc looks so cool).

There is also another big moulding running vertically at the back of the bus covering the joint of the rear cap (see pic below of another Paramount). To hide this one I might even paint the whole of the back of the bus black.

If I can remove and/or paint/vinyl the bottom two mouldings on the side of the body I will be 90% happy, as that will give me a large uninterupted area for my paint scheme, which was my main concern. Many thanks for the suggestions so far, and if anyone else has any further ideas please go ahead

Jeremy

[I'm getting a Fotopic error message when I use the {img} tags on the URL below, so cut & paste it into your browser instead to see the pic (don't click the link as it won't work)]

http://images3.fotopic.net/?iid=y9yxmi&outx=640&quality=70

[tekebird]

I would not bother with Vinyl, paint will last decades longer

[Hobie]

The hinge rubber should not be painted as it will flex and break paint.  Another idea is vinyl dye.  They are used for painting interior trim.  Ask a custom paint shop if they will work on rubber.   

The trick to either of these on flexible material is to not put too much paint on.  Thick paint is not what you want here,  just color. 

I agree with Takebird, wraps probably have a shorter lifespan than the time tested; my favorite; old school; non-environmental friendly high VOC paint.   
 



VOC-Volatile Organic Compounds

[tekebird]

yep all the good stuff is not genviro freindly.

a good well preped imeron paintjob should last 20 years or more and still look very good at that time.

the 04 I sold to Clif bar had a 30 year old imeron paint job that looks like it was done recently

[Kristinsgrandpa]

Jeremy,  if you have access to Martin Senour paints then I can help with some numbers, 6247 plastic adhesion promoter, and 3084 urethane flexible additive is what you need.

The 6247 can be used as the primer or you can use primer over it. I don't use a primer because the thicker the paint is the more likely it will crack or chip.  If you do use a primer over the 6247 then it also has to have the 3084 added to it also.

I just painted a bumper on the neighbor girls car and used these to guarantee a good job. The only way to get the old paint off without scatching or scarring the trim is to sand blast it.  It took me 7 hours with my 5 HP compressor and a Craftsman sandblaster to strip the bumper.
The car had been wrecked a couple of years ago and the paint was chipping off.

Get on Martin Senour's web site and it will tell you the specifics and application procedures for each item.

The adhesion promoter is almost water thin and very easy to  get a run in it, and is supposed to be covered either with primer or topcoat within 1 hour of drying and it dries pretty quick.

Most body shops don't use the flexible additive now days because the paint you get now is pretty flexible without it.

Ask a local paint shop they will probably tell you what they use and what brand it is.  Just remember that they use what they do because it is the cheapest, not the best.

HTH, Ed.