They Don't Have to Stay White - How To Paint Your Fiberglass Fenders

01. To start, the fenders are scuffed with 400-grit sandpaper. This will give the surface some tooth for the primer to bite into.

02. The sanding dust is blown off, and then the surface is wiped with a tack cloth to make sure no dirt or dust particles end up under the primer.

03. Now the fenders are coated in PPG's NCP 280 high-build surfacer. This stuff must be mixed with NCX 285 catalyst so it will dry. The 280 primer self-levels, which means it seeks out low areas to provide the smoothest surface possible and in turn cut down the sanding time. Three wet coats were laid down in about eight-minute intervals.

04. PPG says you can force-dry the primer and have it ready to sand in about 30 minutes at 140 degrees F, but Gary prefers to let it dry overnight with no heat. He says the end result will be better and there will be less chance of shrinkage later. So the next day, the fenders were covered in black powder to serve as the guidecoat.

05. A sanding block fitted with 220-grit paper was used to flatten the primer out.

06. The Hannemann fenders are very nice and only one low spot (dark area) showed up; it went away after a few more passes with the block. Thankfully, no body filler was required to get it out. You got to love thick primer.

07. We did come across a few small pinholes. They were filled with spot putty and sanded smooth.

08. Once the technician was confident the area was flat, the fenders were sanded in stages with 320, 400, and then a Scotch-Brite pad. This procedure will effectively prevent sanding scratches from photographing through the paint when the job is done.

09. After all the sanding work was complete, the surface was cleaned with a wax and grease remover. Then, we were ready for some color.