I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to go about painting that porous material that my side mirrors and door handles are made of? I once heard there was some prep work that needed done first.

 

i think you could use some very very light sand paper w/ water. im thinking or repainting mine black.

 

don't forget to use a cleaning agent such as rubbing alcohol to take away all the chemicals

 

Actually its quite easy.....

What kind of vehicle is it? Mirrors are obviously plastic, door handles may be metal or plastic.....BUT

With textured material take a semi rigid sanding block with some 240 grit paper and knock down the majority of the texture. Ok if its plastic, get a plastic specific cleaner to remove and release agent material, such as a TPO cleaner or Duponts Plastic prep, clean it, then you need a plastic adhesion promoter, such as duponts plas-stick (no im not hockin Dupont its just what i know and use)

Now remove your lock cylinders from your handles and mask off your mirrors and anything you dont want paint on. Good masking tape is worth its weight in gold. Then start spraying, plastic adhesion promoter is your first coat. Then to remove the remaining texturespray 2 med-wet coats of a high build primer, such as duponts 2k euro primer. Let it cure for 16-24 hours at room temp. Get your semi rigid sanding block out with some 320 this time, and sand until smooth.

Now its time to spray some sealer, then your base color and then clear......If its a vehicle you care about dont use spray bombs (except for plas-stick in a can thats handy) If you use tremclad or other store bought spray bombs, your finished product will have A: the wrong color and B: the wrong gloss level.

So thats how I would do it. there are other way, so have fun!