Has anyone tried to remove ( sand ) the texture off tailgate handle and mirrors so you can paint them?

 

Takes a couple different grits to get things smooth. I start with a 180 grit or so and lightly knock the grain down. I then use a finer grit 240 or finer and smooth it down more. Use a adhesion promoter then a "High build" primer and wetsand between coats. Couple coats of base color, wet sanding between each coat, then a couple coats of clear. Smooth like the Escalade handles. Its simple to paint a set over the grain like a lot of people do but do the extra work and the end product will look tons better.

I dont have mirrors, but if you don't feel like doing the work on door handles and tailgate handles, I have a bunch of them for reg, ext cab and crew cabs in 99-03 and 04 styles ready to paint and could paint them to match for you. Shoot me an e-mail if your interested. grob@wholeneet.net

 

How much for just a set of smooth bezels for the fonts and the deal for the tail gate?

 

Dont need to sand em down, use a filler primer, then sand and paint and clear like normal. The filler primer smooths out the surface. I did my whole front grille and door handles like that.

 

I completely agree with you that why I said use the high build primer but to get a nice smooth finish you need to knock down the grain some (not perfectly smooth) but the smoother the better and wet sand between coats. All handles are not the same as far as the grain. Some have a lot more than others. Some you would need about 5-6 coats of high build primer to cover. The grain will start showing through after a week or so after it dries on some.

 

Its better to sand than to jsut use the primer, it will eventually show through and if it doesn't then you are going to have such a thick primer base the paint isn't going to last as long as you will want it too. I smoothed and filled my mirrors, bumpers, tailgate, etc. and they look great just lots of sanding, its worth the extra time to do it right though.

 

Thanks for all the input. I went ahead and bought Street Scene Cal-Vu Electric Sport Mirrors, and Escalade door handles both are ready to paint.
I am going to sand my tail gate handle and cap so I can paint them to.

 

Its all in the prep work. Take the extra steps now instead of redoing things later. Should look really sharp!