I knew when I bought the Disco that I would want to remove the spare wheel and swing arm from the back. The two main reasons were the spare over hung the reversing sensors and made the reversing bleeper stay on all the time and although I could switch it off, it meant I had no reversing sonar. Not good for a vehicle with poor rearward vision.
The sheer bulk of the spare wheel and carrier and the fact it had to disconnected and swung out of the way to be able to use the tailgate was a total pain.
Added to that the carrier bracket, although substantial, was very ‘homemade’ and did not sit with the standard of the rest of the car.
If you look at the earlier photo’s I posted you can see the wheel carrier and spare on the car. Now there is the stub of the upright that had the carrier attached to it, (I had to cut this off with an angle grinder as the bearing it sits in is rusted into its bracket under the bumper cover. A bit like a steering relay on a Series!.
Also, the carrier had a telescopic damper on it that was attached to a bracket that is welded to the crash structure at the back with a very untidy hole hacked through the bumper cover. There is an anti-loose catch that is also welded to the crash structure (and another hole through the plastic cover), this was used as an extra catch to hold the carrier, in case the electro magnet in the carrier failed. You can see the metal plate that the magnate attached to on the back panel of the tailgate. I’ve circled the problem areas.
Photo of rear end now:
I took some time to think about how best to approach this. I could have tried to cover up the areas cut into the bumper and the same with removing the metal plate. But I felt I would always see that it was a repair and that would piss me off. Added to this, the replacement of the N/S rear door showed up marks on the plastic wheel arch trims and both sets of wheel arch trims were quite badly stone chipped. So it would make sense to do all of this at the same time. I decided the way to go was to get replacement parts for all the parts I was going to re-spray. That way I wouldn’t be under pressure to get the parts sprayed and finished so I could keep the car on the road. Also, I have not had much experience of spraying plastic car parts and I want to get as good finish as I can get.
I am no expert when it comes to auto paint spraying and I haven’t a lot of experience in painting plastic parts (another reason for not trying to use the parts on the car!)
Over the last few months I have sourced the parts with the wheel arches coming from a D4 that was being scrapped. The bumper I got from a trip to the UK when I got the rear door. I thought I might get away with the small marks in the paintwork of the bumper, as It was the correct body color for my Disco. But the marks proved difficult to disguise,( see my tool accessory review on ColourNdrive touch up paint: ..https://www.lrukforums.com/resources/colorndrive-touchup-and-chip-repair-kit.284/ ) so I have opted to repaint all the parts.
I am no expert when it comes to auto paint spraying and I haven’t a lot of experience in painting plastic parts (another reason for not trying to use the parts on the car!)
I’m going to describe the process I followed, if anyone has any tips or suggestions please feel free to comment……..I need all the help I can get.
First thing the bumper was stripped down, removing the reflectors, parking sensors and loom, the foam insert and rubber tread. These are the marks in the existing paintwork:
Then the prep work starts. Using a 600 grit abrasive disc on an air driven palm sander I gently flatten the entire surface of each plastic part. The abrasive discs are a mesh construction these days and work well with minimal clogging. The parts are sanded down and inspected to make sure all areas are flattened and there are no shiny bits. In the places where the damage has been done, the plastic is actually cut and has raised an edge that you can feel with your finger. So these get special attention to take out any raised edges. In the places where I have had to sand through to the original plastic I use a plastic adhesion promoter spray. It is clear and dries in less than half an hour
Then I have used a filler/primer and covered the areas that have been treated with the promotor.
This is left to dry really hard and then lightly sanded back. You can see the filler/primer beginning to fill the small indents in the surfaces.
The surfaces are wiped down with a panel wipe cloth and the process repeated until I am happy that I have the surface flush.
A sandable grey primer is next.....
The sheer bulk of the spare wheel and carrier and the fact it had to disconnected and swung out of the way to be able to use the tailgate was a total pain.
Added to that the carrier bracket, although substantial, was very ‘homemade’ and did not sit with the standard of the rest of the car.
If you look at the earlier photo’s I posted you can see the wheel carrier and spare on the car. Now there is the stub of the upright that had the carrier attached to it, (I had to cut this off with an angle grinder as the bearing it sits in is rusted into its bracket under the bumper cover. A bit like a steering relay on a Series!.
Also, the carrier had a telescopic damper on it that was attached to a bracket that is welded to the crash structure at the back with a very untidy hole hacked through the bumper cover. There is an anti-loose catch that is also welded to the crash structure (and another hole through the plastic cover), this was used as an extra catch to hold the carrier, in case the electro magnet in the carrier failed. You can see the metal plate that the magnate attached to on the back panel of the tailgate. I’ve circled the problem areas.
Photo of rear end now:
I took some time to think about how best to approach this. I could have tried to cover up the areas cut into the bumper and the same with removing the metal plate. But I felt I would always see that it was a repair and that would piss me off. Added to this, the replacement of the N/S rear door showed up marks on the plastic wheel arch trims and both sets of wheel arch trims were quite badly stone chipped. So it would make sense to do all of this at the same time. I decided the way to go was to get replacement parts for all the parts I was going to re-spray. That way I wouldn’t be under pressure to get the parts sprayed and finished so I could keep the car on the road. Also, I have not had much experience of spraying plastic car parts and I want to get as good finish as I can get.
I am no expert when it comes to auto paint spraying and I haven’t a lot of experience in painting plastic parts (another reason for not trying to use the parts on the car!)
Over the last few months I have sourced the parts with the wheel arches coming from a D4 that was being scrapped. The bumper I got from a trip to the UK when I got the rear door. I thought I might get away with the small marks in the paintwork of the bumper, as It was the correct body color for my Disco. But the marks proved difficult to disguise,( see my tool accessory review on ColourNdrive touch up paint: ..https://www.lrukforums.com/resources/colorndrive-touchup-and-chip-repair-kit.284/ ) so I have opted to repaint all the parts.
I am no expert when it comes to auto paint spraying and I haven’t a lot of experience in painting plastic parts (another reason for not trying to use the parts on the car!)
I’m going to describe the process I followed, if anyone has any tips or suggestions please feel free to comment……..I need all the help I can get.
First thing the bumper was stripped down, removing the reflectors, parking sensors and loom, the foam insert and rubber tread. These are the marks in the existing paintwork:
Then the prep work starts. Using a 600 grit abrasive disc on an air driven palm sander I gently flatten the entire surface of each plastic part. The abrasive discs are a mesh construction these days and work well with minimal clogging. The parts are sanded down and inspected to make sure all areas are flattened and there are no shiny bits. In the places where the damage has been done, the plastic is actually cut and has raised an edge that you can feel with your finger. So these get special attention to take out any raised edges. In the places where I have had to sand through to the original plastic I use a plastic adhesion promoter spray. It is clear and dries in less than half an hour
Then I have used a filler/primer and covered the areas that have been treated with the promotor.
This is left to dry really hard and then lightly sanded back. You can see the filler/primer beginning to fill the small indents in the surfaces.
The surfaces are wiped down with a panel wipe cloth and the process repeated until I am happy that I have the surface flush.
A sandable grey primer is next.....
