My First Post: Restoration of Roof Trim (98 S70)

[SageNaumann]

Hey guys. My name is Sage, and I am 16 years old. I am the new owner of a 1998 Volvo S70. The car has 149,000 miles, is the base model, 2.4L 5 Cylinder. Below are some pics of the car before I began ANY restoration whatsoever:

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/5606 ... 071118.jpg
http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/2438 ... 161118.jpg
http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/7857 ... 431118.jpg
http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/2328 ... 261118.jpg

Now. Seeing as that I am 16 years old, my pockets are very empty, and sometimes bigger fixes just don't cut it. Therefore, I have to find my own way, and this is what I did to help restore this trim:

Step one: I purchased my supplies. Knowing that my trim is basically just rubber applied to metal, I know I could remove most of the rubber by hand, but a razor came in handy to get off as much as I possibly could. I know that I wanted to basically repaint the metal with textured paint to have it still bring that "rubber" feel to it. Any black, rubberized paint will do (will add my brand tomorrow). I also purchased masking tape to paint without any overspray or leaks, and some rags/paper towels/sponges can also really help your process. (Make sure to wear clothes you don't care about!)

I also got some sand paper (I got 1000, 1500, and 2000 grit, but any grit will do, just as long as you do not start sanding your paint).

So, on to step one. Peeling all the rubber off. This is easy, but make sure you do not slice your paint (I rubbed my razor into it a few times slightly, it happens, just be careful):

Step two: Sand the metal as much as possible. Don't try to get the yellow glue substance to come off, because it really isn't needed. That substance also becomes a pseudo-primer anyways, so it isn't really an obstacle. The following is my final result of sanding off the rubber:

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/6584/2 ... 811118.jpg
http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/8596 ... 941118.jpg

Step three: Simply apply some masking tape/painter's tape around the painting area. Make sure to avoid overspray, but if it does happen, just simply use the rough side of a sponge to lift it off. It worked on the places I accidentally sprayed. (2000 grit sand paper will also work if used softly). (See next pic for tape example)

Step four: Paint! This can be done a few different ways. I first used a sponge to dab the pain onto the metal, let it dry for a few minutes, then did the same "sponge method" a few times, then just went over it with slow, careful sprays, trying to keep the paint even.

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/1461/240 ... 711118.jpg
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/3472 ... 631118.jpg
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/6601/2 ... 511118.jpg

Step five: Allow drying! The pictures I am posting make the paint job not look too good, but I'll take some more tomorrow to show how the final product (a few days later) came out on both sides. The car looks 10x better without that flaky rubber flying off of it. Here is a quick example of my final product, though this is before I did minor touch-ups and did some extra sanding:

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/8485 ... 181118.jpg
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/7697/2 ... 301118.jpg

This job isn't perfect, and it really isn't meant to be. This is a great starter project for people without a lot of money, as the entire project costs about $20. Can you really beat the price?

**Notes: I also did not remove the trim on the front of the car from about 1/5 of the windshield down. I merely just sprayed over it, since it was in tact quite well. If yours is flaking up front, just use the same method all down.

***I just realized my pics are HUGE, so I'll just put links, and not actually have the pics on the post.

[pkc303]

Welcome to the community. Your first post is a good one. Very nice job on your trim paint. I'll follow your lead and do the same for my 850.

[FCPEURO]

+1

You did a great job. Thanks for the first post.