Well not the whole car, but a small piece of plastic trim that I have somehow lost.
The replacement plastic is £15.50, which is not too bad, but it comes in primer grey and I have just been quoted £45 to have it sprayed, the item is approximately a flat parallelogram about 6cm per side.
I’d like to replace it as its a newish car and would maintain the look, but £45 for paint seems high, is there a cheaper option? Can I just buy a spray can and paint it by hand?

You can buy a spray can of colour and a spray can of clear and some wet and dry and cutting compound and if you’re lucky enough to get a paint that actually colourmatches and you do a good job of it you’ll have spend £20-25 and a couple of hours to get something close enough to a pro job that most people won’t notice.

I’m doing some diy paintwork on mine, because it’s a shitbox. I’m pretty good with a rattle can and I tracked down a really good colourmatch so once finished, you won’t be able to tell (you could tell if the rest of the paint was fresh). But in your case I’d go pro.

You may be able to get a better quote elsewhere though.

Thanks Northwind, less inspired by that as it sounds a lot of work and still quite expensive.
What do you think my chances are of persuading the main dealer to ‘add it in the next time they are doing one that colour’ for a few extra quid. Its a common enough colour, so they probably do one every few weeks

Misread the thread title on my phone. Thought it was Cat Spaying by Hand.

Is disappoint

As above, to buy the relevant stuff to do a proper job of it will probably cost close enough to the quote for it not to be worthwhile doing yourself.

(Add in the fact that if you’ve never done it before, you are quite likely to do a pretty poor job first time out anyway)

Sometimes there is the option to order the part painted .
Is it car body colour or different?

Had to spray a replacement keyhole cover on my door handle after the old one was lost/robbed. I’ve also repainted a boot spoiler. Just take your time.

timwillows – Member

What do you think my chances are of persuading the main dealer to ‘add it in the next time they are doing one that colour’ for a few extra quid. Its a common enough colour, so they probably do one every few weeks

Don’t know tbh, seems plausible enough though. But I’m thinking a small spray place might be better value…

I should add one thing, to make it less offputting- spraying stuff can be fun, I’ve done loads of DIY painting that made no economic sense but that I found rewarding. Shooting my lovely renault vert anglais over ford moondust silver on my motorbike’s tank is genuinely an all time happy moment for me, satisfaction distilled to 100% proof. The paint process was, it has to be said, a total pain in the cock and time consuming nightmare, but the actual moment of putting colour on was just… mmmmm.

Standard part is supplied in ‘primer’ no painted option 🙁

Have you tried YouTube ?

You really must try it one day because there are about 4bn vids on the subject.. watch over supper and apply the same techniques..

[video]https://youtu.be/rm-_jstuEj4[/video]

What colour is it? And where are you based? If you go to a body shop and use the line “while the paints in the gun” they are likely to wee in your shoes. If you are local to the midlands or can post it I will do it at work for you

Don’t do what I did:

Thought I was being clever by hanging a wing-mirror casing from the washing line on a bit of cotton thread. One blast of the rattle can sent it into a paint-running spin…

Also, don’t do what I did:

Decide to rattle-can spray a wing in the cellar. Then, once it’s all done and drying over the weekend, decide to host the mother of all house parties with the main dancefloor in the room above. A 1K sound system and about eighty people jumping up and down on the floor boards for ten hours…

Have you tried YouTube ?
You really must try it one day because there are about 4bn vids on the subject.. watch over supper and apply the same techniques..

Agreed.

But for the sake of your car, please don’t watch the video bikbouy linked to.

Because the bloke in it doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing and he makes a **** terrible job of it 😯

just pay the £45 and have it done proper – so it matches

a rattle can made up is about £12-£15 for good one round here, then you’ll need a can of lacquer too
and time, and skill

and when it flakes off because you haven’t keyed it properly in 6 months you’ll have to do it all again,

and it won’t look as good as a proper job

It was the first vid that popped up 😆

Anyway, there are techniques that can be learned.. and at some point during your lifetime you really do need to sit rubbing down a rattle can dribble on a prized possession…

Think of it as a right of passage.. 😆

It’s a headlight washer cover off a 3 series isn’t it??

What colour is it? A nice flat colour you can’t go to far wrong. Blue tack it to something to hold it while you paint, do it somewhere room temperature and go slow with light coats .

Or

Just buy one the right colour fram a scrappers 😆

Have you tried eBay to see if there is a prepainted part?
I lost the towing eye cover trim on my blue Mercedes a couple of years back and with a bit of searching I was able to find a pre painted part in the correct colour for the same cost as the new non painted part.