The two side Aluminium panels supplied by a majority of kit car manufacturers, incl. Luego. Can Luego spray them the colour of the other GRP panels for me? Or would this be expensive and I may as well do it myself/find someone locally who will do it professionaly for me? Price?

With an undercoat, how many topcoats would be needed and would these have to be sprayed a few weeks apart?

Also, would the top coat on the aluminium look very different from the rest of the GRP body if they're the same colour?

I'm not too keen on the shiny al panels you see...

[Edited on 18/3/06 by EViS]

I would suggest you ring Luego and ask them what they can do for you.

Grant is usually very helpful. Getting the colour match between the GRP and the Ally / Paint will be the hard bit.

It might be worth having the ally painted a different colour to the GRP, then its a contrast and not a "close match" which would look better than having for example two very close shades of blue etc.

I’m doing this at the moment, I’m getting mine powder coated by a local chap for about £35 (think luego will probably charge a fair bit more than that!) The problem is getting the paint/ powder coat to match the grp, all my grp is being wet sprayed up by the same bloke so should match. The powder coaters suggested fitting the ali panels first as he would not guarantee paint/ powder coat coping with refitting to the chassis.

It would be cheaper to go somewhere else and get it done. TBH i think it would be easier if u had the lot sprayed the same colour to guarantee a match.

That said it wont hurt to ring and have a word with Grant, he'l soon tell you,.

Irvined has his side panels and rear powder coated black. Look excellent next to the orange bodywork.

Not sure how long it will last with stones blasting it .......... but time will tell.

Is powder coat not very long lasting? What are the +ve and -ve points of each type of paint?

Powder coat is cheaper, quicker and a bit tougher. As with wet spray it must be applied correctly otherwise it can/will lift. Aluminium panels should always be etched first. The bonus with wet spray is that you can spray aluminium and grp with the same paint. Unless you know the RAL numbers you will find it hard to match grp with powder coat or paint! I gave up trying to match grp and paint to my chassis so I am getting the whole lot re done! Go and have a word with the local powder coaters, the major cost is in the powder (usually 25kg tubs) if you get your stuff coated with powder he has in stock it should be a bit cheaper!!!

Is powder paint on GRP better/worse/same as a gel coat?

Gel coat is a pigment that is added to the fibreglass at the manufacturing stage, powder coat and wet spray are surface finishes! You can only Powder coat metal items because the part needs to be electrostaticly charged to attract the dry powder paint and then placed in an oven so that the powder melts to form a skin of paint around the part!
If the wet spraying of grp is done correctly (all in the preparation) there should not be a problem, (most cobra replicas are sprayed grp) however grp is prone to flexing so I would suggest using a professional spray shop or at least professional tools and techniques!
If you can get away without spraying the grp then don’t spray as it will save you time and money, the ali sides don’t look bad!
There are only a few manufacturers still using ali side panels, most use grp so this is not an issue encountered by most!