DISCLAIMER: The procedures, methods and products written up here was for my circumstances only. I make no assertions that your results will be the same nor do I claim that this is the best way to do it. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Just got my Airwalker front lip from AHHVTEC and decided to save a few bucks by doing the painting myself. It would have cost over $250.00 Can. to have a good body shop do this. I ended up spending about $40.00 for materials.

ALWAYS test fit any part before you paint it. If you need to do any dremel work or filing or sanding, you don't want to grind off your paint work.


Have a relatively clean and dust free area to work (at least sweep out and clean the area). Suspend the part on a suitable stand:

Next, dry sand all the surfaces to be painted. I used wet/dry sand paper.
WHEN SANDING, hold the sandpaper with your bare hands, do not use a sanding block. You can "feel" much better with your hand and will be less likely to sand too much. Also, be very light handed when you sand near edges or corners. These areas sand off quite easily.

Use compressed air to blow off the lip whenever needed:

 

Wash the lip with dish soap to get most of the oils and loose plastic compounds off the surface. (I used Windex 'cause it was handy.) Then with some cotton balls, rub the lip with alcohol to make sure it's really dry:

Here are all the sprays you'll need to do the job properly. Always shake each can well before using. Rattle the little ball (inside the can) around liberally and have the paint at room temp and use them at room temp, NOT if it's near freezing. Hold the nozzle about 6" to 12" away from the surface to be painted. Start with a sweeping motion away from the part and press the spray nozzle when you are over the part. Release the button once you've passed the part. Remember, light coats are always better than heavy coats, so don't linger with too slow a pass. If you are too slow, the spray will run. If this happens, wipe it off gently and adjust your distance and speed of the pass next time. Don't try to cover the surface with a solid coat each time. After 3 coats, it will be covered.
Start with 3 coats of "Adhesion Promoter". Paint does not stick to plastic very well and this helps. Let dry to touch between coats and wait at least 1/2 hour after last coat. Sand very lightly to get the large globs flattened if necessary. This stuff is like some sort of solvent that chemically "roughs up" the plastic.
Then you do 3 coats of "Flex Fill". This is a primer that is needed for parts that are soft and will move under daily use. Wait to dry to touch before doing another coat (1/2 hour). After the last coat, wait a day and then lightly WET sand if necessary. (Soak the sandpaper in luke warm water for an hour and use a water spray on the paint as you sand. Sand in straight lines, in two directions (90 degrees from each other), NOT in circles. Blow off dust.
Then do 3 coats of color. If you need to wet sand between coats, leave it to dry well for several hours. If no sanding required, wait about an hour. Feel the surface with your bare hand to determine if you need to wet sand. After the last coat, again wait a day.
NOTE: You can go to an auto body supply shop and have your paint loaded into a spray can. If you take your paint code and your car to the shop they can match it up very close. Honda's paint code for Silverstone is for a "normal" concentration of metallic flakes. Upon comparison with a color chart, it turns out that my car is actually a "coarse" metallic flake. This may be why some touch up paints may not match perfectly and why some body shops have a hard time matching your color.
Then do 3 coats of clear. Generally, these do not need wet sanding, but again, feel first. Don't sand the final coat. Wait a few days after you're done before installing on car.

Here it is after the Adhesion Promoter:

After Flex Fill:

After 1 color coat:

 

Finished product will all clear coats on:



Now to the installation:
The Airwalker lip is attached by its own elasticity by gripping the front bumper. It is also "helped" by these double sided tape sections in the critical places:


Since you don't want to peel off the tape backing (red) before you have the lip on the car as you need to move it around, you'll need to rig something up so you can pull the backing out afterwards. I folded over a small corner of the backing and stuck on some tape that I folded over double (so it doesn't stick to the lip where you don't want it to stick) and left the end hanging out. Once the lip is on where you want it, you pull on the tape to remove the backing and then press that part down.

"Sizing" things up before the final install:

 

Done:



Don't wax it for a couple months. Because it is so low, it will get a lot of sandblasting from road debris. You might consider putting on some 3M film as protection.
This is an Airwalker "clone" and the fit is not perfect. There are gaps which I could have minimized if I shaved off a few bits here and there, but I didn't bother as from a distance, it looks OK. Certainly the price was right and I did not expect perfection. If you are picky about this sort of thing, perhaps this lip is not for you. Since mine is a daily 4 seasons driver, I needed the extra ground clearance that the Airwalker provides (over 5") compared to the Amuze I had before (3.5"). In time, I may damage this one too or grow tired of it, at which time I'll go shopping for another front lip. Having had a front lip on this car, I just can't go back to a bare naked beak.

 

Great write up.

 

Great write up Dave!!

 

How's the color match?

 

great write up, nice work...

 

Thanks for the write up and pics. A definite money saving tip. Also, the front lip looks great.

How's the color match? I also have the silverstone and was wondering about matching the paint.

 

Re: Color match ...........................
It's actually quite good, except for the fact that the paint job is new. Like I mentioned earlier, I had the same color code made up last year with the "normal" metallic flakes from the same place (didn't have my car with me at that time) and after painting my previous lip, it did not match well. Just be sure to have the car with you so the guy can go out with his paint samples to exactly match the color. Mine was "coarse" flakes.
For the same Honda color code, they have something like 4 to 5 different flake densities and having the wrong one makes the paint look "off".