Wire Mesh Work

Wire Mesh Work

This is another DIY project I decided to do during the winter months here on the east coast when we are stuck indoors and cannot get out and drive our cars.

My previous post was for the leather treatment
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/detailing-showroom/544474-leather-treatment.html

This post is about my wire mesh that has some faint fading to it.
I spent a few hours taping and masking off the body of the car so I can refinish the wire mesh work.
I plan on doing the fender gills, the transaxle cooler inlet and the lower rear bumper around the exhaust tips

I started by using fine line tape but it really wasn’t necessary. If you use a good quality masking tape then it’s actually easier to work with and better results.

I have done a lot of high end restorations on American muscle cars and I usually will disassemble a car and not tape to refinish a certain part.
In this case I chose to go against all my normal means of disassemble and decided to mask the body with the parts in place due to the difficulty of removing them.

As the photos show, I used a plastic decal applicator to help with the taping.
You can push, jab and swipe without scratching the paint

I also used quality products for this simple touch up.
The masking paper, tape and the clear car wrap was $ 125.00 but is a small price to pay if you get overspray on the car. In case you do get any overspray on the car don’t freak out. You can just use a clay bar and lubricant and with a little bit of rubbing you will remove the overspray.

I planned on using BASF single stage satin black with a detail gun but I decided to go with a high quality rattle can paint bomb instead since the mesh isn’t a lot

After taping, masking and covering up the car I sprayed on a pre cleaner and used an acid brush to scrub the mesh well, then spraying again to rinse and dry. I use a lot of spray detailer on my car and I am sure these parts had some wax on there so using the pre cleaner will help with adhesion.

I chose a satin black but once I began to spray and it began to flash I noticed the sheen was still too glossy so I went with a flat black that now has the perfect sheen to it. My goal is to have the wire mesh looking original and new, not repainted.
Below are a few photos.
Starting with taping and masking
Prep
Final results
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Prep Work
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I am happy how it turned out.
The wire mesh was faded enough to annoy me
The photos may not show it but the refresh is perfect and looks new rather then painted
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