Ok before I start just want to say yes I did do a search and had a good read of the other threads first!

I've arranged for my IB/IB MCS to get its arches, bumper lower-lip & wing mirrors colour coded last week and I took a trip to the shop today to discuss with the painter what I want exactly

Anyhow to cut a long story short the guy said it would look crap due to the bodywork being metal and the side strips being plastic (at which stage i pointed out the bumpers were plastic). Apparently the plastic arches aren't right for spraying. The guy said that he would be willing todo it but would not offer a warranty on the work

Now my question is; anybody who has had these done what prep work did the bodyshop do to the arches (i.e. sanding/plastic primer etc...) before they sprayed them?

Also how bad (if at all) do they stone chip compared to the other factory bodywork?

[Paul]

I know this has been discussed before, Simon Jackson at MiniSpares.com had this done (or is having this done), including smoothing, so he might be able to advise.

I searched and found this thread which might be a lead worth following up: http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...ode%2A+prep%2A

Alan aka Bonnie Scotland had his preppred before painting, you can see his car here: http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...ode%2A+arcH%2A Worth contacting him for advice too probably.

Thanks Pual, I must just be useless at searching, those two threads helped alot I had the bumpers sprayed on my last car and i got it done on the cheap and it looked pretty crap up close (they didn't prepare or even clean the bit before they sprayed them!).

I'm just gonna go ahead and get it done but i'll make sure they prep them properly first!

> Dave

[Paul]

There's a knack to finding the right results.

As long as it's preped properly and they do a good job, it should be fine, and it looks good from what I've seen.

[jre7star]

I've just had mine all painted and it looks sweet - only problem is that the prep takes ages, i smoothed and primed mine myself and it took me 2 days!
I then had them all painted and it looks excellent, to protect from stonechips i have had part of my rear skirts and lower part of the rear arches covered in a clear platic / sticker.