#visualimprovements

Although the main focus has been on performance upgrades for Uwe, I have also “blinged” him up with some ascetic mods too. My favourite (but time consuming) was painting the rocker cover in blue wrinkle paint. Unlike other cars, the Fiesta has a plastic rocker cover. This means prep is a little longer than metal ones, but like my brother always says — it’s all in the preparation. 

Whats wrinkle paint? It’s a paint that when it dries wrinkles up to give a metallic type texture. Really nice on engine parts. Problem is wrinkle paint only comes in black or red (no blue), so there are few things to do before getting the final product.

Few things you will need:

Degreaser

Brake cleaner

Plastic primer

Fine sand paper

Wrinkle paint

Coloured paint (I used calliper paint)

Heat gun (makes process a little quicker)

First thing is first, cleaning. With degreaser first, making sure there is no oil at all, else it will ruin the finish. In my case I had to remove some stickers too - the heat gun helps. Then cleaning with Brake cleaner, again very thoroughly. Washed to whole things getting rid of any residue. Dried with the heat gun (save time). Once dry then sanding, be sure to get any where the paint will make contact. Enough to remove any gloss from the plastic surface, as it helps adhesion. I did a second round with very fine sand paper (maybe not as necessary). The finish will look like mat grey.

Mask any part you don’t want painted, then comes the priming. Hang the cover so you can cover every part accurately. When priming, use slow waving movement over the surface to minimise any running. Once first layer is one, heat gun to dry a bit, then let it cure by it’s self for a bit. Repeat the priming process two or three times.

After the last layer has dried (not sticky to touch), comes the wrinkle paint stage. Again flowing passes over the cover to get a consistent layer with no running. It will look like a enable layer (don’t freak out), the wrinkle part will come later. Let it sit for a while, not too much heat gun as it will start the wrinkle process too early. Give the cover 3 or 4 layers (yes seems thick), but the more, the better the finish. Once the last layer on, you can heat gun. Not too close, else you will melt the paint and possibly the cover. The process will take a little while, but when it does, it will seem like a chain reaction. Push the wrinkle wave along with the heat gun until all the cover has the effect happening. Now you wait. Best to leave 24-48 hr to cure. I was in a hurry so only left it over night.

Next morning came the colour layer. I used blue calliper paint (which I had used before to paint my brake callipers). Light layers (as enable paint tends to be too thick), I did only 2 layers. The longer you leave the better as it’s less touchy. I was impatient, and had to do a third layer because I marked the last layer while trying to put it back on too quickly.