Reinstalling trim-before or after painting?

[dougc_portland]

I removed virtually all of the stainless steel trim from my 54 Hornet to treat some rust bubbling under the trim. The area has been sanded and treated with POR 15. My dilema now is do I reinstall the trim then mask it off for painting or have the car painted first then reinstall the trim. My fear of course is if I have the car painted then reinstall the trim, one slip of a screwdriver and you have a scratch(s) in the new paint. What have others done in this situation?

Thanks,
Doug

[Dave53-7C]

Why did you do POR 15 under trim if you're having the car repainted? The proper process is to remove trim, paint car, and carefully reinstall trim.

[Hudzilla]

I removed virtually all of the stainless steel trim from my 54 Hornet to treat some rust bubbling under the trim. The area has been sanded and treated with POR 15. My dilema now is do I reinstall the trim then mask it off for painting or have the car painted first then reinstall the trim. My fear of course is if I have the car painted then reinstall the trim, one slip of a screwdriver and you have a scratch(s) in the new paint. What have others done in this situation?

Thanks,
Doug Once you properly prep and finish the steel surface, paint your car. Yes its going to be difficult to replace the trim but it will be worth it. Make adequate protection of the surface where you are working so that the painted surface is protected. Be very careful when installing the long trim
under the rear window that wraps around to the rear door. That trim ALWAYS wants to fight you. Be careful also when doing the roof rail trim . Save as much of the curved retainer strip as no one is reproducing that. Flat retainer strips yes, curved no. Take your time. Some trim will take almost no effort to install. The same piece on the opposite side will take you two hours. Be patient. Use a chalk line . Align your doors BEFORE you apply trim. Good luck Doug.

[37 Terraplane#2]

May have a problem, I did some painting {base coat/clear coat system} over por15 and had trouble,had to start over again. Think I'd get it off to clean metal and just use the proper primer for the paint your going to use . If you cant get to clean metal without going thru it I think I'd use a rust nuetralizer instead of por15. Any of you paint experts got any in-put on this ? BUD

[dougc_portland]

Hindsight is wonderful. Being a newbie I wanted to protect the bare metal as painting is a year off. Doing it now I would simply primer it.

[Tom Drew]

Nothing about installing the stainless trim on these cars is easy or quick. Paint the car first, give the new paint at least a couple of weeks to harden so that you can protect the new paint by masking with tape and thin lightweight cardboard. Poster board or matt board from the art supply store is thin enough yet strong enough to stop a tool gouge in the paint. If a person has no patience and likes to bang stuff together, this is the wrong part of the restoration for them to be working on. To quote Clint Eastwood: " A man has to know his limitations"

Tom

[coverton]

I have learned some hard lessons on 3rd party paint jobs-then went to school myself. Only way to be sure about rust is to get rid of it,period. Either grind it down or cut it out/patch panel new metal. Then epoxy,high build primer,sand 80,160 and on up til smooth,use a two part sealer, base and clear. 1000 grit, buff or reclear with hi density. You get good results BUT 3rd party folks will skip all they can get away with. This takes time and patience but the 49 Nash I painted last mo looks great-Figure on 4-500 bucks in paint and supplies but the experience is worth every nickel
Oldest student in the class !!

[Walt-LA]

POR 15 sells a primer to allow painting over their product. I've used it, but do not have a long history with its use- about a year in an area that doesn't receive too much direct sun. So far so good, but long term, I don't know. Walt-LA

[walt's garage-53]

I removed virtually all of the stainless steel trim from my 54 Hornet to treat some rust bubbling under the trim. The area has been sanded and treated with POR 15. My dilema now is do I reinstall the trim then mask it off for painting or have the car painted first then reinstall the trim. My fear of course is if I have the car painted then reinstall the trim, one slip of a screwdriver and you have a scratch(s) in the new paint. What have others done in this situation?

Thanks,
Doug
Do it the Walt's way. Cut your retainers to 1 and 1/4 inch lengths, bead blast and paint engine enamel silver, let dry for 3 days. You will have no problems installing your trim. Just have someone hold the ends while you clip it on the top of the retainer and with you hand made into a fist, knock the bottom on. One clip a a time. I've done many cars, stripped for painting then I install all trim back. Check out my car sometime. Walt.

[rpmonroe]

Hi Doug, Use the original retainers if they are in fair to good condition----the reproduction clips have many shortcomings---------if they are cut and used in small sections they have a tendency to distort the trim at each clip due to the clips being made just a smidgen too wide------I've removed and re-attached way more Hudson trim than I can remember, Email me and I'll share as much information I'm able to over the phone-----my guess also is that since you've admitted to being knew to Hudsons and it didn't mention to much difficulty in the trim removal I'd take a guess and say your retainers are in fairly good shape.