Hi all,

I intend to respray some chequer plates on my LR 90, but don’t want to remove them because I’m not quite sure how they’re fixed and they’re ancient.

If they’re already black for the most part, and just have some scratching/discolouration etc what prep work do I need? Thanks.

J_Swan said:

Hi all,

I intend to respray some chequer plates on my LR 90, but don’t want to remove them because I’m not quite sure how they’re fixed and they’re ancient.

If they’re already black for the most part, and just have some scratching/discolouration etc what prep work do I need? Thanks.

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Assuming they are aluminium alloy, you should probably use a special metals primer, followed by topcoat.
In practice, the bare patches are probably well oxidised by now, and you might get away with topcoat alone.
They will be fixed with pop rivets, or possibly with small nuts and bolts if the chequer plate was good quality. If you do remove them, make sure you put neoprene, or some kind of mastic, underneath when you replace, or you may suffer increased noise,

You will need to use an acid etch primer (Upol is what i use, get it anywhere) if you just spray with a rattle can it will fall off with a jet wash (ask me how I now this ).
Its much easier to drill out rivets than you think takes 2 mins then you can do a proper job and clean the crap out from underneath.
It will take twice as long to mask it all up, and paint. (take em off then do em somewhere dry) as @Turboman says put neoprene or foam underneath (cheap as chips). Did myne last year used satin black.

Biggest mistake most people make is they dont leave enough time for the primer and top coats to cure, so if you remove em you can still use yer truck etc.

Rivets and rivet gun are cheap on ebuy etc, you will have sore hand at then end though!
Good idea to surround the rivet with a cloth when fixing as when they snap gun can bounce all over your nice new paintwork!
I bought a sealey one for about £25 and bought black rivets, but you can get them with rivets for under a £5.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heavy-Du...572574?hash=item48a8ad435e:g:h4kAAOSwKtVWxbTS

PS you cant really just over spray them, where the paint is scratched the primer will have come away so your over paint will just fall off, of course you cant really sand them, so use nitromores rub with small brush wait then rinse with a hose pipe.

KISSMYAURA said:

PS you cant really just over spray them, where the paint is scratched the primer will have come away so your over paint will just fall off, of course you cant really sand them, so use nitromores rub with small brush wait then rinse with a hose pipe.

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I wasn't suggesting spraying anything. I never do. Just bang on the black gloss with a brush, see if it sticks.

I would definitely remove them. As said above it will either be Rover or small bolts. I would the. Refit it using small bolts. I have little countersunk stainless Allen head bolts on mine.
Once off get a wire brush on there either by hand or fitted to a drill (the angle grinder ones will mark the aluminium so don’t use them) to remove all the loose paint. Then use an acid etch primer, hammerite special metals primer is quite good and avaibly in b&q etc off the shelf. And then use a proper top coat rather than a rattle can spray.
I did mine with a roller and got a very good finish. But you could brush them as well.

They have just been refitted in this pic, I was painting the whole vehicle.