Hey all! I tried posting this in the technical section a couple days ago but it never got approved, so I guess that was the wrong section. Oops! Let's try again...
I have a 1998 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0 2WD. The body trim and front grille are a bit tired, and I'm going to try something different: I'm going to repaint them all, but I'm going to paint the trim the same deep black with gloss as the grille. Here's what I've got so far:

This is the body trim as it is now:


Very tired and oxidized to a light grey. I cleaned her up, hit her with a heat gun, and applied some trim restorer and that brought them right back... for two weeks of California sun, and they went right back to light grey. The grille is in much better shape, but it's beginning to lose its gloss and it's a bit heat damaged in the headlight shrouds and fading around the edges:


So, I came up with this plan and wanted to run it by you to make sure I'm not making some stupid mistakes:

1. I'm going to remove the grille, headlight shroud, and body trim save for the door moldings using their screws and bolts; the body trim I'll hit with the heat gun to loosen the adhesive and peel off.

2. Once off, I'm going to fill a bucket with some hot water and a few tablespoons of dawn, and attack them with a microfiber cloth to de-grease and de-wax. I'll let them air dry. While I do this, I'll attack the adhesive residue on the car with WD-40 and follow with alcohol to get it nice and clean.
I plant to mark the door trim's position with painter's tape so I know where it goes before I get them off and clean the landing zone.

3. I'll wet sand all of the parts as best I can with some 1200 grit wet sandpaper to get them scuffed and ready for primer. Afterward, I'll clean them thoroughly with 70% isopropryl and some shop towels until they come clean.

4. Once dry, I'll head each of the parts with three light coats of adhesion promoter, allowing 10 minutes between each, and then let the promoter dry. I'll be using dupli-color.
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5. After letting the primer cure until it's dry to the touch, I'll hit each of the parts with some SEM Trim Black. Same deal, 3 coats, 10 minutes between each, then time to dry.
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6. After that, I'll hit it with three coats of duplic-color clear coat enamel and let dry.
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7. After making sure everything is dry, I plan on re-attaching all of the parts, and using some 3M Body Molding tape to reaffix the door moldings.
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My questions for you are, do I have the right steps and process down? Do I have the right materials picked out for the job? Let me know, I plan on doing this next week or the week after and I'll be sure to reply with some good before and afters for you! Thanks for the help.

 

I am thinking you are overthinking this.
Most guys when it comes to the door molding, and bumper caps, just use the Krylon Fusion paint.
I want to say they use the Satin Black one. They do make a Gloss Black one.
I don't know exactly how they are prepping them but under the impression they are just cleaning them
and maybe giving them a wipe down with some sort of prepsol product. I don't think they are scuffing them up.

A Google search should give you plenty of stuff to read.

I took a different route. I had my door molding Line-X'ed.
Why I can't really comment on the prep and painting part.

Here is what I do have first hand experience with..
The fishing line or dental floss trick works good for getting the molding off the Jeep.
Be careful cause if you don't stay flush with the Jeep you can cut into the molding.

As far as removing the residue I used this. 3M 08984.
Little goes a long way and it works great. Does not evaporate quickly.
Use it both on the Jeep and the back of the trim.

Guys have also used eraser wheels. Just have to be careful to not burn the paint with it.

I would not use that 3M tape. I don't really like that stuff.
I like their VHB stuff. I used the 5952 one in the appropriate size.
This stuff is no joke. You need to be exactly where you want to be before you touch the Jeep.
If you even brush up against it with the tape it will adhere. I can't stress this enough.

I also used the 3M Adhesion promoter on the molding before attaching the double sided tape and
on the Jeep before attaching them. 3M 06396.

Problem with all 3 of those 3M products I recommended is that they are not cheap.

A shot of my Line-X'ed door molding just to show off. LOL.

 

Thank you for the advice - all of these 3M products especially look much better than my choices.

As for the krylon fusion paint etc. -
Have any of them reported flaking and peeling? Without a spray on adhesion promoter as a primer I'm worried that the trim expanding and contracting in the desert heat and cool night will tire the paint quickly and cause it to fleck and crack. Maybe the fusion paint has a flexibility polymer in it... Also will probably try the satin finish because the more I look the more I think even the grille paint was never quite "gloss."
Also no clear coat? I might give it a shot without sanding and without clear cloat and see how it does... can't get much worse than it is now. Worst to worst I have another weekend project later on doing it "my way."

I'll probably try your advice weekend after next unless anyone else has any blinding insights, thank you again!

 

A zillion guys have done the Krylon Fusion thing.
That is why I suggested Googling it to get a better idea about that part.

https://www.google.com/search?ei=Jvo...4dUDCAo&uact=5

 

Going with Krylon fusion in satin black, really liked some of the photos I see of it in this thread in particular: https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/pa...s-trim-134434/
I might just do it this week. I'll update the thread with some before and afters. Thanks again!

 

Also the Duplicolor bumper and trim paint works well. When I did the 2001 we had I just taped it off really really well and didn’t remove it from the vehicle. I did the side moulding and the bumper corners. First I washed them and let them dry and blew them with air to get any water that was in between them and the body. Then I wiped them with prep all.

I also just did the grill and headlight surrounds on my 98. I did remove those to paint. Still need to do the flares and bumper corners on the 98. The paint is a little tricky because it’s thin. And it will fill the texture if sprayed too heavily. Some of the limiteds had paint and clear on all the plastic parts. One of the benefits of that would be if you actually wax your Jeep you won’t have to worry about getting wax on the plastic.

 

Do I need to worry about wax getting on the plastic if I just use the krylon fusion satin black? I typically use an automatic car wash as I have a monthly membership.

 

I meant paste wax that’s rubbed on and buffed off. It leaves white residue on all the rubber and plastic parts if any gets on them. Not sure how well it’s removed from the fusion paint. But the stuff from the car wash won’t bother it.

 

Sounds great, I've got my plan then. Thank you all for the advice, I'll update once I've got the project underway.

 

All right, shot the grille and headlight shrouds today. Gotta say, I'm thoroughly impressed. Just look at the before and afters:

Before:




After:


Followed the advice from the thread I linked above: Scrubbed with comet and water and a scrub brush, rinsed, dried, and used mineral spirits since I couldn't get my hands on some prep-all. Let it dry, shot it with three light coats with a minute between each (okay, four, but only because I botched the first one), let dry, reinstalled.

Can't wait to shoot the rest. Gotta get the rest of the materials and some more paint, but the results speak for themselves. I'm stoked!

 

Shot the bumper covers today. I replaced the front bumper covers with some new aftermarkets as they were petty badly chewed up from a former owner's fender bender. The passenger one in particular was badly damaged enough that daylight was coming through.



The fronts made me very nervous because of just how three-dimensional they were, but the results speak for themselves. Also, whoever designed their affixment can go *directly* to hell. That splotch is some ABS mismolding, not too noticeable in practice, thankfully.



The rears were very easy to remove and reattach, as well as shoot, however. There's some flaws from normal wear, but nothing I really greatly care about. BIG difference.



And, the finished results:






I'll shoot the fender flares tomorrow, and then the door trim the following day. They're the worst by far, so I'm very eager to see the results. Wish me luck!

 

The trim on these older Jeeps start to fade from the sun, and show scratches well... my '02 Grand Cherokee WJ's trim is starting to look tired. I've seen people do Rhino-Line, and I'm thinking of hitting my bumpers and side cladding trim with some black Rhino Line.

 

Rhino liner looks a lot better on cladding and trim like on GC's in my experience, not so much on more pedestrian trim like mine.

Speaking of, shot the fender flares today. I bit the bullet and removed them to paint them, and I don't regret it. Had to fnagle a bit to get them back on, but it was worth it.

Some side-by-side before and afters:



And some body shots:



Floored with the improvement so far. Gonna pull the body trim off tomorrow and muse upon either just deleting them, or cleaning them up and reattaching.

 

Nice man, looks great! Over time I found that my re-sprayed (probably with VHT satin black) started to fade/oxidize after about 2 years. Started looking chalky
Some polishing compound or cleaner wax will get them to be shiny again. Maybe a ceramic coating would help prevent oxidation over time, but its so cheap to just re-spray them so might not be worth it

 

Thank you! I won't mind pulling them off again to redo them in a couple years. For those of you that are having trouble getting the wheel arch flares back on after you pop them off: In each of the wheel wells, there are 10mm nuts holding the metal clamps that in turn hold the plastic trim to the frame. If you back them all out, the clamps will come away from the body and let you put the plastic trim back onto it easily. cinch the nuts back down and you're good to go.

Bad news with this stuff - it reacts with Krylon Fusion and will strip it right off the plastic trim. I had to respray the front driver fender when I removed the body trim.

That said, I've decided to delete the body trim as I'm pursuing a decal project that requires it go away. I will say though, the final result is pretty cherry.




The decal project I'll be doing next is kinda out of the scope of this thread, but I'll update with the results anyway. It's probably a little too nerdy for most of the folks that browse this forum, but here's the plans anyway for those that might enjoy it:

(I'm aware the diagram is for the older body style of Cherokee, but it'll work fine for what I need it for. Couldn't find a body diagram for a 98.)