proper painting etc

[Destroyer12]

I am planning on re-painting my step side steps which i noticed are plastic and detach easily...basically the guy before me painted them awfully and now i want to re-paint them and make them look pretty, what steps should i take to properly remove his paint and then to apply new paint properly, will probably be using rattle cans so any advice you can give me would be excelent...

[Sam]

take off all the old paint with 400 grit on a DA sander. Now you can just clean them with soapy water, dry, and run the tack cloth over them. Spray some touch up-color and let it get tacky. Add a wet coat of color and a second if you desire. Let that dry for about 1 hour if you are in medium humidity and at around 70 degrees (that's usually inside conditions). May take a little longer to dry outside. I take my small parts inside to dry. Once the color is dry, run the tack cloth over the paint lightly. now you can spray alight, tacky clear coat. Let that sit for about a minute or two, then add a wet coat. repeat as desired but don't let it run. allow 2 days before you wet sand or polish the clear. I'd recommend dupli-color cans, but body shop paint will always be best.