The other day I noticed that the plastic disc on the front bumper of my GTI was missing. This disc pops out to give you access to thread in the OEM towing hook if it's needed. Clearly some despicable human(s) had stolen it- for fun or reuse. Fortunately, there was no damage to the plastic housing that it sat in. So I ought a replacement that needed to be painted to match the color of the car. A few lessons.
a) The replacement code provided by the dealer A9W was inadequate so I scrabbled around and found the original paint code LA9W.
b) Wash then sand the plastic piece with fine sandpaper is a good idea
c) Two coats of plastic primer (black in my case- dry time is about 30 minutes/coat in a heated room)
d) Four coats of LA9W (dry time 1 hr/coat in a heated room)
e) Light sanding between the first three coats.
f) Spray from about 20 cm off
g) Mix the paint by shaking the can for at least one minute
h) Test spray on a piece of cardboard before spraying on the plastic disc
i) Lay the plastic disc on its back to dry
Car looks nice now.
