How much prep?

[OldGit]

The upper tailgate on my recently acquired L322 (Range Rover) has the standard corrosion issues, there's a couple of bubbles on the lower part, around one of the electrical grommets and 'problematic' to fix corrosion on the lower folded edge. As this is a popular issue, second-hand parts are at a premium, especially if corrosion-free. A new upper tailgate, metal only is circa £1700 retail.

I've managed to get one from a 2010 that looks OK, no corrosion in the usual places and a couple of small dents on flat-ish parts. Obviously, it's the wrong colour, and I need to remove the glass to be able to transfer the wiring harness so i've decided to strip the whole thing back to basics, how far should I go? should I just strip it of parts, badges etc. and let the bodyshop deal with stripping / prepping the paint? or maybe strip it back to bare metal chemically to expose any corrosion starting under the paint, which will inevitably cost more to paint as it'll require corrosion treatment, more paint, prep, and time... this isn't a 'tart it up and sell it on' project, and I have some amount of work to do on the rear arches / sills too.

It is a typical LR moneypit - but I knew that when I bought it.

[valhalla]

Isn't the glass bonded-in on one of these? That would make glass removal a real PITA.

My own thoughts, and I'm no bodywork expert, but I have had to ship parts out to 3rd-party paintshops for work, is that it would be better to avoid chemicals on any assembly that is going to stay part-assembled, i.e. avoid the risk of trapping chemicals inside joint-lines at seams and bonded edges. Masking and mechanical removal would be a safer bet.

It might even be worth talking to the paintshop to see if they even need you to prep the tailgate; they might be able to mask and isolate the existing finish before putting their own finish over the top, especially if there is a need to isolate one system away from another.

[OldGit]

Thanks Valhalla, one of my Sons works for Autoglass so screen removal isn't an issue.... you also need to remove it to be able to remove / refit the wiring harness without having to snip & re-join about a dozen wires! My plan is to strip all the parts so that it can be painted in it's entirety (it's a different colour), it'll also make it easier to do and therefore cheaper - hopefully...

I take your point about chemicals, I have found a tiny bit of corrosion around the drain holes which I intend to take back down to clean metal, other than that, I think I'll leave the actual paint prep. to the bodyshop.

Thanks for your input - I've never got involved in bodyshop type stuff, it's just one of those things that is sent off badly fitting / damaged / needing paint and comes back mostly fixed!