SpenceSpeed

The front bumper on my 98TA has the usual rock chips but there are also some spider cracks and a few larger spots missing paint. It is by no-means a show paintjob on the car...I am just looking to fix-up the front bumper appearance a bit and do it cheaply.

My question is if I sand/primer then rattle-can color and clear...will the end result be anywhere close to matching the rest of the car? If it's gonna look like ****, I'll just cover the bad spots for now with touch-up.

If there is a way to make it half-way decent looking from a few feet away, I'll try it. Any tips with the paint application/sanding would be helpful.

Here is a pic of the front...





I know the right thing to do is have it done professionally...but that is not in the budget for a few years

rmpitzer

iTrader: (5)

Not using a flex additive, I'd worry about your paint cracking even worse than what's on there now.

On a related question, my 97 front nose was repainted by someone before me with paint that apparently had no flex additive, and it's cracked like crazy. Does anyone know how I get that old paint off, without harming the plastic? Is there a paint stripper for the urethane parts?

-Rich

transmaro93

iTrader: (4)

flex additive is just cheap insurance... chances are is that it wont crack any sooner than factory with out it... the flex additive eventually cures out of they paint anyway seeing that it is a solvent... i mean it helps but not as much as you might think.... as for shaker can... dont do it its gonna look like crap... if i was u id take the bumper off... sand all the chips scratches etc out... prime it and wet sand it and take it to a shop and have em shoot it for a couple hundred $$$ and put it back on.... if not... just touch up what you can and start saving...blending with shaker can is gonna look like rosie o donnel in the shower.... if you catch my drift... on plastic bumpers all you can do to get the paint off is sand it out... id use a DA sander with some 320 and if thats not working fast enough move to 220 i wouldnt go any more aggressive than that tho...

SpenceSpeed

Good point about the flex additive. It looks like someone re-shot mine before I bought it, spider cracks are all over it. I found someone that will spray it professionally for the cost of the paint, I'll have to ask him about the flex additive.

I'm also curious about the best way to strip it down and prep it, since I have to do that myself.

edit: above post answered my questions...I was typing while they posted

KEE AUDIO

iTrader: (65)

Yet another one that will be doing the same thing on the same part!!!! You guys are lucky though..it's easier to match your paint than mine...although paintscratch did a nice job matching mine. I did the rattle can on my headlight covers with the paint scratch paint can. I took it all the way down to metal by using stripper. Then I cleaned it, primed it with 2 coats of primer, painted it with 4 coats of paint, 3 coats of rattle can clear. The clear needs some more on it as the rattle can stuff doesn't go on very thick. The color turned out great though...just need a few more coats of clear and wet sand/buff. I'll post pics when I'm done. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the bumper cover...the shop I normally go to quoted $580.00 to do it. I may breakdown and go with that as it is fairly reasonable for quality work. May even get them to do the clear on the headlight covers and the buff. Hopefully I haven't screwed myself on that..LOL!!!! Then I'll just have to figure out how to dodge every friggin piece of road debris on the road. My car seems like a magnet for that ****.

Pheonix

iTrader: (16)

Walking dead, you will never get the shine of an automotive clear out of a rattle can clear it just wont happen . Those headlight covers will look dull in a couple of months especially if you live in hot climate. They will look ok but nothing compared to the real automotive paint. I have done that in the past If you want to start painting your own part invest in a mini gun and an air compressor it will pay for itself believe me, and you get much better quality.

As far as flex goes even factory bumpers spider web so it just depends how hard you bump into something that will determine how bad it will look. But it helps a hell alot so i would use it. I mix in some drops in with the primer too and i have never had problems with spidering.

KEE AUDIO

iTrader: (65)

That's what I figured!! I'll go lay down some cash for a pro to do it!!!!!

davidfre21

iTrader: (3)

find a production shop and tell them u want it dead paneled using single stage, will cut down on the price a lot. For just the front bumper, we charge maybe 300 or so and thats fixing everything. So its not as expensive as u may think.

now the bad news, unless the spider cracks are only in the paint and they probably arent... they will be back...

if ya lived in norcal id be able to hook u up

rmpitzer

iTrader: (5)

Does this mean the plastic itself cracks? If it is just the paint, how do you remove the old paint?

-Rich

davidfre21

iTrader: (3)

yea the plastic itself cracks, and when u do a re-paint it puts a layer over the cracks and will look fine.. Until the bumper flexes and the cracks shift and show up again.

The way i do bumpers is

Sand to the plastic where the cracks are with 180 on my DA
Primer, burrying the plastic
then DA or scuff by hand with 600.

In your case though, with it being black... Instead of the 600 id use 220 by hand to knock down the primer, this only works because id use single stage paint which is more forgiving.

transambandit

iTrader: (6)

you will need to sand it down, filling it in with primer wont fix the problem, chances are your bumper will peel/crack again. If you want it done right you have to strip all of the paint off to get rid of the cracks.

davidfre21

iTrader: (3)

the cracks wont go away if they are in the pastic, they will come back, but the more material he applies on top of them may help it take more time to come back. The only actual way to rid them is to buy a bumper that doesnt have them

rmpitzer

iTrader: (5)

Well, in my case, the person who had the car before me repainted the front bumper, and the paint if cracked and flaking off. So I wondered what the best method was for removing the old paint.

davidfre21

iTrader: (3)

sand and feather the pealing with a DA, not much to it. I do atleast 2-3 bumpers a day

rmpitzer

iTrader: (5)

OK, I appreciate the info. Thanks