DIY Painting front bumper

[white beauty]

Alright, I have a few scratches on my front bumper, some from scrapping up against things and other from my 4 hour trips from orlando to miami, and all have touch up paint on them that from far is not noticed but when u get up close its very noticable . I have gone to a few paint shops around town and the lowest price i could get was 300 dollars to paint the bumper. I was wondering if there was anything I could do to paint this myself, do i have to paint the whole bumper, or can I just paint the scratched areas. I have no real painting expierence besides spray painting which im not about to do to my bumper. Thanks in advance

 

[dynasty]

first, my highly recommendation is taking it to the shop. i got my front bumper painted for only $100. did an okay job, no chips or peel so i'm good. secondly, if you do plan on painting, remember this, primer (makes the paint stick), color paint with 2-3 coats, then clear coat. after clear coat, use 2000 grit wet sand it so the surface is smooth. that's how painting is usually is. but when painting, remove the whole bumper. do not paint the bumper while it's still on the car, you will regret it. other than that, i would do some minor repair before painting. like for me, i had a huge dent on the front bumper so i bondo it and sand it off where it looks new. after that, i painted it myself. this was the first time i'm painting it myself so it turned out dull. i didn't put enough clear coat on it so it looks nasty. but that was my experience.

 

[yellowfever]

ill be getting a compressor and paintgun next week so i dunno where you live but ill do it for 80$+shipping+cost of paint

 

[white beauty]

thanks for the advice jdm dynasty, and thanks for offering yellowfever but I live in miami,florida and I cant have my bumper off for that long, also if i do end up doing it myself, do i put the primer over the paint thats on now, or do i have to sand that off? and after I sand the clear coat, do i have to put the clear coat on again?, sorry if these are noob questions but i really have no clue

 

[dynasty]

about the primer. you should sand off every single paint on the bumper. because you wouldn't want to do a new paint layer over an old paint. so i would definately sand out all the original paint. what i would do is, go to Home Depot and buy those paint remover or thinner and spray it on. after that, the foam will mold up all the paint off and you just scrub it off.

for clear coat, just have about 2 layers of clear coat and that should be fine. after that, just wetsand it. don't add another clear coat because it's not recommend and it'll add too much layer to the car. just to clear something up, 2000 grit wetsand is will not remove paint. it's only to make the surface smooth. so don't worry. 1000 grit wetsand would work if you can't find 2000 grit.

when i learned how to paint myself, i didn't really ask so i learned by experience. so don't worry and just ask before you do something wrong.. like me. hehe

 

[white beauty]

thanks man appreciate the advice, also do u know where i could find the taffeta, dont know if i spelled that right, white honda paint, and how i get the paint on, i dont have a spray gun, is there another way?

 

[talontsiawd]

First, if you are going to strip the paint off your bumper, use a stripper that is safe for urathane. Sems makes some but it doesn't work well on oem (or any baked on paint) as it is much tougher than painting it conventionally.

Second, do not rattle can it. You can get color match rattle can paint but it will not be the same, look the same.

Third, you can paint over existing paint, AS LONG AS IT IS STICKING. If you have flaking, cracking, etc, you need to sand through it. But just those areas.

Lastly, do yourself a favor and take it to a body shop. A good shop should charge $200-300 to do it. If you do all the sanding yourself, you can save a decent amount of cash. Talk to a shop, they will tell you if they are willing to work with a prepreped bumper. They usually even give you tips. Just let them know that you are willing to pay for any work they need to do to get it perfect.

If you really want to get a spray guy, plan to spend atleast $100 (you can get cheaper ones that work but i wouldn't recommend it if you are new to it-advice from friends, i'm just about to buy one). Add on paint, a compressor if you don't have one and you just put in the same as you would to get it done professionally. But you can use everything again obviously. I'd only recommend this route if you are seriously interested in learning to paint.


Cliff notes, get it done professionally.

 

[white beauty]

yeah after reading everything, and seeing how much work thier is to be done, i might as well take it to a body shop, thanks for the advice guys, hey finally got 100 posts lol

 

[talontsiawd]

Yeah, good choice. Search around. You can find quality body shops that arn't expensive. You can find expensive bodyshops that arn't quality. Ask around, get estimates and be sure to take a good look at some cars they finished, etc.

Now, i wouldn't discourage doing your own prep work. It's basic sanding, use a block. You can find plenty of info on the net. It's something that anyone can do. It's time consuming though. So if you don't want to deal with it, spend a bit more, and be done with it.

 

[dynasty]

yeah, like everyone said. sand it before you bring it to the shop. i would highly recommend sanding all the paint off. either you paint it yourself or the shop. i wouldn't paint over existing paint because it leaves weird bumps, but that's just me. bodyshop usually charge a lot mostly because of sanding. sand is a biotch because it's time consuming. paint stripper helps a lot but not enough. you have to use a 'sweegy?' to pry off extra paint off. it literally took me 2-3 days to strip my whole front bumper. took me an extra a day or 2 to repair my bumper. after that, took it to the shop and got it painted for $100. good luck with that though.