ok all you paint experts out there :bow:

 

I wanna paint my stock front bumper's grey section the same as the rest of the car. which paints/primers/preparation stuff should i use bearing in mind that its plastic and i dont want the paint flaking off. :headvswal

This will be a spray can job as i dont own a compressor and spraying gear.

 

Thoughts, help and advice greatly appreciated. :duffer:

 

Cheers

Pete

Find a car paint shop and tell them what you want.

 

You need a substance which makes the paint elastic so it will stretch and bend with the bumper.

All you need is 1 can of plastic primer/bumper primer, 1 can of your red paint/top coat. Some various grades of wet and dry sandpaper and some tack rags. I would go with 240, 400/600, 800, 1200, 1500. You will only need 1 sheet of each for that job. All available from Halfrauds !

 

Mask off area all around, make sure to cover anything you do not want paint on !

 

Start by washing area down to remove surface dust and then take some 240 grit paper and begin sanding it down. Once you feel there is less resistance from the paper (you'll know what I mean when you do it !) move on to the next finer grade of paper, 400/600 and so on until you finish with 800 grit.

 

Wash it over once more and completely dry it. Go over it with a tack rag to remove any dust and dirt still on the panel.

 

The fun begins !

 

Take your plastic primer and shake the can for a good 2 minutes or as long as you wish ! The more you shake it the better the mix of paint. Get an old piece of paper/card and spray a test patch to make sure the can is spraying a nice pattern and not throwing out blobs. Then proceed to spray from left to right or right to left, holding the can roughly 6" away from the panel. Don't stop in the middle and go past the edge of the panel to make sure you have paint on the edges and completely cover the panel in question. Leave to dry/flash off and then apply a second coat.

 

Leave this to dry for about 1 hour. Whilst this is drying cut up some 1200 grit pieces of wet and dry paper and place them in a bowl of water with two drops of washing up liquid in and let them soak.

 

Go out to the car with the bowl and take a piece of the soaked 1200 grit paper and rub the primer down that you just sprayed on, don't push down hard on the paper as you just want to smooth out the primer ready for top coat.

 

Dry the area off and again wash it down and dry it. Take a tack rag and go over the panel again to remove dust and dirt.

 

Take your red top coat and begin shaking the can for 2 minutes.

 

Apply the red in the same way as the primer and don't forget to test spray on paper/card.

 

Once you have applied 3-4 coats and it is completely red, allow it to dry/flash off for 10 mins and then remove the masking tape/paper.

 

When removing the masking tape/paper, take a very sharp blade, stanley's are fine for this, go around the outside of your newly painted object with the blade to separate the paint from the paper/tape. Almost as if you are cutting out the piece you have just sprayed.

 

Now you may remove the masking paper/tape completely and leave your newly finished panel to dry for at least 24 - 48 hours.

 

If you really wish to make it shine then take the 1500 and soak it as the 1200 grit before.

 

Go over the panel with the 1500 and smooth it down. Wipe of the surface dust and the panel will look dull and scratched. Take some rubbing compound and a clean cloth and begin to rub it over the paint in a circular motion, you want to remove all of the scratches that the 1500 grit put on it so keep going until they are all gone. Then get a clean cloth and wipe off any excess compound still there. It may now be looking quite shiney, but you haven't finished yet, get some car wax (Autoglym, Zymol, Meguirs etc) and apply some to a new cloth and go over the panel again polishing out any marks left by the compound and leave to dry for 10 mins. Get a nice clean polishing cloth and remove all traces of polish to reveal a beautifully painted, sealed and finished front panel. Stand back and admire the new look !

 

Good Luck :D

 

Olly.

and how do i book you to do mine??? :D :D

Thats fantastic olly.

Thanks

No probs , but I aint doing no-one elses, I have enough to worry about finishing mine lol :D :hyper:

No probs , but I aint doing no-one elses, I have enough to worry about finishing mine lol :D :hyper:

 

Dont worry fella, i wanna do this myself. I like the challenge and if I fook it up i'll just strip it and have another go :D

 

Cheers Bud

A Nice write up, cheers Olly

turb0z you are right mate, its only a small piece, so if you screw up, just sand it down and try again, soon you'll be spraying everything lol and it will look like glass !!!

 

Legrath - no problem at all, anything to help the Z community !!! ;)