Another Bumper Repair Question
 

Alright dudes,

tell me I'm not nuts.

I've got two pretty deep gouges at the bottom of my front bumper and a couple of very tiny scuffs on the driver's side from squeezing into too-tight of a parking spot. Bumper was replaced and re-sprayed after a hit and run about six months ago and then I went and did this. Sigh.

I've got a can of automotive primer, a can of factory-matched WRB and a can of hi-gloss clear coat.

Anyway. So. Take the bumper off, mask off everything I don't want painted (even the really really tiny scuffs and scratches that won't buff out), clean, prime, sand a little, spray the WRB and clear as per instructions, and then sand/polish? Is this overkill for little scuffs and scratches, and does that really matter at the end of the day? What grits of sandpaper for wet/dry sanding should I be using?

I just want to make sure I'm not doing anything too stupid, but man having scuffs and scratches in an otherwise brand-new bumper pisses me off.

But like... that's it, right? This is all I need to do?

I'll grab photos after work if needed.

Thanks!

I tried this once then I decided I'm not cut out for spray paint jobs that involve blending. Ended up making it look worse

if you have never done this you'll make it look way worse than if you took it to a good detail shop and had them touch it up and melt everything in. not all detailers can actually do that kind of thing but id try to find someone before spray painting my front bumper.

trial and error with something you don't care about first lol.

on the more serious side. clean bumper first>sand with 150-300 grit to save start time> move to 500-800>than 1000+ grit to finish. feel the surface to check for smoothness/roughness>start priming after you wash>base coat>clear/gloss coat.

Cool. That was my first thought, it just didn't occur to me to post it for some reason, haha!

It really is, like, a 2x2" square on the very bottom of the bumper on each side and like two 1mm x 10mm scratches so I didn't think I could f it up too badly. It's not gonna look WORSE, I wouldn't think.

Uhh.. if it's not very visible from standing view you could try and spot paint , but it's something in a broad spot you might have to paint the whole thing to make it even and unnoticeable.

I recently did my front bumper too after debdge left scratches because I did it at night after work lol (Ik ik its not very bright...literally too) so i covered deep scratches and badge boles using epoxy than tried to spot paint. Didn't like the result.. so I just prep the whole bumper and did the whole thing.

Here's the result
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...fb1717bc24.jpgdon't mind the lip lol that was already cracked tried epoxy on that too and ran out of e8h oem paint so I used something else xD planning on getting a new lip anyways >_>

Fiy this is my experience if you think you should go to shop for a professional job than do so. Best to get it done once unless you want the experience too hehe GL buddy

So, body shop took a look and gave me an estimate on the time it'd take to do correctly and it's about $25 less than a new bumper ($250 to fix vs $275 to replace) So I'll try it myself and if I hate it I'll just have them replace it.


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Er sounds about right for the job but I hope $275 bumper is painted the exact color you got lol or else $250 paint job+$275 front bumper in primer means double the money for a small scuff

Nah that's $275 painted and installed. Way less labor involved in painting a brand new bumper than in sanding down all the scratches and scuffs and blending stuff correctly.

Same as I got quoted last time I needed a bumper replace only that was after a hit and run so insurance paid for it. This is all me.:bonk:

By the way we are talking SUPER minor here. Sorry the photos are the size of Alaska.

http://i.imgur.com/uwOqaVc.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/koBmntD.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Yuf2lX1.jpg

If that's the case yeah do some experiment might save you money if you can live with it. It does look really minor :D

Yup. I'll document the process as I go if folks want.

That price can't be for a new bumper plus paint. List on a Brz front cover is just under $300 by itself. Paint should be roughly 3hrs plus material rate on top of that

Yeah he's right this was what I was looking into also because I DIY it. If you can get your hand on a frs front bumper new and paint already painted color of choice let me know ASAP lol

Another Bumper Repair Question
 

I might be really dumb and misremembering, I just remember there being a $25 difference between the labor it would have taken to fix all this and make it look new and the cost of just painting a new one. Not a particular point of contention for me as the minor price difference is what matters to me in this case, though.


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I've done rattle-can work exactly as you're considering and, while it turned out quite good, it took DAYS. It was a labor of love for my wife's Celica before she was my wife. ;)

If you're into it for the experience, or because you have much more time than money, then I say go for it. Otherwise, ...

What was your experience like? Was there a reason it took more than a day? I was figuring I could devote a day to the project but hadn't planned on longer than that.

Gah! I forgot I had to strip and refill a weld in the b-pillar. That's what took so long. In my defense, it was over 10 years ago. :P

Have you read up on how to prep, treat between coats, and all that?

Not treating between coats, but how to prep (re: sanding, cleaning, etc) yes. The whole car is gonna get machine polished afterward.

I forget how long the paint can be allowed to set before it must be sanded if another coat is to be applied. That's really what I meant.

I bet it turns out perfect.

Lots of people skip prepping in between but you should let the paint settle for at least 45 min, heat gun would come in handy to speed things up. Make sure you wash everything you prep... don't want a Sandy surface due to all the stuff you'll be sanding(dust)

Yeah, I'm going to be following the directions on the cans pretty much exactly. I'll probably just use like rust-oleum auto primer for the priming but then I'm using the GrimmSpeed factory match WRB and Clear Coat, and I know a lot of people have used those with very good results in the past.

who is replacing your bumper for $275 is that the labor costs? to replace the entire bumper is over a grand.

flash time for paint is nowhere near 45 minutes

Does anyone know offhand if there's a special primer for poly, or is it ok to just use whatever? I haven't ever shot over poly.

I've never seen anything that suggests you'd need a different kind of primer for poly.

Welp, I did it. I still need to wet-sand and blend the paint, obviously, but the Grimmspeed WRB is a perfect factory match and even with all this orange peel (again, I know I need to do the wet-sanding!!!) it's virtually invisible from farther than maybe 3 feet away. HUGE difference.

I masked up to the body line on the "lip" area and used two thin coats of primer, three thin coats of WRB, and three thin coats of clear. I sanded with 220 - 300 - 400 grit between primer coats but did not sand afterward.

The big scuffs on the side of the bumper will mostly buff out and I'm not as worried about them as I was the big gouges in the bottom of the front bumper.

Not bad for like, $45 worth of paint/tape/etc.

(thanks to @DarrenDriven for letting me use his garage!)

http://i.imgur.com/CQSeQxf.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/xaqEBUr.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/HsFitS6.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/kuu5a2G.jpg

Car will be wet-sanded and machine polished either this weekend or next depending on my schedule. Will report back if folks want.

W00t congratulation bro you did well 😁