prep/paint bumper cover/header panel

[Bangster]

First, should I do this with it installed? Mainly worried about the bumper, just tweaking it a little bit in and out of the car I see where I caused the existing paint to crack. Would I be better off installing it and finishing it in place, or can I be careful enough and not tweak it and crack the new paint?

I can do the header panel off the car easy, and it doesn't flex, and easy to install without banging it up.

I have a few rock dings in the bumper and in the header panel. What should I use to fill them? I sanded any of the larger ones, and I guess I can feather each one out, but then I am into the plastic and then it needs more work.

On the bumper, so far I have hit the entire thing with 320 grit. Hitting the entire thing wet with some a little soap. Once overall done, focused on the damage, which is worse that I thought it was at first glance with it dirty and in the junk yard. I then hit the larger patches of down to plastic with 400 grit, and also the larger spots I took it down to plastic, and one pass up and down, and one pass side to side over the entire thing.

I am not sure if I should use a filler type primer, or an etching type primer, or adhesion promoter and primer, or...something else.

I also am contemplating from the excellent other thread on rattle can bumper cover paint, the automotivetouchup.com 12 ounce Silver Frost at 20 bucks a can (probably need 3?), or getting 6 8 ounce cans of Duplicolor for 32 bucks, also knowing I can get them locally for 8 bucks a can for 8 ounces. Quality versus quantity.

I am practicing on a header panel for my father, but it isn't going on a car, it is getting LEDs and going on the side of a shed for display purposes. It came out okay, and I learned a few tricky things that didn't come out good so I know to focus on it more on my header panel.

didn't remove the pin striping, and a rock chip I didn't feather out, plus it was gouged into the plastic pretty deep.

worst of the damage. I am not going for show quality here, but I don't want it looking like crap ir like a second grader school project:

stone chips, about 10 of them

 

[Bangster]

a few coats of an etching primer, just sprayed it, some is still wet, haven't sanded it yet

I think I want the surface to be smoother than this...

 

[Bangster]

header panel, the two spots along the grille opening are pretty deep:

wet primer:

can't see the stone chips, but they are there:

sanded, probably good enough, but can still see stone chips:

headlight, yes mucho f the silver is loose and covering the lense

20 seconds of polishing after 400 grit sanding (worn from sanding 2 header panels and an entire bumper):

 

[Bangster]

Now I am second guessing finishing this stuff myself.

It is hot (98 degrees today, and just going to get hotter)
I don't have an indoor space to paint
I have a dirt lot, with 3 large trees with tiny leaves and flowers
It is/has/will be windy and did I mention landscaping here is lots of dirt?

Just to do the primer I put up a sheet on one side, wet the floor and dirt all around the car port. I still got a couple tree leaves in the primer, which wasn't a deal breaker, but in a metallic color coat or clear wouldn't be good.

I don't think I have made these pieces any worse that before, but haven't gotten them to where the shop would consider them finished, so I am going to drag them to the shop and get an estimate having them look at the parts, and see how much difference it would be with them installed or not. With the way the grille mounts to the bumper I am not sure they could get good coverage in that recess for the lip of the grille, and the top ends of the bumper cover and they might do the job with them off, I don't know.

 

[LSC HUNTER]

Depending on what you want the finished product to look like. If the paint on the car is good and not faded out spraying the new pieces off the car is not going to be an issue but it might show as the color might not be a good enough match for a butt match. If you want it to look like original paint then install the parts on the car with the hidden areas painted with at least the base coat and then when they paint the car they can blend into the other panels for an awesome finish.

It is all up to you on what you want it to look like in the end.

 

[Sapperfire]

New paint shouldn't crack as easily. Paint and wet sand down to 2000 grit with it off the car.

 

[94m5]

First, to do this properly, those sanding areas should be feathered out more. Yo shouldn't be using an etching primer on urethane either. High-build primer with adhesion promoter is your best bet. Then block the thing down to 320 then 400 d.a. With a soft pad behind it.

As far as actually spraying it..... The less dust the better obviously.

 

[Bangster]

Got some Bondo glazing and spot putty for the cheese grater area and the down to fiberglass chips in the header panel. I will clean them up and use the spot putty there and in the pinhole chips. I feathered a few of the chips a little more, if I could see them on a wet primed surface or with it dry. I am sure the will be more obvious with the color coat, but I think it is looking pretty good.

I am still waffling back and forth on doing the base and clear myself with rattle cans. Wind has died down, I can get out and work at 6am when it is still in the 80s, and stop myself if it appears to be going badly.

So far only in it for 10 bucks in sand paper, 10 bucks in primer, 4 bucks for spot putty (35 for bumper, 25 for header panel) and 2 hours of work.

 

[ONLYTONY]

Search the forum for "bumper paint". You'll see what I did using AT rattle cans on my 97. I use the same brand of primer, paint, and clear. The color is cordovan, and dupli color doesn't list it at all. I've used 3 different colors from AT, and they were all perfect matches. If your after quality, spend the extra bucks. I did the bumper I think last summer, and it still looks great. A DD in New England weather.

 

[opalescent 96]

Metallics are very hard to spray paint evenly. I wouldn't recommend it if you're after perfection. Everything 94m5 said is spot on... You definitely want to get in there and feather it out more, needs more sanding! That etching primer is for bare metal. You want to use a high build primer, then a auto primer(rustoleum makes a 'auto primer you can get at osh) then a adhesion promoter for flexible bumpers then paint. Also they make filler especially for flexible bumpers called bumper patch or something like it. Usually bondo will end up cracking on bumpers that can flex.

If you end up taking the bumper to a shop don't got to maaco

 

[ONLYTONY]

You sure got plenty of proper info here. Primer can hide some small stuff, but when you paint, it will all show up. When I paint metallics, after the last coat is applied, and still wet, I mist it from 1'-2' away. It'll spread the metallic pretty evenly. I use a little timer so I don't rush the wait time between coats. I always use a tack rag. You can do it. Waiting for the finish pics.

 

[Sapperfire]

Metallics are very hard to spray paint evenly. I wouldn't recommend it if you're after perfection. Everything 94m5 said is spot on... You definitely want to get in there and feather it out more, needs more sanding! That etching primer is for bare metal. You want to use a high build primer, then a auto primer(rustoleum makes a 'auto primer you can get at osh) then a adhesion promoter for flexible bumpers then paint. Also they make filler especially for flexible bumpers called bumper patch or something like it. Usually bondo will end up cracking on bumpers that can flex.

If you end up taking the bumper to a shop don't got to maaco

Maaco isnt bad.. But theres a catch to that.. It should only be a Premier Maaco center.. They use the better paints and have higher paid painters. LaserSVTs white 98 was done at a Premier Maaco and looks Fabulous. The standard Maaco centers are garbage

 

[Bangster]

So I have gotten estimates between 450 and 700 to do the header panel, bumper, and leading edge of hood.
So I have a case (6 8 ounce cans) of Duplicolor Silver Frost and a case (6 8 ounce cans) of Duplicolor clear, along with 2 11 ounce cans of adhesion promoter.

I filled in the creases and chips with the Bondo glaze, I still have two to fill, but it is looking good. I also hit it with some high build primer and that helped with some scratches.

Thanks for the hints on getting a the metallic to lay down good, the light distant coat after the last wet coat. I just hope that the clear doesn't change the color or turn yellow, those 2 reviews that say that happen versus the 50 that are happy with it makes me wonder.

 

[Bangster]

I canceled the Duplicolor and ordered 4 cans from www.automotivetouchup.com and 4 cans of clear from them. Twice the money, but I think now that I am actually spending some time on this, I want something that will be better quality. I am still not sure how much I really need, but I have used 2 cans of primer.

 

[Bangster]

Just need the paint to cool down (all day in a big brown vehicle when it is 104) and paint the card, clear it, and check that it matches.

Oh and wait for a day that doesn't have 20 mph winds, so likely not gonna happen until next week.

 

[opalescent 96]

It's actually good if the spray can is hot... gives the can more pressure and a more powerful spray pattern. You want your subject cool though obviously.

When I built scale models back in the day, I would boil a pot of water, then put a spray can in there for a couple minutes... not very safe, but the paint blasts out like a spray gun. Sometimes the bottom would pop out from concave to convex and some boiling water would splash..

 

[UltimateSVT]

Keep up the good work. Don't underestimate your work. Be confident. I had an entire car painted in the back yard of my mother's house under a car port. We closed the entire car port with vinyl canopy all around. I'm sure your work will come out awesome!

 

[Bangster]

sprayed the test card, 1 tack coat, 3 light coats, and 1 lay down some flake from 12 inches coat, followed by 3 clear coats. I focused on the center of the card and not the white or black side, but I was still probably 1 coat of base away from where it should be.

As these pictures tell the story, it is windy and I have a ton of dirt and flowers from trees in the air, so painting the parts needs to wait until next week.

The grille currently doesn't match the rest of the car very well, I was going to just fix the two spots, but I think I need to paint it completely as well.

Hard to tell in the pictures, but the match is great, the clear isn't as glossy as the car, I also didn't sand it with 2000 grit and rub and polish it.

 

[Lownslowlsc]

I'd say that's a darn good match. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

 

[Teccmoney]

Watching this work in progress makes me want to do my front bumper now. I hope your bumper turns out great.

 

[Bangster]

I haven't had many, if any days off since attempting this. Between work and family stuff on the weekends, and trying to wait for a day without 20 mph winds, I had to pick a day after rain. The relative humidity was around 40%, which is high for here, but seemed okay for painting.

Got started at around 7 am. Hosed down everything with water (walls, roof, floor, etc)
went over bumper and header panel with a towel and denatured alcohol, then with a resin tack rag
Laid down a tack coat, a very light and zebra striped coat.
SET A TIMER for 10 minutes (and walked away)
started laying down full coats. I put down 4 full coats, and just stepped away for at least 10 minutes between them
I then did a dust coat from a long distance away to lay down some metallic, I think I did this from too far away and it partially dried before hitting, but it did lighten the color a little and looked more like the existing metallic pattern on the car.

These are of basecoat only:

Some imprfections/debris in the color coats.

 

[Bangster]

After the last base color coat, I waited 30 minutes (again, timer, and wander off), then drug the tack cloth over the bumper face and top and sides.
I put down 4 wet coats of clear, with 15 minutes between each
I let it sit for 30 minutes, then had to move it out of the carport, and it rained for 4 or 5 hours on it
after waiting 24 hours I hit it with a light sanding with 2000 grit sand paper to smooth it out, get rid of the 3 places with small bugs, and a few places with orange peel
hit it with polishing compound, then with Mequires ultimate compound

Not sure when I will get a chance to install it, might take a day off from work this week.

Overall I am glad I ended up doing it. The results look promising, I have held the parts up next to the car and they look good, but won't know until I install them.

From the $2000 I got from the insurance I ended up spending 225 (with some "waste"), and to be fair, no one would/could get the parts, so no shops would take on working on it, since I did the leg work to pull the parts myself, drag them around, I decided that I should go ahead with the rest:
bumper cover - 35
header panel - 25
headlight housing - 15 (charged the yellow and damaged price)
paint/supplies - 150 (4 cans/3 used of base, 4 cans/3 used of clear, 2 cans etching primer, 2 cans fill primer, bondo glaze putty 1% of tube used), 320, 400, 800, 1500, 2000 sand paper, polishing compound, finishing compound, microfibr towels)
total time (including the drive, pulling the parts myself at yard, cleaning, filling, sanding, painting, sanding, polishing) 15 hours
waste:
20 - dollar header panel (second yard had a better one, this one has very slight cracking areas not seen or structural)
5 - not taking back the wrecked header panel for the core
40 - gas driving 250 miles round trip

On the calendar it took me a long time, first just getting them to settle without totaling it, then a free weekend to drive 90 minutes to hopefully get the parts, then random 1 hour periods of paint, sanding, and glaze.

I still have to attach the bracket to the side where it mounts to the fender (I have a large rivet gun and rivets someplace, but I can't find it, so might get bolts) and get my wiring ready for the aftermarket HID (relay setup with resistors to stop the SCIL issues I have), and...time away from work.

 

[My Great 8]

From the pictures it looks perfect. You should be proud.

 

[Bangster]

Bumper cover was pushed to the center a bunch, and cut on the metal bumper, I had the pry them apart. I also should have known what was to come...

headlights and bumper cover off. I can tell that the bumper is bent because the header panel is under it...

yep...

passenger side

Already been quite a bit of bodywork done in the past, but it is bent from the header panel being pushed to the passenger side

passenger side, nice and straight but still looks like painting was done

back on the drivers side, fender front mount. That should be straight

10 whacks with a sledge hammer. Need to trial fit the header panel. Tried with a dead blow hammer, then a nailing hammer

 

[Bangster]

Not sure what happened, but from the time I finished painting it and now, the finish is now a matte finish and feels "soft" to the touch. I am not sure what to do. I very lightly sanded it with 2000 grit and hit it with polish by hand. It looked promising at that point, but 10 days later not so much. so On a scale of 1 to 10, I am being generous with a 4. If I can get it to shine up, maybe a 7. I still have some fine tuning to do, and I scarred the paint on the header panel. Not as easy to install by a single person as I though it would be, hard to know what is going on the other end when trying to be one side to fit.

New header panel easily clears the bumper beat back into some sort of shape with sledge hammer. Lots more adjusting needed from this.

The gap seemed pretty good initially, just starting to bolt it down

not so good, but I noticed in addition to all the broken header panel mounts, the brackets were bent (you can see where I caught the top of the header panel on the fender, (&%^*&^&*(^%&(

I still have spots on the grille to fix, I just flat ran out of time, and needed it back together, this is NOT the type of work that goes well with 1 or 2 hours every other day or so

not sure how to get the headlight to fit better, 1/2 gap is no bueno, and the trim is about 1/8 of an inch forward of where it should be on the bumper top

the center of the hood is 1/16 higher than the header panel, but the edges of the hood are flush, I guess time to bend to hood?