PAINT!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CalPencil]

I've seen a bunch of cars on here have it, and I'm very curious.....

I'm looking to put a fresh coat of nice red paint on my red festiva. But I also want to give the car some nicer looks, and I've noticed that people paint their black bumpers also.

I didn't think it was possible or wise to do it, because of the material of the bumper. Can some one claify if it's okay to paint it, because once I get started there is nothing that can repair the look of the blackness of the bumper afterwards.

As for right now, I like my bumper to be a nice deep shine of black, so it sounds funny, but I take tire shine and I spray the entire bumper to get a nice shiny look. Trust me, it looks much nicer.

two questions....

1) Can I paint the bumper? Is it safe?

2) I'm using tire shine on my bumpers, is there a way to maintain this shine or deep blackness all the time without having to use tire shine?

Thanks.

[SimonTuffGuy]

I've never seen anyone paint on their black bumpers... If they did, I can't see how it would hold up without a LOT of prep work. I'd say your best bet is to find a set of already painted bumpers and panint those to match.

And if you're keeping your black bumpers, you could look to find a plastic/vinyl dye and use that. I use a tire shine/foam to give my ragtop a nice deep black look, but I've looked into having it dyed to keep the color instead, just haven't had anything with it done yet...

Simon

[modernbeat]

Had to track down this post on the old board. Looks like SEM Bumper Paint is the way to go.

http://p074.ezboard.com/ffordfestivaaspirefrm36.showMessage?topicID=235.topic

Someone posted early in the thread that early cars had black bumpers and later had grey...my '89 L had a dark grey finish over medium grey plastic. The finish has worn off in a mottled pattern. It' will get scotchbrighted and sprayed with the SEM paint.

You asked if it's safe to paint bumpers. Yes, but the paint has to be at least as flexible as the bumper, it has to be able to bond with the bumper, and the bumper has to be sooo clean before you spray it.

[mattswabb]

I just painted my car and I did paint my bumpers. Make sure that you clean them very well, shoot them with a coat of good epoxy primer (dupont DP), then paint them. The epoxy primer will stick to the surface very well. You could add a flex additive to the paint. If you don't like how it comes out you can always just buy new covers, I see them on ebay all the time at a reasonable price.

Before


After


matt

[88festiva]

I'm going to try the same thing, paint my gray plastic bumpers white to match the car. I went to the auto-paint supply store, told them what I wanted to do and they sold me a spray can of adhesion enhancer, along with the regular PPG auto paint and the little aerosol bottle spray thing that you mix up yourself. I've used those on other projects (truck topper) and they work fine. I think I'm going to test the theory tomorrow.

[88festiva]

I do have a question of Mattswabb, though ... how did you get the black plastic/rubber door protector strip off? What's underneath?

[mattswabb]

It was very hard to remove. The adhesive they use is really strong. When I pulled them off it actually created high spots from the adhesive sticking. I had to hammer them down. You could use a putty knife and work them off with it.
The door is smooth under them though. You can kind of see it in this pic:



matt

[Gro Harlem]

that looks like a nice finish...did you have to sand the paint to make it look that smooth?

What kind of paintgun did you use?

[mattswabb]

Thanks, I spent over 30 hours sanding and block sanding the car. I used 600 grit wet sand for my last sanding. I still haven't wet sanded and buffed since it was painted. I'll used 2000 grit wet sand before buffing.

I have a friend that does some painting and I used his sata hvlp gun, real nice to shoot with.

matt

[FB71]

dude, thats a $500 gun... sweet.....

[Gro Harlem]

how powerful was the compressor? i have a ignersoll-rand hvlp gun but the damn thing needs like 10cfm at 40psi and my compressor only puts out 7.7

[mattswabb]

how powerful was the compressor? i have a ignersoll-rand hvlp gun but the damn thing needs like 10cfm at 40psi and my compressor only puts out 7.7

I have a 5HP 50? gallon tank, not sure about the CFM. I'm not sure what the gun I used required but the compressor used to belong to the friend that I borrowed the gun from and he has painted a few cars with this setup. The only thing that kills my compressor is my cutoff wheel.

matt

[eye_of_ra93]

Body and paint

Ford that stripe down the side we used a heat gun for a bit of it and then yanked it off, The tar residue can be a pain, I used an orbital sander and gentle wire wheel on a drill. Gotta be carefull though not to eat into the metal or scratch the crap outa the car. Mine came off easier on a cold day. As for painting bumpers, mine are. I wouldnt reccommend it unless you use alot of flex and clear. And for goodness sakes dont use high pressure car washing equipment cause it will strip it right off. I used microfine sand paper and water to do most of mine and also used a palm electric sander. It worked awesome. Painting bumpers is risky, The paint doesnt really like to stick. And with cold and warm weather paint likes to crack, especially if you bump it or lean on it. I wouldnt really recommend painting e'm its risky. You might see mine back to a black or split look where half top in painted and it fades into black. My former paint jobs were like that. Good luck and talk to some of the pro's here that have ppainted fenders and body kits.