Bumper Cover Question

[Twistiva]

Anyone ever tried taking a painted bumper cover and removing the paint?

I found a brand new bumper but it says it is "primered". I prefer to have it just plain black plastic. I've read posts on here that say that the 88-89 non-painted covers generally don't accept paint well, but has anyone ever tried to do the opposite?, ie, go from painted to plain black plastic, and if so, with what success?

(BTW, if anyone knows how to clone themselves so they can take care of the daily grind stuff and still be able to work on their Festy, please let me know....nthego: :highly_amused: )

[navdoc101]

Paint it black.

[bravekozak]

Factory paint on TPO (thermo plastic olefin) is special. It wasn't meant to come off. TPO is solvent resistant, but not heat resistant. I personally wouldn't attempt to get it off. You could do a test at a junk yard with a small can of paint stripper. It would be easier just to buy another bumper cover. How about a brand new unpainted one?

[Twistiva]

Paint it black.

Like I said above, I prefer the look of bare, unpainted black. When you wipe it down with products similar to 'Back To Black', etc it looks nicer than black paint, I think.

BK, thx for the link. If I were Bill Gates ($$$) I'd buy a rear one in a second. Heck, I'd buy 10!

Anyone else?

[sketchman]

Black plasti-dip it? It has that bare black plastic look to it to me.

[Twistiva]

Black plasti-dip it? It has that bare black plastic look to it to me.

Hmmmm....that might be worth a shot.

Maybe I'm wrong but the reason I don't prefer the painted black bumper covers is because they look glossy in every picture I've ever seen of them. I know from the factory, the painted ones were color coordinated with the body, but the black ones I've seen look glossy.

My 2 cents....

[navdoc101]

Non-painted ones were grey I think. I never saw a fresh one. Plasti- dip sounds good, or panit it flat or semi-gloss black.

[bravekozak]

I had body color bumpers on mine, originally.
I wanted some contrast and pulled the bumper skins off a junker and slapped them on. A little Magic Eraser was good enough for me. I don't want a show car. I'm so lazy, I didn't even bother to remove the license plate bracket to do behind it.

[1chrisapple]

Like I said above, I prefer the look of bare, unpainted black. When you wipe it down with products similar to 'Back To Black', etc it looks nicer than black paint, I think.

BK, thx for the link. If I were Bill Gates ($$$) I'd buy a rear one in a second. Heck, I'd buy 10!

Anyone else?

you would prolly be driving a different car if u were bill gates

[Twistiva]

you would prolly be driving a different car if u were bill gates

Hmmm......maybe, maybe not. I've owned my trusty Festiva for almost 25 yrs. I can afford more but keep it because I think it's a cool little car.

[GenevaDirt]

Non-painted ones were grey I think. I never saw a fresh one. Plasti- dip sounds good, or panit it flat or semi-gloss black.

nope...black....over time they turned gray from exposure and such. I have newer ines on my car and they are black.

[navdoc101]

Ah... thank you GenevaDirt. I've never seen new ones. They even look grey on e-bay.

[Twistiva]

nope...black....over time they turned gray from exposure and such. I have newer ines on my car and they are black.

So where did you get your new (black) bumper covers? Inquiring minds want to know...