When I bought my S it had an aftermarket front bumper. The paint job wasn't the best on it but it has perfect paintmatch. however, overtime there has been numerous chips in it.It looks like it is peeling as if it was painted on by brush. It is primarily just doing this around the wheel well area so it isn't a huge deal but it is getting worse and needs repainting.

My question is how do I go about doing this? I assume i can get it done professionally for around $300 but would rather save the money if i could because I have lots of time on my hands. I have repainted my frontmount heat exchanger and a few parts under the hood and in the interior but nothing as difficult as the exterior.

My main concern would be removing the old paint as I am not the best sander and getting the new paint to match. I have heard that it is difficult to get the paint to match even with the correct paint code. I also don't have one of the sprayers for the paint so I guess I would just need to use bottled spray paint? I am not really sure and was wondering how other people went about getting it done.

As I said though. I have some time on my hands and the bumper is easy enough to get on and off that I couldn't imagine this job taking a lot of skill just basic painting ability and time.

 

You might actually be surprised what it takes to paint a bumper and make it look good and match. I would highly suggest that you just get it done professionally, it will be worth it in the long run. Also prep work is what makes the paint job, if you do bad prep work, the paint job isn't going to be that good even if you can spray it on evenly and everything. Also color matching takes quite a bit of skill and you need to know what your doing. If the color is off a bit how are you going to make it match? That's why there are professionals for this kind of job.

There are many reasons I could tell you not to do it, here are a few just to think about. You will need to strip the old paint without damaging the bumper, you will need various grits of sand paper and a block to sand with, and will take a while to do it by hand, you will need to know what grits it's best to sand with from start to finish so you don't leave any marks behind, I would never paint a whole bumper with a spray can or anything like that (I painted my ap1 replica lip when I had my ap1 bumper and stuff with a can from automotivetouchup.com, and no matter how much you prep it's going to chip fairly easy, and will not match 100%. I now have an ap2 profesonally painted and it is so much better it's not even funny) a shop will re-do the part if the color doesnt match right and you arent happy, a shop will bake the part after they paint it to cure it and make it more duarble, afterwards they will wetsand it with proper grits and use a polishing compound and buff it up so it's all nice and perfectly smooth, if you tried that yourself you might go to far and scratch or do damage to the paint.

Just some things to think about.

 

http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_476_paint-car-bumper.html

^Don't know if the link above would help or not, but this is what I would do ...

-ALWAYS Clean with soap and water.
-Wet sand the entire bumper with nothing courser than 320 grit and nothing finer than 600 grit wet sanding sand paper. Make sure to feather-edge all scratches/rock chips etc. After sanding the bumper, the paint should look really dull. Make sure the whole part is dull and there is no gloss left. This insures that the base-coat that you'll be applying will etch into the paint.(makes sure the paint sticks)
-Again, clean with soap and water.
-Dry the bumper, making sure there is no water sitting on the bumper before painting.
-Blow/tack the part off, making sure there is no lint/debris sitting on the part.
-Mask any areas you don't want to paint.
-Spray the part with 3 coats of base-coat. Be sure to spray with a 50/50 overlapping pattern.
-Spray with 2-3 coats of clear in the same pattern.

If you already have a paint gun and air compressor, DIY will save you BUX! What I would advise for you to do is research and practice. If you maybe have some old stray exterior parts laying around, I would practice on those first. Go to your local parts store and get a qt. of the cheap basecoat/clearcoat they sell there. Mess up, no prob, just wet sand and try again.

Goodluck!

 

Those are good DIY's, but there are still many things that come in to play. First you will most likely have to strip the paint completely off since you don't want to leave paint on there that is chipping/peeling like you say your front bumper is. Even if you sand it smooth, the paint underneith is still bad quality and that will make your new paint easy chip also. So no point in doing a good job if it will also look like crap or not hold up good either. The OP says he does not have a paint gun or anything like that, and most likely doesnt have a compressor with enough power to keep up with a high volume paint gun. Not to mention moisture forms in them over time also and may leave specs or blobs in the paint and will prevent you from getting a perfectly smooth finish in the end without a ton of wet sanding. A good compressor that will keep up with a paint gun isn't cheap at all and will definetly cost a lot more than the $300 it will cost to get the bumper professionally done, then you will also have to pay for all the supplies and paint which won't be too cheap.

Once again, not worth it especially since you havent done anything like this before, and don't already have a good compressor and paint gun.

 

After re-reading the OP's msg, the bumper will need stripping if its in fact "peeling". (Any pictures? ) You should research that also. Before I had adequate training, the first part I painted was a spoiler. It actually wasn't a terrible job and definitely beat paying to have it done. IMHO with practice, anyone could paint and make a part look decent, at least to an untrained eye. If this is an urgent issue I would also take it to the shop. If not, like you said, you have lots of time, why not practice. As practicing will save you large sums of money in the long run. Figuring this won't be the last part you'll need painting. I say, research, find out what you need and go for it. BTW... I've witnessed some pretty decent work done with the $59.88 guns sold at walmart. It comes with two, a reg. size and a mini. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Campbell-H...n-Kit/12534872. If you're will to do the necessary step-by-step research, I think you'll be fine. Maybe If you knew someone that knew a little about the subject, that would help as well. If you wouldn't label yourself somewhat of a DIY'er, and don't care to learn how paint, then like ^ said, get it professional finished.

 

hmmmm. after reading the posts I think it might just be best to get it done professionally. I wouldn't mind buying a compressor and paint gun from walmart or something since I am sure I would be able to use the compressor a lot; but I think I would have a hard time getting all of the old paint off and a hard time getting the paint to match and get on the car perfectly.

I know someone that painted some stripes on his car with a paint gun and they look really good. I will talk to him but I know someone that owns a collision repair shop and he could probably do my bumper at a decent price. If I decided to do it myself I will come back. The car is just low on my list for where my money needs to go right now and the bumper is low on my list for repairs/upgrades.