okay so i would like to have black bumpers, but the rear bumper that is black on summitracing.com is like, 250 dollars :/ im going to assume a black front would be around the same cost

so is there any way to paint front/rear bumpers? like what kind of paint to use, how to apply it, how to make it stick, etc?

 

Are the bumpers your painting chrome or painted? Chrome will be a little harder to get paint to stick to it but either way they need to be clean and scored. Any kind of residue from car wax or make-it-shiny stuff like armor-all etc is a pain to get off. Alcohol works good as does paint thinner or something like that.

If you have an air compressor you can use a sander or whiz wheel to score the surface. An electric sander will work too. Use a fine paper though, you don't want to remove metal or put deep scratches in it.

For paint, a rattle can of rustoleum works. I don't like gloss black bumpers but some do. Satin or even flat black looks great IMO. If your not sure which one you like best, get some cheap dollar store paint and try all three. Let them dry completely. That way you don't spend a bunch of cash on good paint your not going to use.

The cheap paint will work ok but will flake. Use good paint. I think rustoleum and dupli-color both have wrinkle finishes and other textured finishes that also look great on bumpers.

The key is a scored surface and very very clean. Any petroleum or silicone residue will make your paint fish-eye and flake or peel.

And post pics when your done

 

will defiently post pics also, scoring the surface-do you mean just like sanding painted surfaces? and yes-it is chrome.

i'll be using rustoleum satin black of course. i dont like the look of gloss, especially on bumpers.

thanks for the help man, much appreciated and +rep.

 

i know!

so glad i found this forum-really answered a lot of questions and made me a lot more knowledgeable about a few things.

 

Yeah on the chrome it needs scuffed up so the paint will have something to stick to. Otherwise the paint will just flake off eventually.

 

so its just like sanding paint but instead youre sanding chrome. nice. easy enough. (cheap way of making it look good too!)

 

A friend of mine did his bumpers with roll-on bedliner. When he told me plans I called him an idiot but it actually looks pretty good. He has a two tone brown and tan truck though. Other colors might not look as good.

 

With this one i want to do everything proper. the paint is blue as you can see, and is in good condition (bed has stratches but eh)..so i defiently will score the chrome and then go at it with some good rustoleum.

 

Just my 2 cents, I would not use rattle can. Rattle can paint never fully cures therfore you will have problems with flaking and peeling in the future. Also some car wash soaps can actually remove rattle can paint. This is just based on my experience around body and paint for several years. Your best bet is a harbor freight spray gun and do it yourself. Also make sure you use primer. You may have ok results using 3 step rattle can, primer, paint, then clear. There are several companies making satin clear now. So to sum it up, if you dont want to paint it again in a year, your best best is base coat, clear coat.

 

I agree, if you have access to a compressor and paint gun you may as well use good paint and techniques. In my case, I didn't have those things so I rattle canned it. It did last awhile and was easy to touch up if it did flake any.

In either case, good preparation is key.

 

might as well use a paint gun then eh? only thing is that the paint would become that much more expensive, as i'd defeitnly have to buy a gallon or so of black paint.

 

For a front and rear bumper you could easily get away with only a quart of paint, if you have sprayed before yu could probably use only a pint. Just remember you have to have reducer for the base coat, which is usually a 1-1 or 2-1 mix so you can almost double the amount of material once it is reduced. 2-3 coats of the black, then 2-3 coats of clear and you will be golden. I would recomend buying a quart of clear though, as your 2-3 coats need to be applied "wet" so you dont have hazing or dry spray.

 

I dont have enough experience in spraying to be comfortable doing it. my dad, however, has 30+ years of spraying.