A 2007 and the front bumper has been painted twice due to stone chips. The soft upper bumper cover not, but the hard steel bumper does.

There is a product I've used for various projects, it's a rough textured pebble grain black vinyl, often used on trailer fenders, etc. When I say rough, I just mean tough. I am seriously thinking of using it on my front bumper now. Heat gun, a roller, should do it. I've used it on trike fenders as bras, on a under rear seat storage in my '07, door panel covers in my '77, And other stuff, like these sun proof head light covers cut from sun dilapidated head lights of late. Just use them for parking to protect my headlights from sun / UV.


Just to show the texture, etc.


Original head lights had dark grey inside, but these new ones have black in them.


I was thinking about taking the bumper off and over to my painter buddy and having it repainted, but I know this vinyl is tougher than paint, and I know I can form it with a heat gun and roller, I'd do it in my basement shop.

I once used a clear spray on the paint, it came off in pieces in the cold. I tried a paint protectant clear film, it came off in a sheet. I think this stuff would look great, and might even look great as rocker and rear bumper covering but really I would likely only do the front bumper. The rockers and rear are pristine. Wondering how it would look.

 

Nice looking truck. You have obviously spent a lot of time and effort keeping it looking good. I enlarged the picture and did not see a significant amount of stone damage. I have a '07 and agree that those front bumpers take a beating, but using a vinal product which sounds good, but I would be more concerned about cracking and peeling over time and then trying to remove it once it has been compromised/damaged. My two cents. Good luck.

 

Thank you Sir!

In reflection, since this thread posting, I should add that the second picture was more about an overall look, it's actually a 2016 picture. The middle picture shows some of the chips, but it is a recent picture. You are right though, it's not near as bad as it was when I last had it painted, that was after a Christmas trip to Ga. during which it was snowing, sleeting, etc and I was going a little slow and a salt spreader passed my but he left his spreader going, throwing cinders, and it pummeled the front bumper, then he cut across my bow to exit 81 at the exit where the highway dept has a shop too. Had I known he had the spreader going, I'd have stayed in front there as it was just slushy then. ​​​​​​​

I might first just try touching up the minor damage that grabs my eye, and try another round of clear paint protection film, a different "brand". Maybe there lies my relief?

 

Sounds good. I believe in paint. I love my '07 FX-2 Sport. It is comfortable for the driver and 3 adult passengers, trustworthy (145k miles on the odometer), and reliable. I use it as a truck to haul, tow, etc. I keep up with mechanical maintenance, wax it a couple times a year, and I went to my local PPG dealer and bought a pint of factory code matching paint, reducer, and hardener, which I have used to repaint the rear bumper and do touch-up things. I live in the forest and this past winter a pine tree branch broke off and fell on the hood putting a sizable dent in it. But, I have enough body and paint skills to do the repair and will probably just go ahead and sand & paint the entire hood as there is some sun/paint etching happening as well. My point is this. Paint is tried and true and it does not take a lot of skill to repair small areas. Your initial investment in a good paint gun and the practice to learn basics of using one pays back time and time again when you don't have to deal with the expense and time out of service waiting for a body shop to complete a job. We all have or have heard the body shop horror stories. Anyway, I hope my ramblings were helpful. All the best to you.

 

Again, Thank You.

Walked out and just studied on it, as the tree guys chip up some tree limbs. You're right, ain't really so bad .... from 20-30 feet away anyway. Might just be me focusing on it as I walk up to it. I realize too that I'm not gonna be driving it in snow storms to Georgia ..... 'cause they moved up here a few years ago. That was a rare trip anyway.

Touch up might will do it.

 

clear bra will work for you. You'll need to buy a bulk piece of material (easily available) and just use painters' tape to in essence mask off the front bumper cover assembly... you will now have an exact template. Cut it in half, directly down the middle making it 1.8" short in the total width.... the reason for this is the material likes to be slightly stretched. This is how I did mine.

 

Looking closer, most all the damage is between the fog lights, there is no serious impact damage outside of that area where anything striking would be hitting at a shallower angle and easier deflected.



Current picture above, every chip is in view. This below is what I was imagining, and avoiding the ends would greatly ease a smooth "lay down" application. In reality, the textured vynil if was used, would almost "blend" in above the lower bumper cover which is plastic, the color & texture is just hard to duplicate with drawings. I have used this stuff for a long long time, over 20 years now in all sorts of applications, and never have had issues like cracking or fading, but it does stick well to clean smooth surfaces. If I did use this stuff, I'd use 3 pieces, with the narrow top portion above the opening being overlapped by the two wider pieces out towards the fog lights.




I guess I'm maybe still on the fence after all. I know that if I do use it, a heat gun makes it soften and eases removal. I might try a test swatch for match, it ain't just dull flat black as drawn.

Again, I appreciate the feed back / ideas, etc.

 

Here's my two cents. First of all, I get where you're coming from on the chips in the paint. I obsess over stuff like that until I can't stand it anymore and I fix it. My opinion on the proposed fix: 1. Does it make the annoying chips disappear? Absolutely! 2. Does the vinyl defend against further chip damage? Most likely, yes. 3. Does it accomplish your goals? Unequivocally, yes. 4. Does it enhance the overall appearance of that beautiful truck? Eh-h-h, not so much... again, it's just my opinion.
Have you considered a repaint and followed by applying the clear bra mentioned earlier in this thread? In 2022 a couple of the guys from the group of us who drove our First Series F100's from Southern California to Pigeon Forge, TN for the F-100 Super Nationals and back used that "clear bra" on the front portions of the hood, fenders, and vallance panel, and when we got back to SoCal they removed it. Not only was there no damage, but there was clear evidence in the removed vinyl material that it did it's job. I, on the other hand, took mine to the painter. Of course, I must tell you that the paint on my truck was from 1984 and a fresh paint job was already part of the plan. BTW, I wasn't just yanking your chain when I said you have a beautiful truck. It's easy to tell you love your truck. All the best.

 

Just occurred to me .... I have some odd ball pieces that I can put in place and get a better feel for how it would look, with out actually removing the back paper and applying it. Just use a few pieces of masking tape to hold it in place and then it will be in the same light at the same angles. I'll try that first. I don't like the "stark black" drawing on a photo "look" either.

 

Super clean truck Tbear,
How close of a color match would/could, rino or linex be in that area, then you would barly notice it on there.

 

Thank You. I have Line-X in the bed, it looks a bit dark. It hasn't faded (was already there in 2009) that I've seen (but there has always been a bed cover on it too), but I have heard / read that it will fade over time and exposure. I do suspect that it might be harder to remove cleanly. It is pretty "grippy", might be a harder job cleaning bugs off too.

I had recently ordered another roll of that pebble grain vinyl, even though I had some, but I like to keep some on hand, like I will use up some on my new steel fenders I'm gonna put on my utility trailer. It just came a few minutes ago. I'm "still on the fence", but I'll look at it.

 

Today my Wife and I took a ride to town, made a few stops, dumpsters, Lowe's, Walmart, 7-11/Subway/Sams Hot Dogs, etc .... and walking back to the truck several times, I saw the chipped area really only shows once one is within a few feet (unless one is looking for it) like under 20 or so, the new headlights do tend to draw the eyes away from the bumper chips. Imagining the black vinyl in place, pretty sure I'll just use some touchup paint skills and cover it with a sheet of clear "PPF".

I do appreciate the feedback, it helped to open my eyes too. Besides, I have some other uses for the vinyl.

 

Sounds like the perfect solution! All the best to you and the missus.

 

What do they use to wrap bumpers, when wrapping a whole vehicle, how does it stand up to chipping, and they can for sure color match that.

 

Not sure. I mentioned using both a spray on and before that, a film that had adhesive. In retrospect, I know the spray on was a total wasted effort, it faded and looked bad and soon it came off. The film version is the one that simply came loose one cold night on a drive. I forget the brand, was something on clearance at our store.

I have used the 3M ppf on trike fenders, it's good ... but in time it grew a dirty look at the edges under the film itself. I removed it from our trike and really had better luck with extreme dark (5%) static cling limo window tint It did great and was very easy to remove, reapply. Bright sun, you could see the red metal flake trying to get out. I thought I might try Expel, it's 8 mils thick which is pretty thick in that application, .... but I do have a couple boxed rolls of that tint now that I think on it?

06-09-25: Not worth a whole-'nother post, so I'll just add it here. Played with some samples, and the window tint idea is not a good look, too black .... & too shiney too. I did photo some of the vinyl, just to see how it caught the light.



Running my open palm on it, the paint on the bumper is chipped more than I thought.