Painted the bumpers TWICE already but it won't last

FloridaState · June 12, 2010

Yeah so I've painted the black trim around the front and black bumpers two times already, but within a month, they look like CRAP. The first time I used the duplicolor bumper paint. It looked awesome....for a few weeks. Then I started to notice little places where it was peeling and you could see the ugly gray/purple-ish trim. It just got progressively worse and worse until it was half gray and half black.
For try number two, I decided to use duplicolor trim paint as I used it on my grille insert and rear pillars and it still to this day looks great. I also opted for an adhesion promoter on this go-round. Again, within a month or so, I noticed it was peeling. And it seems like every time I look, more and more has peeled.

So I need to know, what the hell can I do? Both times I did prep work. I washed with dish soap, scuffed it, washed it again, then used a degreaser. I'm just at a loss as to how I can keep it looking good for more than a month! I don't expect the rattle-can job to last years, but more than a month isn't too much to ask, is it?
I was thinking of using automotive paint and having my dad paint it with his paint gun.
Is there some sort of prep work that I'm missing? Or maybe a better brand I can use? Would a clear coat help?

Any advice? I really hate the ugly gray, but black peeling with ugly gray is worse.

Anime · June 12, 2010

When you say painting the trim you mean the plastic stuff, or the metal bumper itself?

If you're painting the plastic trim, it can be tough to get paint to stick to plastic without a total system with adhesion promoter, primer, and paint made to work together. Krylon's Fusion plastic paint seems to get good results, too.

If you ARE painting metal and just using dish soap and degreaser, that's not good enough surface prep for a quality job. You should either use some fine sandpaper or a wire wheel (drill or grinder mounted) to get it down to bare metal (or the base layer that won't come off without serious work), then wipe it down several times with mineral spirits, and finish it off with acetone or alcohol just before laying down the first coat. Spray a new layer after giving the the previous one time to dry, and repeat several times, then let it dry and give it a few coats of clear the same as you did with the color coat, and let the whole thing cure in a warm dry place for 24-48 hours before messing with it.

I've painted my bumper, rockers, and tons of other stuff with just a few layers of inexpensive walmart anti-rust spray paint, and just by doing the right prep with the metal and using acetone on the surface, along with letting it cure, it's impossible to get the stuff off the surface without harsh chemicals or deliberately sanding it off.

Joe Dirt · June 12, 2010

Anime is right- prep is the entire battle. He mentioned adhesion promoter- that's an absolute necessity.

FloridaState · June 12, 2010

Thanks for the responses.
I'm just talking about the plastic trim. I hate that ugly gray-ish color of stock. The chrome I like and plan to keep as is.

Perhaps I will try Krylon next time. What other prep item(s) or brand(s) do you recommend for the plastic?
I used an adhesion promoter the second time around (I don't recall the brand but I think it may have been Duplicolor), but it's still peeling like a mother. At this point, I'm ready to just strip off the paint and leave it the ugly gray, it's better than peeling black. But I really hate that gray.

Anime · June 13, 2010

What color are you trying to change it to?

There are different trim colors for different 95-98 Explorers. Some are grey, some are tan, and a lot are black. If you just want black, you'd save yourself a lot of time and effort simply getting the trim from a salvage yard, or on the for sale section of the forum from someone who's parting out.

If you want to match the paint on your vehicle, or do some other color, my suggestion for painting it would be to first remove the trim you want painted from the vehicle, then use some 100-300 grit sandpaper to scuff the surface, clean it completely with some Dawn dishwashing liquid and water, rinse with water, let dry completely, then use some of that Fusion plastic paint, making sure to use adhesion promoter and/or surface primer if the directions on the can call for it. You'd probably want to use a clear coat as well since that will take the abuse and help prevent the color layer from being chipped off if it winds up working great.

Depending on the porosity of the material, it's also possible to use good ol' color dye to permanently change the color, at least of the outer layer on softer plastics. A cheap water-based dye might not work so well on the heavy-duty ABS plastic trim, but a good penetrating dye would likely change the light grey color to something darker or even approach a body paint color with the right number of applications and/or mixture of dye colors.

Do keep in mind it's entirely possible to swap out both the front and rear bumpers between 95-98 Explorers, along with (for the most part) their trim and accessories. You can swap the grey plastic trim for another color you like, or even for a front/rear bumper with a different trim style you prefer.

storlied · June 13, 2010

I've not seen factory black trim??? Only grey and tan, the purplish color the OP mentioned I think may be grey with change to the color caused by the sun??

RickOTR · June 13, 2010

Painting the plastic bumper trim is a waist of time. I tried three times using a variety of paints, adhesion promoters, etc, and nothing worked. Ford no longer makes just the bumper step pad but there are a few aftermarket companies that do. You will just have to look around for the color you want.

O.Madsen · June 13, 2010

Well.

I have painted quite a lot of various trim parts, and i have always used a special primer for plastic. Working with it is easy - just like any primer. No need to even scuff before, as long as you cleaned it properly. The primer "melts" to the plastic, thats why no scuffing is needed.

If you use a proper plastic primer and you still have issues, i would blame it on your cleaning. I use pure alcohol after a good cleaning. I really dont see why you could not make this work..

Good luck

storlied · June 13, 2010

Uh.. Paraphoe painted his black just fine, looks great.

gmanpaint · June 13, 2010

Prep work is the key to any type of painting.....period.

To each his own but, I would not use a mineral spirits for prep clean, leaves an oil film, and can seep into areas you cant clean off, then wick back out. I use a more volatile cleaning fluid, Lacquer thinner. Dries fast & leaves the surface clean.

For black plastic trim paints, I gave up on CRY-lon fusion. I switched to Keystone trim & bumper paint. This is a high tech professional bumper paint made for body shops. This has "Flex" agents in it, self adhesion promoters, is tough and stands up to the abuse. Dries in a Satin finish. There are other brands of Flex additive paints such as "Sem".

I would strip off all the paints you added with a stripper that wont swell the plastic. It is available in rattle cans as well and you need to remove the bumper to use it. Then clean it (Laq thinner) and let dry before painting.

Scotty J. · June 13, 2010

Krylon Fusion worked ok for the flares on my Ranger. For my bumper, I had it powder coated. I let someone else do all the prep work LOL.

Owning a Ranger has it's benefits when it comes to trim choices, different models within the same year have different trim. For example, my XLT had a grey grill and fender flares but the FX4 has those in black. I always have the option to buy the other colors from the stealership, however it is a bit expensive.

FloridaState · June 13, 2010

Wow, thanks for all the responses guys. I guess it's just a personal preference for the prep work and stuff. I'll be sure to be more thorough and stuff next time (if there is a next time).

But yeah, I am talking about the plastic gray trim around the bumpers of my '97 XLT. Nothing metal or anything like that. And I don't think they ever had factory black trim, but it looks a whole lot better than that ugly gray.

So O.Madsen, do you have a specific brand of plastic primer you recommend? And where could I find it?

And gmanpaint, where can I get this "Keystone" or "Sem" paint and it is expensive? I'm in college and on a budget, so I really can't afford fancy expensive paint. lol
Also, what stripper won't swell the plastic? Something specially designated for plastic, or will any paint-thinner do?

Sorry for all the questions!

Oh, and these are the pieces I'm talking about:

They kinda look good from far away, but when you get close, they're peeling pretty bad. I'm referring to all the black plastic trim in between the chrome.

gmanpaint · June 13, 2010

Look in your local yellow pages for a supplier near you. Unless your a wholesaler, bodyshop, with an account, you cant order online or by phone. They will however accept walk ins and you can purchase from the front counter. The Flex bumper paint is less than $10/can and will be enough for both bumpers.

Here is a few I looked up real quick. Might call one of them and ask for a closer shop near you.

KEYSTONE AUTO PAINTS 850-432-6404
195 LURTON ST, PENSACOLA, FL 32505

Keystone Automotive
4677 L B Mcleod Rd # B, Orlando, FL 32811
407 425-7531

Keystone Automotive Operations
7505 Exchange Dr, Orlando, FL 32809
407 251-1402

FloridaState · June 13, 2010

gmanpaint said:
Look in your local yellow pages for a supplier near you. Unless your a wholesaler, bodyshop, with an account, you cant order online or by phone. They will however accept walk ins and you can purchase from the front counter. The Flex bumper paint is less than $10/can and will be enough for both bumpers.

Here is a few I looked up real quick. Might call one of them and ask for a closer shop near you.

KEYSTONE AUTO PAINTS 850-432-6404
195 LURTON ST, PENSACOLA, FL 32505

Keystone Automotive
4677 L B Mcleod Rd # B, Orlando, FL 32811
407 425-7531

Keystone Automotive Operations
7505 Exchange Dr, Orlando, FL 32809
407 251-1402

I guess the Pensacola one would be closest to Tallahassee. Do you think they'd be willing to ship, or would I have to drive all the way over there? I guess I could call lol.
Is there anything close to like the Treasure Coast/Palm Beach area, where my house actually is?

Thanks for all the help, by the way.

GRNMACHINE · June 13, 2010

I do not if they still make those pieces but you can try Torrie the Ford Parts expert on this site. Those pieces dont look like anything different than the black ones that came on the Sports for example (what I have). I would assume they are interchangeable, I do not see any difference in the Sport bumpers (except they are black).

You can also try LMC truck. They have ALOT of Explorer parts--ALOT!

FloridaState · August 13, 2010

Painting bumpers AGAIN, should I use an adhesion promoter?

Well this is the third time I've attempted to paint my plastic trim around the bumpers. Every time I do it, it ends up peeling and looking like sh*t within a week or so.
I used bumper coater the first time with no adhesion promoter. Lasted all of a few days before I noticed patches where it peeled off.
So I painted them a second time. This time I used an adhesion promoter followed by DupliColor trim paint. Lasted a little more than a week then I noticed the same peeling yet again. One thing I will note is that I didn't sand or attempt to strip the leftover patches of paint from the first job (but a helluva lot of it peeled off already). Perhaps that caused the second coat to peel?
So here we are, third time's the charm, maybe? I sanded the plastic as best I could, but there's still some black paint in the little ridges and grooves (as you know, the bumpers are textured and not smooth) and used some stripper. I picked up some Krylon Fusion for plastics at Wally World. So my question is, should I use an adhesion promoter with this too? Or will it let me down again? I really don't want to paint this again in a few weeks.

Also, any other prep-work or tips you can offer would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Paraphoe · August 13, 2010

What adhesion promoter did you use? This makes no sense to me. I have the same truck as you, I've painted mine only twice in 6 years. They've held up GREAT. Only scraped off in a few spots where i hit the bumper while loading crap in the back, etc.

You might've already seen this thread, but here's my touch up thread. You can see how the paint still looked fine after 4+ years, and only was missing where it was bumped or scraped against.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=216871

I would recommend using the adhesion promoter and paint I used. Picture is in the link, but here's a shot anyway:

FloridaState · August 13, 2010

I believe it's DupliColor adhesion promoter.

And I know dude. It's really frustrating. The prep and masking everything off takes SO much time and effort, and I get extremely pissed when I look at my truck less than a week later and it already has chips in it. I HAVE to paint it tomorrow because I go back up to Tallahassee for school on Sunday, so I can't buy the brand(s) you have.

If it doesn't work again, next time I'll definitely use what you used. Hell, I wouldn't mind painting them every year or so. By about a month, the bumpers are peeling and chipping everywhere and it looks like crap.

So what do you think, should I use the adhesion promoter I have or skip it?
Also, what kind of prep work did you do? I've been washing with dish soap, degreasing, then painting.

97 EB Mike · August 13, 2010

I have to preface this statement with the fact that I am no body guy. I hate body work, painting, detailing, ect. But...

I painted my front and rear bumper covers, the front lower valance, and the plastic door trim with Krylon Fusion about a month ago. I couldn't be happier with the results. It looks the very same as it did the day I did it, only with a few more bug guts on it. I didn't use any adhesion promoter, degreaser, soap, water, or anything else. I taped it off and sprayed it. The only complaint that I have is that I used satin black, and it turned out far more glossy than I would have prefered.

FloridaState · August 13, 2010

I can only hope I have the same experience. lol

That's pretty interesting considering you didn't use any kind of degreaser or anything like that. I thought that was like Painting101. I'll still do the prep work, but I think I'll skip the adhesion promoter. I don't want to mix different brands, and I didn't have a whole helluva lot of luck with it previously.

If it doesn't work this time, I'll try what Paraphoe did.

If I still can't get it, the conspiracy theorist in me will start to suspect Ford put some secret coating on my bumper so I can't paint them. lol

Painted the bumpers TWICE already but it won't last

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