just painted my bumpers and cladding, results! (pics)

using the tips and advice i got from everybody on the forum, i finally got rid of that old grey look and i think it came out pretty damn nice. here are pics of my results. thanks to everyone on the forum sharing all the good knowledge.









thats just dust from my hands on there, it came out really clean




cant wait to get my black wheels and new tires, i like the way this came out so much, i might paint my stock rims this weekend!

Looks good man!!!

Awesome man what did you use?

When I was in the car business, I found the perfect spray paint for blacking out things. It's made by a company called Wurth. It's called Wurth Satin Black Trim Paint. It's just awesome. I use it all the time on the black stuff... mirrors, body molding, wipers, blacked out panels near windows, etc. This stuff is made for this, and has high solids. The trick is to layer light coats up, not just flood it with paint one time. Trust me when I say this stuff is worth having around. And if you use it the way I mentioned, it lasts a very long time. REALLY good stuff.

They also make it in gray, for the gray bumpers.

Nice work.

I've also played around with the idea of painting my wheels black. I'm hoping to get new wheels/tires soon so I'm holding off, but if it looks like I'll be on these wheels much longer, they'll be going black.

thanks fellas, i used krylon fusion spray paint for plastics. i used black SATIN. the gloss is too shiny and tacky, and the flat is too flat. i tried them out on some cardboard before i picked. i washed the panels with carwash soap, and then scrubbed them with a scotchbright sponge using simple green. i wetsanded any rough spots with 1500 grit paper ad then i took the cladding and rear bumper off. the front you cant take off, so the most important part is to make sure you tape off the front bumper really good. then i started painting. i would put on a coat, wait an hour, and then put the next one on. i did three coats. like they say, its better to do many thin coats than one thick one. put it back together and it looked factory. thanks again for all the advice, this forum rocks.

Nice, but does anyone thing rhino lining the cladding would work? Would using the cheaper do it yourself Hurculiner be a good idea? i really want to do this soon.

blake, what i would do is get a can of that bedliner, and then go to a junkyard and find an old piece of plastic trim similar to the plastic on the ST bumpers, or maybe a spare part you have laying around the garage and try it on that first. ive seen duraliner used to paint metal bumpers, or machined pieces people use for other functions like skid plates and roll bars and its looked pretty cool, but never on plastic.

What about using a hammercoat paint? Never seen that on a bumper before, but it's an interesting look. Lots of V8 guys are painting their valve covers and intakes with this stuff. Usually powdercoating on the metal parts, but if it's a bumpy texture you're after, this might be worth looking into. Definitely different.

You can also buy texture coating to go under the paint from Wurth or 3M, if you want a painted textured surface.

Looks great, never dug the grey.

Ponti-where is the best place to get the Wurth paint? Interested in trying it. Autogeek sells it for about $22 a can. OUCH

There is an early 2000's Dodge Dakota in my area that has been that has had the entire body rhino lined including the plastic. It looks like a beast but i haven't seen it in a while. I'm just worried about the flex of the plastic.

Looks awesome man!

Be sure to post pictures/steps if you end up doing your wheels. That's intriguing...

I used to get it by the case (6pk) from a Wurth vendor that sold to all the local auto dealerships. Wurth sells all sorts of neat stuff, from door panel clips to really neat threaded rivet inserts. It's a very big company with really great products, and not so great prices.

The only place I've seen the paint (outside of my local wurth vendor) is on Autogeek, and they wanted $15 a can plus shipping. Not cheap. I used to pay around 6 or 8 a can I think. I used tons of the bumper black (satin black trim paint), and can vouch for it all day long. I tried some auto parts store "bumper black" a couple times, and I found that it took twice as much paint or more, and it most often had problems with crazing, fish eyes, etc. The Wurth stuff is just the right shade of low gloss black, and if you put it on in very thin coats and build it up, starting with a tack coat, it really does well about not fish eyeing. And the end result is a nice even correctly colored finish.

They have a dark gray as well, that matches things like plastic grilles and such. They also have wheel paints, and I hear rave reviews about them at autogeek, but haven't tried them myself. In my humble opinion, wheel paint should be powdercoat like it is from the factory. But if you're just touching up some wheels and it isn't a show car, their wheel paint is probably a very good choice.

I hope you can find the Wurth paint cheaper, maybe Ebay? But if not, buy it anyway. It's that good. Scuff the surface up, clean it, dry it, and do 1 light tack coat. After that, 1 - 2 more light coats, followed up by a final medium coat. No heavy coats at all. The results are great, and you'll be surprised how long a can will last.

Wow thats nice!!!

i will def. post picks and steps when i get the wheels painted black. i have been wanting black wheels on this thing since the day i got it and was planning on getting some this ummer, but then i figured that it was either new wheels and tires this summer but no fishing/camping/mountainbiking trips plus i plan on hitting up vegas and LA too, or the other way around. i chose the other way around so im gonna paint the wheels black until i can afford to get some new wheels. i plan on doing the wheels some time this week so look out for another post on my results.

Probably outweighs your cost requirements, but a real good idea for wheels is powdercoating. Super hard, heat resistant, and not too much money. The cool thing about powdercoating is you can not only select from a bunch of colors, but also from a bunch of textures.

For example, gray hammercoat is what is typically used to powdercoat tool boxes. Looks great on intake manifolds. I've seen a red aluminum dash in a VW race car powdercoated red hammercoat. Not my style, but very interesting anyway. I have my 4v valve covers powdercoated with a textured (slightly bumpy) surface, in semi-gloss black, which looks good. Might look good on wheels too. Or there's always just plain colors, like flat or satin or low gloss or semi-gloss or gloss black.

One of the coolest factory wheels I've ever seen is the 99 anniversary Trans Ams. They have a polished aluminum rim that has almost an overspray of blue paint misted over the shiny aluminum, and then its powdercoated clear.

I wonder if you could have rims anodized for that bright colored aluminum look (like AN fittings), and then powdercoated clear when done, to protect the frail anodizing? Some black anodized rims might be tight looking.

Lono, I'm gettin ready to do my bumpers/cladding this weekend. Can you offer any tips on taping off the front? that part makes me nervous. Also, can anyone give me the rundown on where the screw and everything are on the back bumper and cladding? Oh yea, and how many cans of paint did you end up using? Sorry for all the questions, big projects make me nervous lol

I know this isn't directed towards me, but I use 3M blue painters tape on cars. Very effective, and easily released. MUCH better than masking tape. Also, if you end up getting a little fine overspray on the paint, a clay bar (with water) takes it right off safely and quickly, but must be followed up by a re-wax.

Pontisteve said:

I know this isn't directed towards me, but I use 3M blue painters tape on cars. Very effective, and easily released. MUCH better than masking tape. Also, if you end up getting a little fine overspray on the paint, a clay bar (with water) takes it right off safely and quickly, but must be followed up by a re-wax.

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Noted, thanks for the advice. I'll have to get a clay bar that's good to know. I appreciate the input! I was all wound up and ready to do this last night but decided it's a weekend project so hopefully this weekend it'll get done!

yeah, ponti hit it on the head. i used 3M blue painters tape. the front bumper is the hardest part because you cant take it off. a good tip is to not try to use one long strip of tape because of all the curving, its easier to use multiple pieces of shorter tape. you can follow the line of grey paint in the bumper seam with your painters tape. make sure the tape is on there good and flush, other wise you risk the paint bleeding where it shouldnt. i used paper grocery bags to tape up the rest of the front of the truck because that paint will float and coat anything it touches. try to do it inside a garage if you can so the wind wont blow anything onto your paint.

also, remember to prep the bumers and the cladding good, its the most important part to a good paint job. use simple green and the soft side of a scotchbrite sponge. dont spot spray either, just go side to side evenly doing one thin coat, letting it dry, wet sanding any rough spots, and then doing another coat. i did 3 coats for mine. be patient and make sure each coat dries good. ill post soe links that a couple of the guys on the forum put up for me that helped a lot.