Rust preventative maintenance for painted rear bumper

[sean99]

After seeing Brian's rusty rear bumper on his Limited i started getting paraniod about my own
I decided to do a little rust preventative maintenance. I used a small pair of channel locks about 5" long to release the bumper pad clips. They are released by squeezing and pushing up at the same time. There was one clip that i couldn't reach with the channel locks, that i popped off with a long slot screw driver. I sanded off the minor surface rust, and brushed on few coats of primer to the exposed metal. The bumper pad will cover all of the primed areas. I'll let the primer dry overnight and then snap the pad back in place.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Sean- I would get a can of POR15 and paint those spots. The pad will rub the primer off easily, but the POR15 seems to be a lot tougher.

Still though- your bumper is a lot less rusty than Brian's...

 

[sean99]

I'll treat it with POR15 before next winter. These little channel locks work great for popping the clips.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Make sure you warm up the retainers and stretch them back out (flatblade screwdriver inside) so they maintain their "grab" and the pad won't start popping off. That's the issue I had with both Snowball and Shamrock when I replaced the pad...

 

[sean99]

Thats a good idea, i'll do that tomorrow.