Tips, tricks on How to paint plastic bumpers

[sethsport]

Hello, I've got a 2003 sport trac that's black with the plastic gray body kit, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I want to paint them but I'm pretty sure if I did it'd just crack or peel because it's plastic. How would I go about properly painting them. Tips on prepping, what type of paint to use, etc...I think I'm just going to try and color match the black of the vehicle. Thanks in advance

 

[roughrider17]

there are tonnes of threads with alot of detail on how to do it but generally people recommend krylon fusion plastic paint... if youre colour matching thats a different story..

with mine i just removed the pieces except the front bumper which i taped off, gave the pieces a good cleaning with mineral spirits (paint thinner to remove any grease, wax etc) and gave them 3 coats of krylon fusion.

if youre colour matching i assume youd use a clear coat on top, id recommend doing it all correctly the first time and using 4 coats of paint and 2 of clear because once the clear coat dries its very tough to touch up the paint if it does chip or scratch

i would suggest using the search function on this site though as im sure many threads can detail it much better.

good luck

 

[sethsport]

Yeah I tried searching but what I found was people getting it professionally done, thanks for the tip, I'll try and research and see if I can't find more, maybe go to an auto body shop and see what they say

 

[koda2000]

You can't just use regular paint and regular cleat coat. Bumper paint is different from body paint. It has to be able to flex w/o cracking. IDK if there's an additive that body shops use to modify regular paint, or whether it's different all together. Ask a place that sells/mixes auto paint.

 

[DBryant95]

Hello, I've got a 2003 sport trac that's black with the plastic gray body kit, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I want to paint them but I'm pretty sure if I did it'd just crack or peel because it's plastic. How would I go about properly painting them. Tips on prepping, what type of paint to use, etc...I think I'm just going to try and color match the black of the vehicle. Thanks in advance

Im pretty sure this doesnt probably matter to you much anymore but i got an 05 Ford Ex ST XLT and have the same black w/ grey trim panels and was soo afraid of painting my bumper or any of the trim as well.. i had the back to black stuff as well, but before ever using it I did the grey back tailgate bumper trim pieces with some regular paint and like a brush and it worked pretty well til next summer came then got splotchy. but the trim stuff is good for returning that ugly sunfaded grey back to black for the most part... (I unfortunately had to do mine outside during the summer before sun came up and fell victim to dew again ruining the overall result.. still looked alot better than that grey tho... but finally, seeing this thread gave me confidence to finally paint my front bumper trying to touch up where i had bumper road rash from a front end collision and when i was getting it prepped and sanded to get courage up mto paint my mom needed me to come to her house and help her that night ion her garden so had to drive my truck, deer ran into me on the way back and had to go ahead and paint it with rattle can paint ughhh... But i actually have to say,, if your goal is to match the texture of the bumper and other trim plastic pain in the Ass PlasterPieces of OEM crap they chose to stick us with, The Hammered Black Rustoleum Paint + Primer did amazing!!! of course being plastic i didnt have the inhibitor or stuff they use instead of primer so i just had to scuff and sand the surface, which i was going to have to anyway bc of the damage done from wrecks. and i originally tested it on a blackish sunfaded plastic mop bucket to see how that would come out first and turned out amazing again was very happy with the results. now my problem is having to wait atleast a week if not 2 before I would do a sealer or clear coat,, being rattle can spray job and trying to determine what woulds be best possible finish for a plastic automotive bumper.. I know it would need UV protectant in it,,, as i try to do my homework but am only a self taught mechanic in training/ Painting amateur who never had a male role model to help me with these kindve problems, and have only been practicing less than yr and a half so please dont roast me too bad if this was a dumb idea.. the hammered black to me seemed like the appropriate texture tio use for those situations i was reading about such as my own where people wanted to match the texture to the rest of their trim pieces of oem trim that would have to scuff off the texture of a new bumper or trim piece and had no answers on what the best solution to do would be... Thanks for the knowledge and feedback everyone from this group has brought and included me in... You guys have no idea how greatly this page has made me a more well tuned ford mechanic

 

[joney]

Welcome and best wishes on your paint jobs! It is a great, very active group here!! My issue isn't the bumpers, mine are chrome and fine...But when I find out how to remove the trims on the bottom of the doors, and fix up the rust there and a couple of isolated spots, how ever to match the paint up, it's been on there since 1998, and so has to have faded at least a little! On a limited budget yet. It's a beautiful "Pacific Green" and if I could order that exact color from Ford or whoever might have it, I'd be surprised if it matched. I have thought of doing a 'Fake Eddie Bauer" contrasting color on the wheel flares and along the bottom, but don't want black, and can't come up with a color I'd like!