painted my own bumper
 

ok i hate when anyone touches my car so about 99% of all work done to my car is done by my own hand... so when i got a quote for more then $450.00 to repaint my bumper I whipped out the sand paper and painted the dam thing myself with the help of my friend for about $100 bucks ... ok here are the pictures... let me know what you think?

Badly faded paint and bad touch up work done by some body shop

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2725/...284e6144_m.jpg

my buddy anthony sanding
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/...e6d00c74_m.jpg

more sanding
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2761/...24a94878_m.jpg

more sanding
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/...fd146ddd_m.jpg

all done sanding ready for some primer

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/...ac274cba_m.jpg

starting the first coat of primer
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4050/...bfea71e1_m.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2698/...7e772397_m.jpg

first coat of primer before sanded down
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2720/...4c31c73b_m.jpg

just finished sanding prime ... ready for pimer sealer ... then paint
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/...f8b71b41_m.jpg

fresh paint and clear coat
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/...9b0ce6ee_m.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/...aef5ec36_m.jpg


all done ready for some wet sanding and compound... oh the big whole in the middle of the bumper is to provide air flow to the intercooler (thats my next project to make that look better instead of hideing it with a plate)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2680/...2d7c2b4e_m.jpg

Nice did ya use any flex agent?

wow good work

nice ! i have to repaint my bumper, but i have clearance issues with the fmic on mine, so i have to make some adjustments and take care of the paint.

Looks good 8-)

used a sandable primer then a sealer primer .... dup color mixed paint so there is no need for flex agent with this type of paint (already mixed) ... oh did i mention sanding lol lol this bumper was really bad its not 100% perfect and i could have sanded until i was blue but then again this is a driver and not a show car so i can live with some of the imprefections on the nose of the car where i am sure it will need some touch up with all the driving i do during the summer

I'm going to be honest man...I'm impressed. When I read the thread title I had a bad feeling it was going to be a hack job. Looks like you took all of the proper steps to prep it properly before painting it, used good materials, and plan to cut and buff it after to remove the peel. Nice Job!

Just for my own satisfaction....how many hours do you think you and your friend combined have into it?

I'm really considering doing this to my bumper if yours dosnt start to spider without the flex agent. Mine is in worse shape than yours was.

wow thats awesome, i was gonna spray paint my bumper but maybe ill get some duplicolor lol

you mean if the paint doesnt just completly fall off like yours:lol:

thank you .. again the bumper is not 100% perfect but pretty close I got about 10 hours of sanding / primer then sand again to get all the imperfections out of the bumper .. this bumper was pretty ruff and had a hack touch up job from a previous repair so that's why it took me so long to get it to look right for anyone who is going to do it make sure you use a sandable primer then when your all done use a prime/sealer this will prevent any cracking when laying down the new paint... if not it will never look right or wont last and resolve in spider webs

the duplicolor is already mixed with a reducer in it so all you need to do it load it in the gun and spray ... you can def reduce it down more but i felt there was no need for this application (its about $22 bucks)

prep work is where anyone needs to concentrate to get the smooth look

just pulled it out today to wash down the car
 

final result what it looks like outside going to wash down the rest of the car the paint almost matches completely even though the rest of the paint is over 12 years old

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/...f3bb3eb1_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4059/...f38cda40_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/...dc51af9b_o.jpg

before wet sanding .... there is some part around the plate area that has been cut into (this is from people bumping into me on the street but you can see that once the plate is on)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2680/...2d7c2b4e_b.jpg

sand and more sanding for you :mrgreen:

Again very good job.....just wanted to use this as a way to point out pricing to other people. You have about 10 hours into the job. Shops labor rates can range anywhere from 50-100/hr....so a repair like that could easily run you $500-$1,000 just for a bumper. Food for thought for the people who are always looking for a good "cheap" paint job.

wow looks perfect in the pictures.....maybe ill just pay you to spray my bumpers and driver fender lol

yes agree there is allot of labor to make it look right ...... I don't knock the shops for what they charge for a job like this but i am cheap and rather spend my money of go fast parts lol lol

lol

I remember when I had to have my bumper repainted. The shop did a piss-poor job and the paint never did stick.

g

Thats what happened to mine. They half assed it. When it started to come off i looked under it and it just blew my mind that the are allowed to paint. No sanding, was a perfectly smooth, brand new bumper. No primer at all. So pretty much all they did was spray it and hope i didnt hit anything.

Hey man looks great. How much did you feather out the spider cracks? I'm goin through the same thing right now painting my car.

same happened to me. they never prepped/sanded/primered my bumper when i had it replaced a few yrs back and its massively peeling after being bumped.

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/655/sdc10612t.jpg

nicely put not everyone understands that fact or the total cost for materials and such i deal with it all the time but the bumper looks real good congrats

looks great! i need to do my front and rear bumpers due to clear coat coming off/fading/spiderwebbing in the clear. i noticed there is no more bird on your bumper, did you sand that off or can that be removed?

I removed the bird because it was painted over twice.

I used a Heat Gun and a razor which did the trick ...