Hey guys,

What grit do you recommend to sand down the front bumper? I plan on sanding it down, priming it, sanding again, then having a professional paint it. Or is there a better process?

Also it has some stress cracks on it after the previous guy ran over something and bent the bumper back.

 

If you're gonna let a professional paint it why not ask them how they want it prepped. I recently had a professional paint some pieces. They told me exactly what I should do

 

I have a body shop and I will say this (not for my own benefit but for yours). You are better off to let them do it. If there is something wrong with the bumper you dont catch and you have them spray it...that will suck. If you go at it with to aggressive of sand paper you can cause a lot more work...and that will suck. If you get some kind of primer that reacts to their paint it will not hold or check up really bad....and that will suck. The short of it is there are about 50 ways for it to go wrong when you dont know what your doing and EXACTLY what products they are using and how they will react to what you are using. I would say spend the extra few dollars and let them warranty the whole process because if you do some of it that warranty just flew out the window.

 

^^^Agree. I've done some prep and paint work in the past and no matter how much prep and step-by-step care I took, I'm no body/paint guy. I know when I'm outgunned (spray gun in this case, laff...) Now, rather leave the work to the pros who do it for a living and warrant their work.

Besides, I help to support the local economy that way. Hahahahaha.....

 

I just re finished my front bumper. After removing it I DA sanded it with 180 grit down to the bare plastic. I then sanded to 220 grit. I sprayed on Nason Select Prime 2K primer. I sprayed on 3 coats letting it flash between coats. One quart can is more than enough. Next step was to block sand 180 grit, to 220 grit, to 400 grit. Nason base coat was sprayed on next, black in my case. One pint can was plenty. Waiting about an hour I sprayed on 3 wet coats of clear waiting about 10 minutes between coats. After curing for 24 hours I wet sanded on a flexible block starting with 1500 grit. I then came back with 2000 wet. Then I used a 3000 grit foam pad on my DA. Compounded it out with the buffer, then some polish and done.

Weather was warm in the low 90's.

Total cost for me was $60. I already had a gallon can of clear so I'm not factoring in the clear.

Gun used was the Harbor Freight 68843 gun set at 35psi. Fantastic little gun.

Bumper looks like new again. It isn't a hard job, but it is a tiring job because of the hours of sanding.

 

My bumper is also peeling, local body shops won't even strip the paint for me, too much work and money. Told me just to get a new bumper and have them paint it.

 

Well depending on how bad your bumper is peeling will determine the amount of sanding. In my case I had rock chips, thousands of them that had gone into the plastic. So it was a ton of sanding.

If your bumper is only peeling then the sanding job would be much easier. My advice is pull the bumper (has to come off anyways), and sand it. Then take it to the body shop.

If money isn't a consideration then just let them do the whole job.