I own an '04 PPW and recently what looks to be clearcoat on the front bumper is peeling away. I can actually pull 3+ inch pieces of it off easily. At first it started to bubble and now it's peeling off.

I wasn't the first owner of the vehicle so I don't know if she used to have a car bra on it or what. At any rate, what do you guys/gals think I should do? Should I try to reclear the bumper myself? I'd hate to have to have it all repainted just for the clearcoat upfront! Let's hear your ideas. Thanks!

 

No matter what you do, it'll still cheap off simply becuase there is probably lots of bando on the bumper. It doesnt matter how many times you repaint it, it'll cheap off, trust me. Ma dad owns three body shops, i know all about that stuff. The only thing you can do it to get a brandnew bumper from the dealer(not aftermarket) and have somebudy repaint it by doing a clean job. This way if wont cheap off because there wont be any bando on the bumper. When there is bando, it starts cracking when the sun hits it and it starts crackin when you go in bumps and that makes your paint and clearcoat start cheaping.

 

dood, for the love of god, it's chipping.

 

Yeah, it really look like you know your stuff.

I'm willing to bet that the cover has no "bondo" on it. It probably doesn't have any body filler in it either. Body filler doesn't cause anything like that to happen. And it won't crack unless it's hit real hard, or was put in wrong. Bad paint prep is what causes that to happen. Take it to a shop. They can sand it down, primer, and repaint it. Don't try to salvage the finish, it simply won't work.

To that poster actually learn something and then come on here and give advice. Just because your mother's, friend's, brother's, cat scratched a guy that owns a body shop doesn't mean you know what you're talking about, which is blatantly obvious with that post.

 

Thank you for the more informitive post.

I had an estimate done on it today and they came up with $493 . That seems pretty steep to me but I have never taken anything to get painted. Seems as though I might be better off getting an aftermarket bumper in a group buy and then just having them paint and install that?

Anyone else with an opinion please share.

 

That price is pretty good. It will usually cost around $350-400 to paint a new OEM cover. If you go aftermarket you'll have to add some for possible fitting. The thing about oem bumper covers you can do PPG's three step adhesion system and paint it without primering, but if you have to paint it again you'll have to sand and primer it. That's why the price is a little higher.

 

I was quoted from the Nissan dealership here @ $250 for the OEM bumper brand new. Seems like I should just order a new bumper and have it painted. Would cost around the same.

Do you think it is a bad idea to try to spray some clear on this myself even for a temporary fix? I think taping up the area would be the hardest part of it all. I dont know much about paint. What do you think?

 

I'm pretty good with painting, just no experience with car paint or clear. I understand the process. I'm just wondering if rattle can clear is going to look decent?

 

I wouldn't mess with it. By the time you sand the bumper down you'll probably go below the base coat. Not to mention you'd have to reclear the whole cover which would take quite a few cans. Also if you sand a metallic base coat it will look like crap. It will move the metallics around in the base and make the shade in those spots off. If you go with a new bumper it will probably end up being roughly $150-200 more than if you have them respray yours.

 

I wouldn't have to sand anywhere on the bumper though. I can easily peel all of the clear coat off the visible part of the bumper. It comes off just by lifting a piece of the corner and pulling away.

 

If I could get the entire bumper bare of original clearcoat without sanding do you still think it is a bad idea to do it myself?

 

Yeah, but the thing is the finish would have to be sanded to adhere. You can only spray clear over base without sanding and repsraying base within 20-24 hours of it being sprayed.

 

Wow, didn't know that. Thanks a lot. Guess I'll just have to figure out if I want an aftermarket bumper or just repaint this one. Thanks again!

 

you can get the OEM unpainted bumper cheaper than what you're dealer is telling you -- $209.89 in the link below (don't know about shipping, though, might end up being a wash):


http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...=1&catalogid=2

 

I've been reading a lot about clear bra. Maybe this is a good solution to my problem?? Anyone have experience with clear bra??

 

thats the going rate. i checked with 5 different body shops about respraying the bumper all of them were in the $500 range. now there are some ghetto shops that might do it for $300 but, you get what you pay for and for some reason it happens again, will that shop honor any sort of warranty. just make sure you do it right the first time and make sure the shop backs up their work with a good warranty, its worth the extra dough.

 

Are you sure this is clear coat and not just a clear bra? If you peel up a old clear bra it is not going to look like fresh paint. It leaves a residue behind that may make you think your peeling up the clear coat.

 

can you peel clear coat? i wasn't aware that it was flexible enough to peel off like a sticker. i would imagine it would "cheap" off...

 

There is no residue left behind. In fact underneath what I can pull off in big flakes is perfect paint. The clear stuff pulls off like dried up tape almost. It's very easy to pull off. No effort involved.

From what I've read clear bra would be over the hood aswell and that's not there. Bumpers are clearcoated from the factory aren't they???

 

If I could peel all of this stuff off myself could I get clear bra put on it? Wouldn't that act as clearcoat enough plus added protection? What do you guys think?