People kept commenting on how good my car looked...except that black bumper. Well shucks, can't win. So while passing through the auto parts store I decided I'd "fix" this issue.

Here is what I purchased:
1 can of filler primer (should have purchased 2)
1 can of adhesion promoter
1 can of wax remover
4-5 cans of Perfect Match Chrysler Red
4-5 cans of Perfect Match Clear
1500 and 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper
Meguiars 105 UltraCutCompound (not pictured, not available at local stores)


<img src="http://www.dsmtuners.com/gallery/files/1/7/8/7/9/2010-11-02_14-23-50_98.jpg" alt="Stuff Used To Paint" />

First I removed the bumper and set it up on 2 empty buckets. I then sprayed the wax remover over the entire bumper cover and wiped clean with a lint free rag. I did this twice and then allowed the bumper to air dry.

<img src="http://www.dsmtuners.com/gallery/files/1/7/8/7/9/2010-09-29_16-44-30_972.jpg" alt="2010-09-29 16-44-30 972" />


Next I sprayed the adhesion promoter all over the bumper. I did this as I read that it helps keep the paint from cracking when the bumper moves.

After drying I then proceeded to spray the bumper all over with the filler primer. This took multiple coats about 5 minutes apart from each other to completely cover the bumper.

Next I took the 1500 grit sand paper and sanded down all the high marks created by the primer. I spent most of my time in the middle and on the pockets on the air damn.

Ok...so now's the fun part. I broke out the the red spray paint. I carefully sprayed lots of thin coats of red paint on the bumper. I used all sorts of angles. I tried my best not to put lines. But I found out later the paint lays down pretty well for spray paint.

<img src="http://www.dsmtuners.com/gallery/files/1/7/8/7/9/2010-09-29_21-25-01_876.jpg" alt="2010-09-29 21-25-01 876" />

At this point I was super high and my garage had tons of overspray all over it. Super...and worse, the bumper looked like it was totally not going to match the original paint. Oh well, keep going! I gently sanded the red paint a little with soapy water and the 1500 grit again. Rinse and dry.

Next I sprayed the bumper with tons of thin coats of clear. Again, Try to be as even as possible and hit all the areas you can.

After this dried I wet sanded the clear with the 2000 grit. This leaves lots of sanding marks and the bumper will look dull.

I broke out the compound and my porter cable and set off to buff the sanding marks out. It really took about 15 minutes to clean up the scratches from sanding.

Here is the outcome with a little bit of compounding indoors.

<img src="http://www.dsmtuners.com/gallery/files/1/7/8/7/9/2010-09-30_22-17-09_198.jpg" alt="2010-09-30 22-17-09 198" />

And here it is outside the next day in direct sun. Not bad for under $100 and not having a clue about what I was doing! Color match is fantastic. Is it perfect? hell no. Does it pass from 5 ft. off? Absolutely...All told, it took a good afternoon/evening to complete. Mostly based on waiting for paint to dry. And BTW, the overspray came off everything easily with just a little water.

<img src="http://www.dsmtuners.com/gallery/files/1/7/8/7/9/2010-10-01_13-06-12_984.jpg" alt="2010-10-01 13-06-12 984" />

Turned out pretty damn good.

Not bad.

Thanks guys. Honestly, I'm like many of you. I have no clue when it comes to painting anything. This is the first time I've sprayed anything. I spent 10 minutes watching you tube videos and then got to work. Think I'll try my peeling fender next!

Honestly you could have had the bumper professionally painted for about 100 bucks as long as you take it off yourself, which you did anyway...

I've always been kind of weary of the Dupli-Color spray can paint, considering how many things you have to go through to lay paint properly with a spray gun, but that looks pretty good. Nice job

Do I see orange peel?

rich3389 said:

Honestly you could have had the bumper professionally painted for about 100 bucks as long as you take it off yourself, which you did anyway...

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I agree, it could have been done for a 100 or cheaper depending on where you brought it and if you prep'd it yourself. For spray paint, it turned out acceptable. Worth $100, not to sure.

BoostedinSoFla said:

Do I see orange peel?

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Dude... It's spray paint... get off his nuts.

->PrOjEcTGS<- said:

Dude... It's spray paint... get off his nuts.

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Sure there is a little orange peel. But I haven't put the time into completely buffing it out either. I've had quite a few customer cars I've been busy with lately and haven't gotten back around to finishing my work on my own car.

As to the pro paint job for $100. That really wasn't the point of what I did. My buddy quoted me $150 to do it. Frankly, I just wanted the pride of doing it myself. For others, this process makes a lot of sense. Think smaller items, like side mirrors, wings, splitters, door handles. I did this in my garage with no skills, no tools. I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

->PrOjEcTGS<- said:

Dude... It's spray paint... get off his nuts.

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And do I look like I give a ####.? What are you, his savior?. Who the hell asked you shit? Gtfoh

Detail said:

Sure there is a little orange peel. But I haven't put the time into completely buffing it out either. I've had quite a few customer cars I've been busy with lately and haven't gotten back around to finishing my work on my own car.

As to the pro paint job for $100. That really wasn't the point of what I did. My buddy quoted me $150 to do it. Frankly, I just wanted the pride of doing it myself. For others, this process makes a lot of sense. Think smaller items, like side mirrors, wings, splitters, door handles. I did this in my garage with no skills, no tools. I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

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Gotcha

He isn't much of a buddy if he's going to charge you $150 just to paint a bumper. But, oh well, at least it's not an unpainted bumper anymore.

well no matter what people say it definately looks alot better painted, than ricer colors AKA bunch of different shit haha. i like it. and when i get my new bumper ill probably do the same


except mines a two tone with some sort of dot figure to mix the plum and silver. should be interesting

Great job considering you've never painted before. This is motivation to step of of your comfort zone and learn new skills. With practice and experience you be painting your whole car in no time. Time to step up my rattle can skills

PurpSalad said:

well no matter what people say it definately looks alot better painted, than ricer colors AKA bunch of different shit haha. i like it. and when i get my new bumper ill probably do the same


except mines a two tone with some sort of dot figure to mix the plum and silver. should be interesting

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I would pair "a bunch of different shit" with "trailer park" instead...

I want full car, front/side photo!

To each his own, As long as the OP is happy with the outcome, thats all that matters!

I congradulate on the effort, looks good!

InfiniteGSX said:

I want full car, front/side photo!

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Ya same here. Possibly with natural lighting too because from the pictures it looked pretty damn good considering it was your first time and it was with a rattle can

dsm03 said:

To each his own,

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Well consider that 95% of the DSM world doesn't have hookups for paint. Another mentioned it would cost around 100 to have the bumper painted professionally.... No! Maybe through some cheap ass company that paints cars for 5-600 dollars. My dads BMW M3 and my mom's Hyundai Tiburon were just repainted the stock OEM colors because of hail damage was repaired and each car cost around like 3000 bucks from a good, legit, professional paint n body shop.

It will cost you around 100 bucks to "professionally" paint a bumper yourself.

This guy is showing that around 50 bucks worth of materials you can get damn near close to OEM looking standard paint on small things like a bumper you have thats not matched to your car.

also I wouldn't think something like this would HAVE to be perfect. Then it might look too off with the rest of the old paint. Someone else professionally painted his front bumper and it sticks out like a sore thumb. Looks like what you'd see on a Ferrari, and the rest of the car is just... dsm!

I think it looks good for spray paint and being painted in your garage and not a spray booth. I too am learning the art of painting and once I get my new spray gun will try painting some of my snowmobiles as practice before I do anything on my car. Congrats.

So actually that last picture is natural lighting. Outside, noontime, direct sunlight. I'll shoot another one for you guys.

Appreciate the props.

Bulldog is a great product. My dad uses it on everything he paints.

Agreeing with Infinitegsx. There is no way you are going to paint a bumper like that for under a 100 with a base coat clear coat professionally. Sure if you wanna get some acrylic or synthetic enamel from a tractor supply store and spray it up then yeah you could do the entire car for 100 including supplies but thats not professional. My friend had about 1500 into repainting the front end of a focus at the dealer. I have searched high and low to get my car painted and every shop is from 1500 to 3000 for the entire car. Btw thats a good match job for rattle can. Id drive it with a smile and anyways they can make fun of my paint job as i blow past them with a smile.

Props to you man for your first time. That looks great!
I'm sure any body shop would charge you $200-$300 for the bumper alone.

untouchablecc said:

Agreeing with Infinitegsx. There is no way you are going to paint a bumper like that for under a 100 with a base coat clear coat professionally. Sure if you wanna get some acrylic or synthetic enamel from a tractor supply store and spray it up then yeah you could do the entire car for 100 including supplies but thats not professional. My friend had about 1500 into repainting the front end of a focus at the dealer. I have searched high and low to get my car painted and every shop is from 1500 to 3000 for the entire car. Btw thats a good match job for rattle can. Id drive it with a smile and anyways they can make fun of my paint job as i blow past them with a smile.

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I'd keep looking. There is a shop around here that painted my friends Corvette black from the stock blue... at least I think it was blue I know he hated the stock color anyway. The guy did it for 700 dollars and 3 years later it has no orange peel at all. He did two layers of clear and the paint still looks pretty good. I'm not going to say it was 100% perfect but it is pretty damn close.

Another friend had his bumper painted by the guy twice. The first time he had the whole thing prepped and painted for 100 then he curbed it up and the next time the guy fixed it up for 10 bucks.

Sure these kinds of shops are rare but I'm sure everywhere has at least a decent shop somewhere near by.

But Salem Oregon isn't to bad for getting stuff painted either, even Maaco does a good job here.