So I just gave my front bumper a repaint, following this video, and I probably watched it 50 times. I made a couple mistakes I think people should know to avoid, so they can save the headaches I have to go through. Make sure your paint is matched properly. I bought mine from Touch Up Express to match the color code on my Subaru, and they wound up selling me dark grey metallic instead of diamond grey metallic, with a wrong label. It was subtle enough to just think it was lighting, until I put it on the car and realized it's way too dark. Clean the gun right away with lacquer thinner. I bought some garbage paint gun cleaner instead that was milky white, and let the wet air gun parts sit in it overnight while the garage aired out. The primer wound up drying and hardening while submerged, which I then had to clean with lacquer thinner, which took forever. I must have made another mistake with spraying. After 24 hours of the clear coat drying, I am still able to scrape the clear and base coat clean off with my thumbnail, and it has a gummy consistency. I painted at about 70 degrees F in low humidity with a dryer on my air line (not the gun, since it needs to stay upright), and followed the drying times between coats. The only thing I can think of was putting the coats on too wet, which didn't have enough time to dry- 2 coats of base coat and it looked fully painted, but I did 4 coats total. I waited 22 hours between base and clear coat. I will probably adjust my air gun next time to put down much lighter coats. I also fixed a crack in the bottom lip of my bumper with some body filler that wound up cracking again after I painted, so even if the paint was the right color and went on properly, I'd still be dealing with potentially peeling paint. I am buying a new bumper and am going to give it another shot with paint from Touch Up Direct (not express), and will try to fix some of the mistakes I made.
One of the best videos I have seen. You get to the point and generally stay on the point and actually teach. Not like others that have the gift of gab and go on and on until you are tired and at the end just want to sell their product. Good editing. Good links. Thank you!
I knew an old body guy who passed away recently. He used the same HF paint gun you got. I’ll say I was very impressed w the results he got w that cheapo gun. I watched him spray many cars w it and never a problem.
The Adhesion Promoter bulldog that you are using is also a sealer. 2-3 coats will fill 320 sanding scratches. If you just want to seal the panel or blend the spray areas you can use it.
There are a lot of bad videos on here with bad information. This v ideo is not one of those. You nailed ever single step in my opinion. It's nice to see "how to" videos from people who know what they are doing. I'll be subscribing to your channel. Keep it up!
I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes it can be hard to tell good info from the dross. It's also hard as a creator to make yourself known as someone who actually knows some real stuff.
@@sascandave I'm working on a plastic bumper on my Lexus IS300 what grits do you recommend? and is the tack cloth needed? any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
By far the best video to learn how to paint my bumper . Thank u bro for being descriptive and not laying all these little unnecessary details . I actually watched the full video and took mental notes thank u bro . This is truly informative
I would like to add that there is molding release agents inside the plastic. It is very important to use something to release the agents while scotchbroting the panel. You can do this on the cheaper end with plain old powdered comet bleach. Wet your raw plastic bumper and scotch brite. Apply some comet bleach to your scotch rote and go over the entire bumper in circular motions . Then just rinse it off and dry by blowing the bumper down with compressed air. Remember plastic gets static when wiped or rubbed so dust will want to stick to the bumper. Immediately clean with a rag damp with anti static plastic cleaner or wax and grease remover . Apply your adhesion promoter and wait for it to dry. Next prime the bumper or you can just use sealer and base right over the sealer and clear over that . Really just depends on your resources and time
does this apply to abs plastic bumpers too that i have on my 09 acadia ? i want to paint it glossy it came on my car from factory no paint just black plastic
I have some OEM RAM 1500 Plastic Fender Flares sitting in my garage (for about a year) , and an RT Hood on it’s way to me This video makes me feel like I can paint them and do a good job this time.
This is the best how to video I have watched yet. Explained everything for a newby like me just perfectly. I appreciate the in depth explanation. Well done Sir. Maybe you can do a how to video on proper techniques for wet sanding.
Excellent, excellent video. Extremely helpful and thorough. This took me from exactly what you saw at the beginning of the video to a nice metallic Toreador red finish. One suggestion, it would have been nice for a small break down of what the different kind of plastics like TPO, PP, etcetera stand for, and why that's important as far as what type of products do you use
Remember guys, do not half ass any of these steps in this video. I paint bumpers, panels and do touch ups as a career. Every step is crucial to getting a perfect finish, you need to look at the very fine details
Hey Ratchets and Wrenches! Quick questions: 1) Where did you get your base paint, do you have a link? 2) Do you have to paint the "inside" portion of the bumper? Comments? 3) how much of each ingredient would you say you used to complete this job (it appears you only did the outside portion, and from the video you only filled the gun once, which yielded ~3 applications?) I need to paint 2 bumper covers potentially the inside portion as well, so I want to make sure I have enough materials to complete the job. I tried to make this simple so you could simply add the answer beside the listings. (eg. 1 qt, 0.5 gallon etc). How much of each of these will I need to fully complete 1 bumper (inside and outside) via your instructions in this video? a) bulldog adhesion promoter: b) epoxy primer: c) epoxy hardener: d) urethane reducer: e) sealer: f) base coat : g) clear coat: h) clear coat activator: Thanks!
I really enjoy your videos, I don't care what you do, you do it right. I won't say keep up the good work because you couldn't do a bad job if you tried. That's why I subscribed a long time ago.
The surfacer and hardener you use and link to calls out a 4:1 surfacer to hardener ratio on the spec sheet, not 2:1! Not sure if the formula has changed since this video was made, but it makes sense that they sell 1 quart to a half pint of hardener in their kit, which is a 4:1 ratio. Looks like you have a quart to half quart kit in this video. I am repainting my bumper with the proper color this time, and will be mixing 4:1 for the primer and 4:1:1 for the sealer as the spec sheet calls out. My paint also says to not use reducer. Just another heads up for people to read the spec sheets of their materials to be sure they're doing it right.
I always thought I should use epoxy primer on PUR (poliurethane) plastic, while adhesion promoter to prime other types of plastic. Anyways, great video, as always!
It's virtually impossible to paint over chrome because it's so hard and smooth and inert chemically. If it's small plastic parts like grilles you can remove the chrome so you can respray with paint: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CDF3A3xUYeY.html
Pop out those popouts, so that you makes sure you paint the entire radius of tyge edge, both the space it goes in, and the pop out itself. You left it in, so it will look a little off, and provide a starting point for adhesion failure.
$400 dollars later, and I'm back to Step 1. This job is not for me. I'm not even going back to the paint stores, at this point. I'm embarrassed😳. . Now I'm just using autozone paint on my 07 525i plastic bumper cover.. Hopeless
Very good step by step video. I bought a PRIMED bumper. After scuffing cleaning it do you then use the adhesion promoter for the sealer or just for the for the base coat or both?
Use dawn dish soap with some comet and a 3m grey pad. They make a flex agent for the plastic bumpers cause you're not getting a factory spray from the gun
Thanks for another great DIY instructional video bro! Always make me laugh with your humor, (elbow grease) I'll be checking your links for materials I might need as I am only in my beginning stages of my DIY.
Very very helpful video and easy to follow. I am just wondering if one would really need to paint the inside of the bumper though? Is it because it just feels like the project is more complete? I don’t mean to be picky, just not sure why.
It all depends on the speed of the hardener you use. Use something appropriate for the temp and there is no problem letting the gun sit between coats, but total you should not have things sit in there for longer than about 45 minutes, which is plenty of time to do the painting.
Great video. I was thinking about painting my bumper cover, but when I priced all thed things in the list it was over $300...which is what my local shop quoted me. If you have all thisx stuff on hand, it makes sense to DIY. But since I don't, it doesn't. 😃
+Ratchets And Wrenches hey great video I'm planning on painting my car so i'v been watching your videos and i have a question I'v been looking at work done by a couple shops here were I live (mexico) and the thing is that their finished product comes out looking like shit it tends to have a blurry finish nothing close to a factory job my question is what can i do to avoid that blurry disgusting finish?
They probably spray their clear without consistent laydown. Too far away, too much pressure, and/or too fast. Maybe too much wind in the booth. OR they are using incompatible products, maybe to save $$. Practice practice practice. Get your pressure, gun setup, distance, speed, temperature etc all the way you like it so you can lay down your clear (and base) glassy smooth without runs. Use the same products at the same mix that you will use when doing the final job. Practice on the same material and same angle in the same place you will be doing your final spray. You will get it, I believe in you!! And good on you for doing it yourself. Stay gold.
Epoxy primer is a nonsandable primer. It’s a sealer not a primer. If sanding is required use 2k primer first! Then sand and use epoxy primer to seal everything.
I am an Industrial Hygienist . . . just want to say that because you have a beard, your respirator fit factor is (zero) - meaning your are breathing in the vapors. Not trying to nag you, but if you don't want to die early, use a PAPR or shave. Thanks for a great video!
I have a question. I'll soon be painted a wing for my car which is raw abs plastic but I planned on using aerosol cans for the entire thing. Is there a primer that you would recommend for abs plastic?
Very informative video, are you going to do a follow up with the wet sanding etc? I am trying to learn to paint but I would like to see an entire video from start to finish. I did see your other video about painting before.
i enjoy each of your tutorial. thank you. one question i have is that i love that cheap spray gun you are using. my question is that do you clean the gun between each base coat or between each clear coats? that means every 5 to 10 minutes ? or you finish all the base coat then clean and then all the clear coats then clean ?
Idk why you used epoxy primer on plastic? It’s meant for bare metal not plastic or to cover deep scratches because it too thick, but you’re painting a new part. If you could explain!
Great video!! I have a question. I just primed my cars front bumper today (has not been sanded yet) but wondering if I can apply sealer to the bumper after sanding the primer on the bumper? Was considering 400 grit for sanding the primer. I assume the sealer will adhere properly with a 400 grit sanded substrate?
Hi thanks for sharing, does this process ¿make te paint get flexible also? ¿are you able to bend the bumper without cracking the paint or the clear coat?
He wasn't going to paint the inside, he was only showing what you would do if you were going to paint a bare plastic surface since that bumper cover came from the factory primered on the outside but bare on the inside... so you are correct Chicks, you never want to waste time and materials painting the inside, not necessary. Todd, paint and body expert with 30 years experience. Annapolis, MD
I don't have that much money to buy your recommended air compressor, what do you recommend to be the lowest pounds and psi that I can get by using so I can buy something a little more affordable maybe in the 100 to 200 range
So let’s say I bought a bumper and it came black primed. And the vehicle I bought it for is black. Could I just spray a layer or 2 of clear coat on it to shine it as a temporary colour? Instead of paying for the paint matched one?
Yes, you want to use something water-based and Mild like Spray Nine or dishwashing soap or Ajax is also good to use on your scuff pad with generous water because it has its own scuffing properties as well as cleaning. TC Annapolis, MD
Also, those aftermarket part Factory primers can be kind of crappy and a harsh solvent-based degreaser can even remove the factory primer. Then you're stuck with a bare plastic part LOL.
Paint society have a video using this specific gun its a 16 dollar harbour freight gun he says at the end of the video he had to use 35psi and made a few adjustments to the gun.