I have light rust on my rear bumper and a big ol scratch up front. I stupidly tried to repaint them earlier with chrome auto spraypaint but that turned out fugly, at best. When it warms up, both front and back will be getting a paint job. My questions are as follows:

1. What grain sandpaper should I use to prep them, hand or power sand?

2. Should I wash them before painting?

3. What paint can you recomend for under $20 ?

4. Who has pics with black bumbers against Bushwhacker flares, I hate it when blacks (colors and shades) look dumb next to each other.

5. Anybody have a dark grey bumper, I think that might look cool?

6. Has anybody painted over the chrome on the mirrors, door handles and window trim? I would like to but I don't know where to start.

I know some of this has got to be repost but I noticed some talk about it lately so I figure there is some good experiance out there that can help. Any pics would be awsome too.

 

wear a respirator if you sand chrome. nasty stuff to have in your lungs

i'd recommend getting it beadblasted. would be a much nicer surface to paint on

 

Thanks for the tip but I'm a step ahead a ya. I was just planning on wearing my SCBA. Don't know bout beadblasting. I really am going more for durability and ease of repair than looks and finish.

 

Yet you're concerned with how the blacks will match up.

 

you can always paint the fender flares the same color as you paint the bumpers, that way you know they would match up and they would probably look better matching like that anyways. i painted my bushwackers a flat black because i didn't like the gloss. i just sanded them down a bit and the paint went on like a charm and has been very durable.

 

No offense, but if you are concerned with how it looks not, it's not going to look much better if you only spend $20 on paint unless you 4-wheel and will be dragging your bumper across the ground. In that case, why spend a couple hundred dollars on a paint job?

If it's just for show and you don't 4-wheel, then the extra time and effort really does payoff. If you want it to look good, use a very coarse grit sand paper and take as much of the chrome off as possible. Clean the surface with a good cleaning solvent. Autobody and paint supply shops usually have a "house brand" that you can get in gallon containers fairly cheap. They're formulated to remove oils from your skin and other contaminents. Then you can use a quality urethane primer, base coat and clear coat. For a pair of bumpers, front and rear, you'll be looking at about $280 to do it yourself. That includes a syphon feed spray gun, etch primer, primer/surfacer, base coat color, and clear coat. If you don't have a compressor you can rent one.

If you have any other questions, feel free to e-mail or PM me.

 

Fwiw, one of my cars has a chrome luggage rack on it that the previous owner spray painted with black appliance paint directly over the chrome. It's been several years now, and the rack is still quite solidly black.

 

My rear bumper used to be chrome. I used flat black BBQ paint from Home Depot with a can of Clear Coat to finish it off.



Dont forget the primer!

 

I had my front and rear bumpers painted satin black to match the SR5 fenders. The chrome was acid dipped to remove all trace of chrome and then painted.

 

Thanks to all that helped out, I plan to sand, use a rust stripper on a few spots, prime twice and paint three times with a dark, flat black. The flares will stay the same color. The valence will get a coat of black that is the same color as the brushgaurd at the same time. Hyperlite, not to be critical, but I don't think you understand what I am trying to say. The paint that is there looks really bad. It flaked off in spots where I chipped ice off the bumper and it did not help with the rust at all. Plus, I do drag tail sometimes so I would like to be able to touch it up easy. I will try to post some before and after pics. If anyone has a recomendation for a sandpaper grit I am still all ears. It will be a while though, -18 right now, brrrrr.