Has anyone spray painted their bumper?

PC will resist scratching better than rattle can paint, but it's still a plastic coating, so once it does get scratched/chipped it is impossible to touch up properly. A 2K automotive paint will also resist scratching better than rattle can paint, and can be touched up, but is still a process to get it to look good. So, best bang for the buck, easiest to touch up and get it to look right, is rattle can, aka.....aerosol overhaul.
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
Use a self-etching primer Chris, that will adhere better than most other primers. I have always rattle-can spray painted my bumpers, I won't pay to have them powder coated which is just another form of paint.

Take care to adhere precisely to the timing instructions on the can for applying 2nd or 3rd coats. Additional coats applied too late after the initial coat or too soon before completely curing (which takes days) will cause the paint to craze and wrinkle.
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X2 on Jerry's comment.
Also using rattle-can paint you can easily touch up after any trail damage etc..
 
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My preference for primer would be epoxy primer over self etching. I haven't personally seen a spray bomb of it though, so not sure if you can buy it that way.
 
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JMT said:
How did you strip the powder coat off? I want to do this to my e-autogrilles
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Stripping the powder coat was a PITA, @bobthetj03 suggested using a flap disk which I wish I would have, but I did it over Thanksgiving weekend, and Home Depot was closed, and there was nowhere I could get one, so I went to my local Auto parts store and bought airplane paint stripper, and scraped and scraped and scraped. Then I did as @Jerry Bransford said earlier. I sanded it smoothish and covered it with about 3 coats of etching primer and 3 coats of hammered black. (Rustoleum) I already had the paint because that is the exact same thing I did with the Dirtworx rear bumper.

I like the Hammered look. It is a little rough kind of like the Gladiator products, but still shines a little like gloss. It isn't just a flat black. I think you can kind of see it on the picture above of my swing out tire carrier.

BTW I bought one of those plastic triggers that hold the spray paint can, and it makes a world of difference.
 
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We have *all* of the opinions here, so I will chime in. In my experience on my rig, PC has held up much better than any of my other rattle cans, AS LONG AS it never touches a rock. Whether it be a rock on the interstate or offroad, then you will wish you had rattlecanned. All my exterior metals get rattle can, although I am consistantly touching them up. I will say paint on my tire carrier was a poor choice and currently working on a custom solution to prevent rust at the hinge point. Rattlecan on my sliders/armor/bumpers works great. It does not look as good as pc on a bumper, but that changes the second you get a rock chip and try to touch it up.

Take it for what its worth, I like them both, I do not believe rattlecan is suitable for all exterior parts, but it is suitable for rockers/bumpers.

Let us know what you do Chris.
 
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ac_ said:
Stripping the powder coat was a PITA, @bobthetj03 suggested using a flap disk which I wish I would have, but I did it over Thanksgiving weekend, and Home Depot was closed, and there was nowhere I could get one, so I went to my local Auto parts store and bought airplane paint stripper, and scraped and scraped and scraped. Then I did as @Jerry Bransford said earlier. I sanded it smoothish and covered it with about 3 coats of etching primer and 3 coats of hammered black. (Rustoleum) I already had the paint because that is the exact same thing I did with the Dirtworx rear bumper.

I like the Hammered look. It is a little rough kind of like the Gladiator products, but still shines a little like gloss. It isn't just a flat black. I think you can kind of see it on the picture above of my swing out tire carrier.

BTW I bought one of those plastic triggers that hold the spray paint can, and it makes a world of difference.
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Should have used aircraft stripper. Takes the paint off in 10 minutes tops, no elbow grease at all.
 
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Chris said:
Should have used aircraft stripper. Takes the paint off in 10 minutes tops, no elbow grease at all.
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That is actually what I used, I just couldn't remember the name. Honestly I used that and some Rustoleum stripper, and the Rustoleum actually did better in my opinion, but neither didn't take elbow grease. It took at least 3 full days adding sitting scraping and repeat, and then the last day was finishing inside the welds and hard to reach places.

It doesn't work like the commercials especially on powder coating. Believe that if you are going to strip of PC that it is going to be work. If I had to do it again though I would do it like @bobthetj03 suggested and use the flap disc first then use the stripper for the hard to reach places. Probably would have saved me at least 2 days.

Just because I am a picture whore (Learned from @bobthetj03 (the best)
20171202_200817.jpg
 
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Chris said:
Should have used aircraft stripper. Takes the paint off in 10 minutes tops, no elbow grease at all.
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He said he did use airplane stripper and then had to scrape and scrape and scrape.
 
JMT said:
He said he did use airplane stripper and then had to scrape and scrape and scrape.
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Weird, not my experience with it at all! You pour that stuff on and it just bubbles the paint right off.

Jerry Bransford said:
What is that stuff like to use? Does it give off fumes or do you have to take any special precautions?
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Jerry, it's acidic as hell. Get it on your hands and it instantly starts burning. Not to the point where it would eat through skin in a minute, but in 10 minutes or so I believe it would. You want to wear latex gloves for sure. I always just wore a painters mask with it and applied it with a brush. It's very strong smelling, and like I said, it burns like crazy.

I've got it on my hand numerous times before. As long as you wash your hands immediately, you'll be fine. But I can feel it burn instantly as soon as it makes contact with the skin.

Put this on the hood of a car and within 2 minutes tops, it will be down to bare metal, guaranteed. I've used it on all sorts of powder coated pieces in the past, and it just eats the paint right off within minutes.

The only catch is if the surface is porous, you won't have good luck with it, and you'll need a media blaster instead. On porous surfaces I noticed that it will get the top layer of paint off, but the paint in the pores won't come off as easily.

But on a smooth metal surface (i.e. a hood, most bumpers, etc.), it will get every last bit of paint off in short order.
 
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Chris said:
Weird, not my experience with it at all! You pour that stuff on and it just bubbles the paint right off.



Jerry, it's acidic as hell. Get it on your hands and it instantly starts burning. Not to the point where it would eat through skin in a minute, but in 10 minutes or so I believe it would. You want to wear latex gloves for sure. I always just wore a painters mask with it and applied it with a brush. It's very strong smelling, and like I said, it burns like crazy.

I've got it on my hand numerous times before. As long as you wash your hands immediately, you'll be fine. But I can feel it burn instantly as soon as it makes contact with the skin.

Put this on the hood of a car and within 2 minutes tops, it will be down to bare metal, guaranteed. I've used it on all sorts of powder coated pieces in the past, and it just eats the paint right off within minutes.

The only catch is if the surface is porous, you won't have good luck with it, and you'll need a media blaster instead. On porous surfaces I noticed that it will get the top layer of paint off, but the paint in the pores won't come off as easily.

But on a smooth metal surface (i.e. a hood, most bumpers, etc.), it will get every last bit of paint off in short order.
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I went though a full gallon of the Rustoleum and the smaller jug of the aircraft stripper to do the front bumper. It came off in layers. Like I would pour it on, and it bubbled but would only strip a layer; It was quite a while before I got to metal. Maybe Warn uses some magic PC, but it was a Pita to get off. It wasn't my favorite Thanksgiving vacation.
 
Jerry Bransford said:
What is that stuff like to use? Does it give off fumes or do you have to take any special precautions?
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At the paint hangar here, they call it yellow death (the stuff we use is yellow). ;) I wouldn't use it without being fully suited up (full Tyvek suit, full face mask, rubber boots and canner gloves). The fumes are horrible, and it'll burn you quickly.
 
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ac_ said:
I went though a full gallon of the Rustoleum and the smaller jug of the aircraft stripper to do the front bumper. It came off in layers. Like I would pour it on, and it bubbled but would only strip a layer; It was quite a while before I got to metal. Maybe Warn uses some magic PC, but it was a Pita to get off. It wasn't my favorite Thanksgiving vacation.
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I've found it depends on the metal surface (i.e. porous vs smooth), the type of paint used, and the brand of aircraft stripper. The professional grade stuff (which you have to buy at an actual paint store) is truly amazing... You can really see why they use it on airplanes, it just takes the paint right off without any effort.

I think the Rustoleum stuff is watered down for genera public use, because when I used that industrial strength stuff it was absolutely crazy how quickly it took off ALL the paint.
 
The ambient temperature will effect aircraft stripper's performance. Colder temps slows down its effectiveness. We used it on occasion at the body shop. It's messy, it stinks, and it'll burn you. A little trick we used was to wrap what you're try to strip in a HD garbage bag. It contains the fumes and seams to penetrate better into the paint/PC.
 
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Chris said:
I've found it depends on the metal surface (i.e. porous vs smooth), the type of paint used, and the brand of aircraft stripper. The professional grade stuff (which you have to buy at an actual paint store) is truly amazing... You can really see why they use it on airplanes, it just takes the paint right off without any effort.

I think the Rustoleum stuff is watered down for genera public use, because when I used that industrial strength stuff it was absolutely crazy how quickly it took off ALL the paint.
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I don't think all states can get the good stuff due to VOC regs, therefore some may be the watered down stuff.
 
I am not sure about any of that, but youtube showed what I was using was the same stuff. It had a picture of an airplane on it. Maybe that is good info. Maybe the stuff I was using sucked, but it did burn me and stunk at least they got that part right. So maybe if you are going to try what I did see if you can find it at a paint shop. I am not sure about that. All I know is it was a full 4 days of suck!

In the end and the point of this thread is it turned out perfect, and I will always paint my bumpers from now on. In fact I will not order bumpers that come powder coated.

Honestly between you and me and whomever else reads this. I honestly believe that it looks way better painted than it did powder coated. and I am not just saying that because the powder coat was shit. It was only shit on half of the bumper. Don't get me wrong had the PC been good, I would have left it, but the paint looks so much better, and it matches my back bumper.
 
Chris, I painted my bumper myself also. I sanded and cleaned and primed the rear bumper/swing arm as directed by a local auto paint company instructed me to. Then I painted it with truck bed liner spray paint. We like the look and its holding up very well so far.The texture makes any touch ups easy and good looking.
 
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