Bumper Painting?

[calicruiser]

sadly on the 2002 pt cruiser LE model, there is a very unattractive grey bumper on both front and back, which doesnt work great with my gold pt, is it a bad idea to paint directly onto the bumper? is there muhc prep work? what kinda paint would i need?

[chris15]

Crewzin posted and sticky'd a guide that I typed up over in the exterior section of the forum. Hopefully that will help you.

I know the Duplicolor Bumper Coating only comes in black, grey and a white/cream, so I couldn't tell you how it would work if you wanted to paint it your body color.

[calicruiser]

Hmm. if i had black rims id be able to paint the bumpers black, or making a darker tint, or pinstriping

[chris15]

Not a bad idea. If you do decide to come up with some sort of paint scheme or anything like that, be sure to talk to Candyman about it. He's always more than happy to help people out and when you see what he's done, you'll definitely want to listen to him.

[calicruiser]

well full on paint jobs are quiet a pretty penny, which is something i do not have, 30 hr a week job, with a teenager price insurance, slow on the upgrades u know? but ill def look into it. im glad i found this site where people praise the PT! Hate people on the street who rag for what i drive, but my car still sounds better then those canner civics xP

[chris15]

Agreed. There are definitely ways to continue to work with what you've got. I wasn't necessarily suggesting a complete paint job, but I will tell you that if you decide to paint your bumpers black, like I did, it'll probably only cost you about $15 and you'll be very happy with it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask at any time.

[calicruiser]

in this case, how many cans of paint did u need? did u have to remove the bumpers? if so, how? i can get spray paint for free, but i dont get payed foro a litle bit so u know.

[chris15]

Well, I started by painting my front and rear bumpers, but then realized that my trim pieces and my splash shields in the front and rear didn't match my bumpers. So, all in all it took 3 cans of Duplicolor Bumper Coating and one can of Duplicolor Adhesion Promoter.

You don't have to remove the bumpers. You just need a roll of masking tape and about an hour to prep each bumper. You'll want to tuck the masking tape under the lip where the body panel meets the bumper to make sure you don't wind up spraying your car's grill, fenders, etc. The trim pieces/splash guards were different. I personally didn't feel like going through the trouble of removing the front inner splash guards so I used newspaper and masking tape and masked off the outside of the fenders, tires and wheels and then coated it with the Adhesion Promoter and followed with a couple coats of the Bumper Coating. Came out great. The rear splash guards, however, can be removed simply by removing 4-5 bolts and can be painted, then reinstalled.

[calicruiser]

thanks for the help, ill def be looking into it soon enough. thanks for allt he help man

[chris15]

Not a problem. Good luck.