Prepping Bumper Covers For Repaint?

[BluFalcon]

Wasn't exactly sure where to put this, since it isn't GVR-4 related, but I figured someone on here has practical experience with this and it can be applied to GVR-4 bumper covers as well.

I have a set of 97-98 Talon front/rear bumper covers I'd like to get repainted, but need some advice on how to go about prepping them. I'd like to prep them or get them as close to being ready to spray, to try and cut down on the cost of getting them painted. Both bumper covers were repainted before at one time and the paint is cracking in places, and there is some damage on the front cover that might need to be addressed. Both bumpers are currently black, and the final color will be silver.

Front: Originally black, but was resprayed in the same color. Paint is cracking in several spots, and the bumper looks to have been previously repaired at some point. There are also two holes drilled in the front of the cover for a license plate bracket, that will need to be filled. The cover also features the infamous large recessed area near the nose, with the Eagle logo badge. The badge MIGHT be able to be removed and reused, but will more than likely be destroyed during removal. Saving the badge would be ideal, as they're no longer in production, but still available at a premium.

Rear: Originally metallic green, but resprayed black. Black paint is cracking heavily, and there are some bondo marks present on the cover where some repairs were covered.

So what would be the best course of action? Start sanding the old paint off to remove the resprayed paint and expose the base paint? Do it by hand or get a powered sander? What grit of paper to use? How do you plug the holes? I'm not above a little manual labor if it winds up saving me some cash, just need a little direction. The covers are going a 97 Spyder I just picked up as a DD, so it doesn't need to be perfect. I'd just like it to look semi decent and without having huge chunks of paint cracking off of it everytime someone looks at it funny.

 

[89Mirageman]

I am by no means saying that I am a pro but I did take a bunch of paint/autobody courses at the local tech. I would need to see some pics but honestly from what you're describing you'd be better off just picking up some after market urethane bumper covers and start from scratch. You don't repair urethane bumper covers with body filler, they make a special flexible filler for bumpers. Also if the paint is flaking that tells me someone did a crappy job and it will all need to be removed or the new paint will flake off too. If you are dead set on repairing these get a DA sander and some 180 grit paper and go to town holding the sander almost flat. You don't want to use the edge as it will cut in too much. Then once they are done use a good two part filler primer, let it cure and wetsand with 5-600 on a thin rubber block by hand.

For the holes I guess you could use regular body filler since its cheap. Maybe plug them from behind with a piece of plastic and some two part epoxy and then fill the holes? Not the ideal way to do it but it doesn't sound like its going to be a show car. Honestly I would visit a few local shops and price some after market bumpers. Back when I painted my colt my instructor got me a brand new front bumper for like $60 and they delivered it the next day. Mine was a little wavy where the license plate went and I wanted the holes filled as well. All I had to do was clean it very good, scuff it with a scotch brite and some scuff gel and paint it.

 

[Gombos]

If it's just cracked paint for the most part, like Mirageman said, just DA it until all of the cracked paint is removed with 150-180 grit (and also to get some of the old layers of paint off so it's not so built up), then hit it again with 320 to smooth out the deeper sanding scratches and to feather any of the edges, after that spray it with some primer, some guide coat, and wetsand with 400-600 grit to make sure everything is smooth and that there are no low/high spots, then base/clear it. With the holes I would think a 2 part epoxy like Mirageman said would be best as the normal body filler will just crack on a flexible bumper.