O.k. here is my dilemma; I bought a full 95-99 Z24 body kit. They side skirts were broken and the bumpers were both in VERY BAD SHAPE. I have fixed the sides and the rear bumper with no issues.

I started stripping off the paint on the front bumper as the paint was destroyed. I stripped all the paint down as the paint was cracked, broken & chipped right down to the bare plastic and there were lots of dents. Now when I finally got the 5 coats of paint off, the bumper is a light blue color. I think I stripped all the paint right down to the bare plastic. IS THIS BAD?

Does that bare plastic need any special prep and or paint before I spray the primer and base / clear coats? Or do I just through out the bumper?

Looking for some help / suggestions from anyone that works in a paint shop.

well... not to be a smart ass, but when you order new bumpers, they often times come in bare plastic... (well a lot of body kits have a gel coat, but many many OEM bumpers do)

what grit sandpaper did you use? I wouldn't have used anything rougher than 180 before priming, with a high build primer.

Just make sure you thoroughly clean the area before priming, wax/grease remover and tack it off and you shoudl be fine.

Just make sure everything is smooth and feathered in before you paint... and there's no dips or whatnot, because if so... it'll show up after you paint.

(I'm assuming you at least have a clue as to what you're doing???)

Is this plastic or urethane? Different plastic types require different prep and some types accept paint and primers better then others. Urethane parts I have seen are normally black not light blue. Its possible plastic could be molded in blue, or could you possibly be seeing a prior color it was painted?. At any rate, dealing with a plastic part you are going to want to clean well with warm soapy water and rinse and dry and then wipe down with a wax and grease remover or plastic prep, specially if its bare plastic. If I go down to bare plastic or urethane when sanding, I normally spray a coat of adhesion promotor after sanding and cleaning, followed by a coat or more of epoxy primer. Epoxy primer is basically like a glue and sticks well to many surfaces and also seals and not porous like other primers. It normally does not sand real easy or have much fill if you have somewhat coarse scratches from bodywork areas. If you have done repairs apply a few coats of a urethane primer over the epoxy after it has flashed for awhile for its filling ability and sandability. I'd wait at least an hour to avoid building up and trapping solvents and be on the safe side. The time window for applying paint or primer over epoxy is a pretty long time so you could even wait overnight if you wanted. Rushing things can often get you into trouble. Then when your scratches are gone and the bodywork areas look good final sand the urethane primer for paint. How many rounds of primer depends on how well the repairs were done. One round could be enough if you did a good job and got the scratches worked out of your repair areas by stepping down in grit to 180. If there weren't repairs done and you don't have a coarse scratch from stripping off paint, I would say just clean and sand well. spray on a coat of epoxy primer reduced as a sealer and then paint after the epoxy has flashed for awhile without needing to sand the epoxy. Does it have any letter abbreviation on the back of the parts. Sometimes it will tell what type of plastic it is on the back of the parts.


http://victorylap.50webs.com
Autobody/ paint

To answer your questions, this is a STOCK Z24 bumper.

I had to strip (bumper safe paint stripper) the whole bumper as there were cracks in the paint, no broken parts. That is when I found out the bumper mould id light blue.

I have been told that the STOCK bumpers are urethane.

urethane, no problem. Clean well, make sure the stripper has been neutralized, sand well (with around 220 or finer- but it really depends on what the epoxy you choose will fill). May want to check Product sheets for the epoxy you will use or ask your paint supplier. Wipe down with a pre paint cleaner. tack off the bumper with a tack rag (A sticky cloth you can get from a paint supplier) Spray on a coat or two of epoxy as a sealer, again check product sheets, some recommend 1 some more. After allowing the epoxy to flash spray your color till you have good coverage, then clear. If you have no bodywork to speak of and the bumper is in good shape now that its stripped, this will be the easiest way and avoid having to sand the thing twice. You could possibly paint over the adhesion promotor if the bumper is sanded fine enough, but I never feel safe doing this. If someone trys to sell you a flex agent, don't waste the money on it. Most I know of evaporate out of the paint over time anyways, and don't really add any significant flexing ability. They are mainly for installation purposes if you will really be twisting it around alot. I haven't had any problems not using one. If you are using a urethane paint which is most common today, they are pretty flexible as it is. You could try prefitting the bumper first, but doubt you will have much problems with a stock part made out of urethane, unless the car itself is out of whack. The most important thing for your paint to stick is make sure that that part is cleaned very well and you do a thorough job sanding.


http://victorylap.50webs.com
Autobody/ paint

so as far as i know the year he stated the bumpers are not polyurathene, should be one of these TPO,TPE,TEO
not that it make any difference in what he did souds to me that he chemically stripped all parts and then sanded the parts with what grit paper he didn`t say

there is no need for adheshion promoter as the rubber is not a raw plastic like most imports bumpers come brand new, so if you just sanded them down, finish off with 180 then 240 that type of plastic gums up real fast and sweels allot, apply the primer, ya might have to prime one more time if the plastic is really swolen

yes today`s product like base coat is flesable but it`s what you have beneath the bumper that also helps in flexing like use a primer made for plastic, then use a sealer, base, then clear
and yes flex agent evaporates in 6 months but it does help the body men to put a bumper on i still use it on bumpers

i would like to know how you fixed the bumpers on the car




can i haz bondo

I have not sanded the RAW bumper yet, and yes I used a spray on paint stripper and then scrape it off. Thanks for all the help.

I have a BUMPER flex primer from the auto body shop and then the regular base/clear for them as well.

I used the bumper repair kit from Canadian tire. It is used to fix fibreglass bumpers on bumpers and boats. It worked great. Looks like and smells like an EPOXY based product.

So let me get this right.

1. Primer
2. Sealer
3. Base coat
4. Clearcoat