Intimidation Prep

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PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2023 1:53 pm
I've done some VERY small projects on my cars... painted front and rear bumper on an old VW and it was very straightforward, since all I had to do was scuff spray some bulldog and then paint.

Painted brake calipers, some rearview mirrors and a sunroof.

I decided to try and up my game, get a decent spray gun and try to paint my front bumper on my '91 Mustang GT.

This bumper is WAAAY more complicated with all kinds of bends and creases. Plus it's really kind of "flimsy" ? compared to the solid rectangles I painted on the VW.

I keep reading up on prep and blending and I'm stuck thinking I will screw up the job, wind up spending more money on paint and materials and wind up with a bad job whereas I could maybe have someone do it for less and get a good job.

Any of you guys been in the same situation? Thoughts?

I also have a hood I was going to paint for the same car but worried it won't match after I paint it. The care is Oxford White and I've read white is a bear to get a match.

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PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2023 3:44 pm
You really shouldn't blend on a bumper.
I always remove bumpers and hang them from the ceiling
in my garage with chains, and clear the entire bumper.
JC.

(It's not custom painting-it's custom sanding)

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PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2023 6:42 pm
In the business of repairing damage, as opposed to repainting whole cars, blending is the ONLY way that one can achieve acceptable results. However, it must be remembered that only the colour coat is blended. The clearcoat should be extended to cover the whole panel. There are some exceptions to this general rule and bumpers are one of those, especially on bumpers where there are defined areas that can be masked off and a more local repair done, using body lines as boundaries. This is a slightly more advanced technique, though.

White is difficult to match because there are usually trace colours in it that are of very small quantities and even very small variations in the mix can lead to big differences when a panel is sprayed edge to edge and then placed next to an existing panel. Even the manufacturers can't get it right with bars - it's common to see variations in colour between the body panels and plastic bars even on brand new cars.

So, when I paint a bar I nearly always blend the colour, staying away from the join between bar and guard or quarter, or bonnet in some cases.

As an example, here's one I did a few days ago.

First, the damage. There was more on the other side too, but lower down.
20230520_131058_HDR.jpg


Doing the repair.
20230520_155936.jpg


And, all done.
20230522_165958_HDR.jpg


If you look carefully the colour difference at the bar to guard join is the same as it was originally. That's because I blended the white topcoat from the repair area towards the join, but not all the way to it. A bit tricky when there isn't a lot of space, like on this one, but certainly possible. There were some stone chips on the top section of the bar so I had to paint up there, but tried to stay away from the edge and used the rubber seal as a divider so any colour difference wasn't obvious.

I had a couple of dust nibs that I took out, but otherwise, that's "off the gun". I don't have the time, nor do I get paid enough to colour sand bars. My philosophy is to get it right, the first time.

Now, addressing some of OP's other comments....

Imatk wrote:Plus it's really kind of "flimsy" ? compared to the solid rectangles I painted on the VW.


That's why they're now called "bar covers", rather than "bumper bars". The strength is underneath, in the reo bar attached to the chassis or sub-frame.

Imatk wrote:I keep reading up on prep and blending and I'm stuck thinking I will screw up the job, wind up spending more money on paint and materials and wind up with a bad job whereas I could maybe have someone do it for less and get a good job.


Agreed. For a 'one off' it's just not worth it. The cost of setting up, with gun, compressor and a whole raft of tools, equipment and then buying paint that nearly always comes in containers four times the size that you need makes it a much more economical prospect to just pay someone else to do it. For example, the bar above I charged $600 for. My primer gun cost $200, the colour and clear guns about $500 each and my compressor about $800. Then there are tools like clip removers that most people don't have in their tool box. Oh, and paint. I have a full Cromax paint system - about $20K worth there, including computer and spectro and the clear that I used costs about $220 for a 4 litre tin with 2 litres of hardener. A couple of different thinners at around $150 per 20 litre tin, Prepsol now nearly $200 for 20 litres and that doesn't include filler and plastic repair stuff. And then there's the $100K that I'm about to spend on building a new workshop. Big investment, but I do enough to know that it will pay off. Not if I were doing one or two panels though.

Having said all that, if you want to make this a new hobby and gain some new skills then go right ahead. Be ready to deal with the inevitable mistakes and having to rework whole panels. Looking back, the first thousand or so jobs that I sprayed I wouldn't accept today, but it's a constant learning curve and one of the most satisfying things I've ever done.
Chris

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