Bought a used ARB Bumper. Need to recondition it

[masphx]

So I bought a used ARB bumper and Budbuilt Skid Plate for $650 via Craigslist. The Bumper is faded, has some road rock pitting, some search marks and a few minor rust spots. What is the best direction for reconditioning this bumper. the paint is in pretty good condition. I'm thinking just a wax and polish? I saw a post of how a member brought the ARB bumper back to life but can't find it now via the search.

The Budbuilt skid has some rust and bad paint. Should take sander to it?

Basic questions here I know but I just don't want to do wasted work and don't want to repaint the bumper.

Thanks for the help,

Mason

 

[tre9er]

paint or powdercoat. You have to seal the metal off from the elements (mainly oxygen) or else it will keep rusting.

 

[Mc1337sauce]

My friend used Rustoleum (I think) bedliner on his Tacoma's tube bumper and skids. It looks pretty darn good and is super durable and easy to touch up. Here's a few pics of the bumper:




If you don't want to refinish the whole bumper, you might try touching up the rock chips and scrapes with touch up paint (Toyota black is good quality and would likely match pretty well, and be sure to sand off any rust before touching up), waiting for it to dry fully, and then cutting and polishing the entire bumper with Meguiar's M105 and M205. Once it is restored to your satisfaction, you can seal it with something like Meguiar's Ultimate Wax (which is really a synthetic polymer sealant, and will hold up VERY well in the AZ sun). Since the ARB bumper is powder-coated, restoring the original finish might not make it look like new (my experience with polishing powder coat is pretty limited), but it should improve the overall look.

Another option is to take the bumper to a powder coat shop and have them blast and re-coat it. You would have the option of getting color matched to the truck, too, which can look very nice IMO. This is the most expensive option, but worth it if you want a perfect finish.

I would recommend just sanding the skid with a DA sander until the rust is all gone, and then bedlining it, as it will get scraped up anyway and the bedliner is durable and easy to touch up.

 

[Austin C]

My brother reconditioned his tube bumper on his Tacoma and they were pretty nasty before. He just used Trim and Bumper from Rustoleum. He sanded it down and did a few coats and it turned out super clean. If you have bad pitting, after sanding you may use some bondo and sand flush with the bumper and then paint over.