How did you paint your custom front bumper?

[CentralFL4Runner]

I hit mine was rattle can primer and then a semi black as well. Just the rustoleum. In retrospect however, I do wish I would have put a little more time or money into it and either had it color matched to my vehicle with auto-paint or would have got it powder coated a gunmetal grey.

I have the 4x front. For whatever reason, the way it fits against my vehicle, it will occasionally rub at the corner of the bumper and body, and the paint was rubbed off, leading to a small rust spot on both sides. And since it's so tight against the vehicle, I'd have to take it off to touch it up - or tape and newspaper off everything near by. I just used the paint repair brush and touch it up every once in a while.

 

[Scramble]

I hit mine was rattle can primer and then a semi black as well. Just the rustoleum. In retrospect however, I do wish I would have put a little more time or money into it and either had it color matched to my vehicle with auto-paint or would have got it powder coated a gunmetal grey.

I have the 4x front. For whatever reason, the way it fits against my vehicle, it will occasionally rub at the corner of the bumper and body, and the paint was rubbed off, leading to a small rust spot on both sides. And since it's so tight against the vehicle, I'd have to take it off to touch it up - or tape and newspaper off everything near by. I just used the paint repair brush and touch it up every once in a while.

Sounds like you need to loosen it & drop it down a bit.

 

[Scramble]

Does anyone have any more pics with what brand semi-gloss was used?
Thanks,

 

[CentralFL4Runner]

Sounds like you need to loosen it & drop it down a bit.

I didn't know I could. The bolt holes lined up pretty tight putting it on already, but it may be different because they had to build it for a BL.

I used the Rustoleum high performance enamel and then a clear coat. For whatever reason my profile picture doesn't show up on my screen, but i should have a couple pictures in the garage. Possibly could have got a little more shine out of it by wet sanding the clear, but i was too excited to have it mounted up.

Again, in retrospect I would have spend the little bit extra to get a better quality paint (like have a can filled by a local auto paint supply). Especially if they could do a vehicle match. I love the way [MENTION=50591]gaterose[/MENTION] bumper ties in with the truck.

 

[Scramble]

I didn't know I could. The bolt holes lined up pretty tight putting it on already, but it may be different because they had to build it for a BL.

I used the Rustoleum high performance enamel and then a clear coat. For whatever reason my profile picture doesn't show up on my screen, but i should have a couple pictures in the garage. Possibly could have got a little more shine out of it by wet sanding the clear, but i was too excited to have it mounted up.

Again, in retrospect I would have spend the little bit extra to get a better quality paint (like have a can filled by a local auto paint supply). Especially if they could do a vehicle match. I love the way [MENTION=50591]gaterose[/MENTION] bumper ties in with the truck.

I test fitted my bumper over the weekend (see pic) & need to bring it up another 1/2". I have a little play & if it's not enough I'll enlarge the bolt holes a little. Mine was built for a 1" body lift also.

 

[Dephcon]

Nice looking truck. Those TE rims with the Hankook Dynapro MTs look nice. I have been looking for a set, but they are a bit pricey here in Canada. That Shrockworks bumper is the best I have seen for the 3rd gen, very nice indeed!

 

[gaterose]

Again, in retrospect I would have spend the little bit extra to get a better quality paint (like have a can filled by a local auto paint supply). Especially if they could do a vehicle match. I love the way [MENTION=50591]gaterose[/MENTION] bumper ties in with the truck.

Thanks! I used spray paint from AutomotiveTouchUp.com, it was a good match but wasn't cheap, about $25/can plus shipping. I used several layers of cheap white first to save on the expensive stuff but still needed about 2.5 cans to get enough coverage to take away the blue tint from the cheaper white, then followed with ATU's clear coat, it was only $8/can.

 

[Scramble]

Nice looking truck. Those TE rims with the Hankook Dynapro MTs look nice. I have been looking for a set, but they are a bit pricey here in Canada. That Shrockworks bumper is the best I have seen for the 3rd gen, very nice indeed!

Thank You, been working non stop on it since April. I don't have a garage so I need to get the to-do list done before it gets cold again.
I got great deals on the TE wheels from a member here & the tires from DTD. The Shrockworks is the best looking 3rd gen bumper, I got in on the last group buy & saved 20%. Thanks again for the kind words! :hatsoff:

 

[Unner]

If you can I would recommend powdercoat. When I painted my grille I used SEM bumper coater which is supposed to be one of the best but the paint is getting worn off kinda by the bug hits on the front already. I will probably pull the grille at some point and have it painted at a body shop that can hit it with a good clear coat afterwards too. The front is going to see the most issues with paint because of bugs, stones, etc at 70 mph on the interstate. You could look for an industrial powdercoat place. That's where my sliders are right now, they just put mine in with a bunch of other semi gloss black stuff and only charged $40 because of that.

 

[UnderFire]

I test fitted my bumper over the weekend (see pic) & need to bring it up another 1/2". I have a little play & if it's not enough I'll enlarge the bolt holes a little. Mine was built for a 1" body lift also.

Looks like a good fit to me, too close and it'll rub on everything, mine has about the same gap as your picture and it rubs a bit on the fenders.

 

[Scramble]

If you can I would recommend powdercoat. When I painted my grille I used SEM bumper coater which is supposed to be one of the best but the paint is getting worn off kinda by the bug hits on the front already. I will probably pull the grille at some point and have it painted at a body shop that can hit it with a good clear coat afterwards too. The front is going to see the most issues with paint because of bugs, stones, etc at 70 mph on the interstate. You could look for an industrial powdercoat place. That's where my sliders are right now, they just put mine in with a bunch of other semi gloss black stuff and only charged $40 because of that.

I could, it would cost me around $300 up here in N.NJ/NY. I cant justify paying that when Shrockworks would have done it for $100. I already bought the primer, paint & clear coat.

 

[Scramble]

So I was doing some research & read that you are not supposed to add color over self-etching primer. You need to seal it with a regular primer before spraying color. Never heard that before. This was at a car restoration web site during a Google search.

 

[csp]

And what reason did they give for that? Link?

 

[UnderFire]

So I was doing some research & read that you are not supposed to add color over self-etching primer. You need to seal it with a regular primer before spraying color. Never heard that before. This was at a car restoration web site during a Google search.

I've done it both ways, came out just as strong and looked just as good either way, never heard of that but sounds like bs to me.

 

[Scramble]

I've done it both ways, came out just as strong and looked just as good either way, never heard of that but sounds like bs to me.

And what reason did they give for that? Link?

It was a search I did at work. They said that self-etching primer is only to be used on bare metal (obviously) & you're only supposed to use 1 or 2 light coats. It's only purpose is for adhesion & is not to be sanded. It's transparent & will effect the top coat color. A few coats of regular primer should be used to seal it with sanding in between coats to provide a nice smooth opaque base for the top coat.
They were talking about high end paint jobs on restored cars & it makes sense to me especially if you are talking about lighter colors.
I'm in the printing business & different color substrates will provide different results with the same image & the same inks. I don't know if this matter's with a Black bumper but I'm gonna do it.

 

[UnderFire]

It was a search I did at work. They said that self-etching primer is only to be used on bare metal (obviously) & you're only supposed to use 1 or 2 light coats. It's only purpose is for adhesion & is not to be sanded. It's transparent & will effect the top coat color. A few coats of regular primer should be used to seal it with sanding in between coats to provide a nice smooth opaque base for the top coat.
They were talking about high end paint jobs on restored cars & it makes sense to me especially if you are talking about lighter colors.
I'm in the printing business & different color substrates will provide different results with the same image & the same inks. I don't know if this matter's with a Black bumper but I'm gonna do it.

Ok, that's definitely a concern when you're working with colors or especially white, you always want to have a neutral base coat so it doesn't show through the paint, with black, not so much. The times I've covered self etching or iron oxide primer with a top coat of 2-3 coats of automotive primer were times that I was going for a smoother finish, it's much easier to get a nice clean, smooth finish with a sand-able primer, with a self etching primer, there's nothing to sand, so if you spray your black over it, you pretty much get any imperfections that were in the surface, not really a concern on bumper, skids etc. for me, but some people like to get the best finish possible on everything.

If you're looking for a quick way to knock out imperfections, dirt, bugs, etc between your coats, look for 3M "between coats" pads, I've used them to get specs of stuff off of paint jobs in progress with great results, and as long as the primer your using builds up enough it'll completely hide the spot where it used to be.

 

[JayRolla]

So I was doing some research & read that you are not supposed to add color over self-etching primer. You need to seal it with a regular primer before spraying color. Never heard that before. This was at a car restoration web site during a Google search.

That is what I did on my rims first time. Decided it was too much work. Now I just use primer/paint in one can, works great.

Just to remember, your before prep work is so important, it makes all the difference, get all those oils and minerals off the bare metal.

The more coats the better and make sure paint never dries between coats, just 15 min to tacky.

 

[BrandonF]

I got my rear bumper and sliders powder coated.

What I learned: Pick a good powder coating shop… My sliders have been fine but on the rear bumper, they did such a shitty job prepping the metal that its flaking off on the corners and they missed tons of spots on the inside of the bumper and its starting to rust lightly. It was surprisingly cheap and now I see why they don't charge more. Lesson learned.

 

[ryhi]

I use this stuff in satin black. Highly recommended.

VHT Roll Bar & Chassis Paint

 

[csp]

It was a search I did at work. They said that self-etching primer is only to be used on bare metal (obviously) & you're only supposed to use 1 or 2 light coats. It's only purpose is for adhesion & is not to be sanded.

You can sand self-etching primer. That bit about sanding means that in auto body work terms it's not a high-fill type primer meant for filling imperfections and block sanded. That's not the process you're going to go through painting a bumper. I sanded my etching primer with no problems or sand through back to bare metal.

It's transparent & will effect the top coat color. A few coats of regular primer should be used to seal it with sanding in between coats to provide a nice smooth opaque base for the top coat.

The stuff in a spray bomb can, like Duplicolor, is not transparent. If it were you'd see the metal through it. ANY primer can affect the color of the top coat of lighter to medium colors. Not so much with black.

No harm adding another type of high build filler, but it really serves no purpose in this application.

Personally I don't use self-etching primer on body work. Epoxys do a MUCH better job and actually seal the metal against moisture. Self-etching and high build primers are permeable and need to be top coated as soon as possible. I can get a panel prepped for primer, spray it with epoxy primer and forget about it for any length of time.