Just picked up new black primed bumpers from certifit to replace my chrome on 99 4runner black.
What's the best most effective way to paint these?
Professionally sprayed black gloss with clear coat, duplicolor spray can, or just leave them flat black?
Thanks guy!
Well, obviously thats a matter of opinion. And it depends on what kind of finish you want.
You can do a good paint job with duplic color. But I wouldnt reccommend it unless you are willing to spend a ton of time on it. And for a bumper you will definately need a buffing wheel. Regardless of how smooth the primed surface is, the duplic color paint WILL look grainy and textured after several layers.
To get a glassy finish with dupli color the steps are:
1. Apply at least 5 layers of paint. It needs to be thick so that you can sand/buff the grainy-ness out later on without getting down to the primer.
2. Let that dry and then sand. First wet sand lightly with 600 grit. Your goal here is to get all of the pits/orange peel/grains out. This will take time.
3. Then move to 1000 grit. 1000 grit is an intermediate step between 600 grit and buffing. You shouldnt be taking much off here, just smoothing it down. After this step the paint will look really really dull, but should be smooth.
4. Then you buff. This will take time as well. But if you did a good job with the 1000 grit, it will save you a ton of time in the long run. If you do all this correctly the finish will literally look like black glass.
5. With this method I would reccommend a clear coat. If you do the above you will notice the color is slightly off when you put it next to your 4runner. I have painted several parts this way and always had the same result, with the color not being a perfect match. Then when I applied the clear coat it sharpened and darkened the color a bit so that it was almost a perfect match.
6. Two or three layers of clear coat is plenty. You have to be careful with clear coat as it tends to go on thick and thus pool or drip easily. The benefit to this is that you dont have to worry about getting the grainy appearance you get with the paint. But chances are you will get orange peel, and you absolutely will get patches of over spray. Fortunately overspray comes off easily. So to get rid of the orange peel and over spray you do the same steps done on the paint, but skip the 600 grit. Just 1000 grit and then buff.
7. I would let the clear coat dry for AT LEAST 10 days at room temp before putting the bumper on. If you dont then it will be damaged by bugs and such. Acrylics and enamels take a long time to dry.
All that being said, my first choice would be to have it professionally painted. Or do it yourself if you know someone with a paint gun. Urethane based paints are so much stronger and enduring than acrylics and enamels, and a good paint gun makes the job so much faster and easier.
