Painting chrome bumper process (w/pics)

[OsKie_78]

I'm in the process of painting my chrome front bumper.

1. I've removed the front bump by removing all 6 nuts. (very easy, found out how on this site)

2. Sanding the chrome with a grinder with 36 grit.

Do y'all think that's enough sanding on the bumper?... It's all scuffed up. how does the bare metal look, is that it? haha...I don't want to sand til it's paper thin.

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I got the the bumper primed and painted but I haven't had time to put the bumper back on, it's been rain here for 3 straight days.

3. Bumper primed
2 light coats

4. Bumper painted
3 coats

 

[cj80cruiser]

I'd say so. You did a better job than me since i only had 30 minutes to sand and prime the the grill and actually ended up not priming the bumper before I sprayed it with some left over Raptor spray on bedliner I had lying around. Yeah I'm worried mine might chip but I can always fix it if it does.

 

[OsKie_78]

yeah, I'm going to take my time doing this and will finish up tomorrow.

I'm also, going too paint the grill and and add the clear corners and bumper blinkers.

 

[OsKie_78]

I really like how it came out. I think the rustoluem texture is perfect.

I'll take some more pictures when I mount the bumper back on.

 

[OsKie_78]

btw, I even sand the bumper a lot more then shown in the pictures, because as you can see some chrome still on there.

 

[cj80cruiser]

I did a little test on my bumper to see how well it was sticking....seems to be pretty solid even without sanding that well but time will tell. I have little faith in painting surfaces without primer but maybe truck bedliner is different??? Some types (maybe all) do state no primer needed

 

[xskydivingdudex]

looks good so far... where r u in TX?

 

[hakunamatata]

I did the same thing on all my trim. if i was you i would do more than 1 coat on the bumper. b.c if not it will chip easily and look dull. i did just 1 coat and wound up doing the roll on over top of the spray on. lol. but good luck man! Its lookin good so far!

 

[Maritimer]

I did mine last night to get a bumper I'm scrapping next year into good enough shape to make it through the winter--it rusted through.

I hand-sanded any remnant of chrome shine away, but couldn't sand as much as I wanted. It definitely looked non-chrome. The rust spots were solid through, so I couldn't get rid of them.

I used rust paint in a silver gray color, but it is glossy white on the bumper WTF? I think I'll use that as a primer and put a nice black or dark grey on it. The side pieces are still chrome, but with the plate plastic color and the plastic over the bumper being dark grey, I think the darker color will still look OK, or at least better than white.

Thinking of stenciling 4RUNNER 4EVER on it since it'll be garbage next year anyway. This way I can write that with masking tape before I spray it black!

 

[OsKie_78]

ok finished with the front bumper

5. mount the bumper back on

now, I''ll start with the rear bumper.

 

[OsKie_78]

looks good so far... where r u in TX?

I'm in Corpus Christi

 

[patricksheehy]

I just did part of my front bumper like you. I sanded it down about the same amount. I ended up doing 9 coats of paint and 9 coats of clear coat. Some of my friends have used primer in the past but when it chips its very noticeable since its white. So unless you can find some black primer...

Anyways, the point of my post is that I heard about some stuff on here that you spray on and it just eats away the chrome?? It makes for a perfect surface to paint on. I don't remember who did it but it was someone that was blacking out their headlights. Perhaps some of you guys can shed some light here. Anyways, if I were to do it again like you are, I would search out that spray stuff that is hungry for chrome.

 

[patricksheehy]

Haha I was a bit too late. Looks great though. Good work.

 

[OsKie_78]

I just did part of my front bumper like you. I sanded it down about the same amount. I ended up doing 9 coats of paint and 9 coats of clear coat. Some of my friends have used primer in the past but when it chips its very noticeable since its white. So unless you can find some black primer...

Anyways, the point of my post is that I heard about some stuff on here that you spray on and it just eats away the chrome?? It makes for a perfect surface to paint on. I don't remember who did it but it was someone that was blacking out their headlights. Perhaps some of you guys can shed some light here. Anyways, if I were to do it again like you are, I would search out that spray stuff that is hungry for chrome.

umm...I'll have to look in to that hungry chrome eater for the rear maybe

 

[OsKie_78]

I think I might spray the grill guard and rear light guards with the bed liner too are just flat black...Ummm

 

[Deceptiwave]

Looks cool. Did you paint the grille as well?
I want to do this to a few parts on my rig too

 

[OsKie_78]

Looks cool. Did you paint the grille as well?
I want to do this to a few parts on my rig too

Thanks...Yeah, I painted the plastic chrome with black plastic paint.

 

[RDS3030]

That looks awesome!! :thumb3: ive been wanting to do this to mine for ever, great to see a good write up on it. Have you done the back bumper also?

 

[Clemsonfan15]

That looks really nice. I'd like to do that to my bumpers too.

 

[OsKie_78]

That looks awesome!! :thumb3: ive been wanting to do this to mine for ever, great to see a good write up on it. Have you done the back bumper also?

thanks... I going to start on the rear bumper very soon