Painting My Bumpers and Cladding, What Color?

[SCRunner12]

I'm painting my bumpers and cladding right now and bouncing around the idea of what color to end up with. Either gloss black or hammered black. Wondering what you guys think. I'll most likely go black because my next set of wheels will be black, not hammered black

Black
Courtesy of 4runninroman

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Hammered Black
This is what my wheels are currently.

 

[zgensler31]

i definitely vote the gloss black. like in the photos. looks pretty sweet.

 

[jrm]

"hammered"

flat black?

i think it would easier to repair or blend then gloss black would. There's also a tad commitment to it as well.

 

[Zachpins34]

I know the two choices you're deciding from are gloss black and hammered black, but have you considered satin black? Sort of a happy medium.

 

[SCRunner12]

i definitely vote the gloss black. like in the photos. looks pretty sweet.

Yeah that is what I'm leaning towards.

flat black?

i think it would easier to repair or blend then gloss black would. There's also a tad commitment to it as well.

I put an initial plasti-dip coat and it was flat black. I wasn't as into it since the rest of the paint is not flat. Plus my rims are not flat either. It will be interesting to see how the touch ups are with the paint.

I know the two choices you're deciding from are gloss black and hammered black, but have you considered satin black? Sort of a happy medium.

I have considered that, but I kind of wanted a factory shine. I can always throw some satin on top if it doesn't turn out right.

 

[Jbird123]

I did plasti-dip with satin clear coat on both. Looks good; not convinced about midterm durability though.

 

[Huskey]

Nice lookin truck, just a thought... get rid of the two tone and match the bumper and cladding to the truck and leave the fender trim black, I'm thinking about doing something like that with my dad's 3rd gen.

 

[SCRunner12]

I did plasti-dip with satin clear coat on both. Looks good; not convinced about midterm durability though.

Did you happen to use clear coat? I'm not sure about retouching them with clear coat.

Nice lookin truck, just a thought... get rid of the two tone and match the bumper and cladding to the truck and leave the fender trim black, I'm thinking about doing something like that with my dad's 3rd gen.

I thought about doing all the bumpers and cladding body color, but I like the contrast of the two colors. Also I'm not a huge fan of the different different fender colors. I've seen them on the some of the 3rd gens and it's not my style.


So I made some progress yesterday. I ended up getting the rear bumper done. I used 3 coats of plastidip and 3 coats of Duplicolor Gloss Black. It turned out pretty good. A little rough in some spots, but not bad. I'm not sure if I should add clear coat though. Might help with cleaning, but make it difficult to touch up.

Here's the progress.
3 coats of Plasti-Dip

2 coats of Gloss Black

All Done

I also painted the rear bumper pad while I was at it.

 

[Zachpins34]

gonna look sick

 

[zgensler31]

I like it. Definitely gonna look good.

 

[zgensler31]

I did plasti-dip with satin clear coat on both. Looks good; not convinced about midterm durability though.

Jay bird, can you post up some other pics of your truck. I've got a 96 limited with the same color scheme that yours had and thought about doing this also.

 

[Wizzle]

That is going to look really good. Using the Plastidip as a primer, will you be able to still go back to stock if you choose to in the future? Just curious how painting over Plastidip works.

 

[02running]

Did you happen to use clear coat? I'm not sure about retouching them with clear coat.



I thought about doing all the bumpers and cladding body color, but I like the contrast of the two colors. Also I'm not a huge fan of the different different fender colors. I've seen them on the some of the 3rd gens and it's not my style.


So I made some progress yesterday. I ended up getting the rear bumper done. I used 3 coats of plastidip and 3 coats of Duplicolor Gloss Black. It turned out pretty good. A little rough in some spots, but not bad. I'm not sure if I should add clear coat though. Might help with cleaning, but make it difficult to touch up.

Here's the progress.
3 coats of Plasti-Dip

2 coats of Gloss Black

All Done

I also painted the rear bumper pad while I was at it.

did you sand the chrome on the bumper? or rough up the paint on the trim? i like the way this looks and want to do it to mine as well.

 

[SCRunner12]

gonna look sick

Thanks, I was unsure at first, but it looked a lot better in the sun today. I may need to put some clear coat on though as the paint stains a little bit.

I like it. Definitely gonna look good.

Thanks! We'll see how the rest of the cladding and the front bumper go.

That is going to look really good. Using the Plastidip as a primer, will you be able to still go back to stock if you choose to in the future? Just curious how painting over Plastidip works.

Theoretically yes, but I know that the paint over the plasti-dip creates a pretty hard shell. I have the same set up on my rims and dropping tire irons on the paint just dented it, but didn't chip it. It will probably be a bigger pain to remove.

did you sand the chrome on the bumper? or rough up the paint on the trim? i like the way this looks and want to do it to mine as well.

I have the painted bumpers, so I just cleaned them and used the plasti-dip. I could have sanded them, but I didn't want to ruin the factory paint just yet.

 

[JohnsD90]

You seemed to have forgotten to put "sunfire red pearl" as a vote option. So here is my vote: Sunfire Red Pearl,

 

[02running]

I have the painted bumpers, so I just cleaned them and used the plasti-dip. I could have sanded them, but I didn't want to ruin the factory paint just yet.[/QUOTE]

would it be in my best interest to sand both my bumper and trim before spraying the plasti dip on them? sorry for all the questions just trying to do the best job i can before i start painting on my car that i owe 5000+ on

 

[Jbird123]

Did you happen to use clear coat? I'm not sure about retouching them with clear coat.

I did three coats of clear over 5 coats of plasti-dip. I read from other posts that the clear coat will help wax from getting embedded in the plastidip. But the downside to clear coating is not sure how easy it will be to touch up the plastidip in the future without starting over. The main reason I used plastidip instead of paint is that it does a really great job of filling in minor scratches, imperfections, etc.. and painting over it is a breeze. Although I think 5 coats was overkill - sometimes it stuck to the tape.

Jay bird, can you post up some other pics of your truck. I've got a 96 limited with the same color scheme that yours had and thought about doing this also.

The light wasn't great, but here are a few:

 

[SCRunner12]

You seemed to have forgotten to put "sunfire red pearl" as a vote option. So here is my vote: Sunfire Red Pearl,

Haha, I thought you might chime in. To be honest the Sunfire Red Sports are a little too much for my taste. I like some other color to break up the red.

I have the painted bumpers, so I just cleaned them and used the plasti-dip. I could have sanded them, but I didn't want to ruin the factory paint just yet.

would it be in my best interest to sand both my bumper and trim before spraying the plasti dip on them? sorry for all the questions just trying to do the best job i can before i start painting on my car that i owe 5000+ on[/QUOTE]

You don't have to sand them as the plasti-dip does a good job of adhering to the unsanded surface. My LX rims were chrome and I just cleaned the up really good and used 3 coats of plasti-dip on them, then 3 coats of hammered black. I think I'm going to add some clear coat as I don't want the black to get stained.

I did three coats of clear over 5 coats of plasti-dip. I read from other posts that the clear coat will help wax from getting embedded in the plastidip. But the downside to clear coating is not sure how easy it will be to touch up the plastidip in the future without starting over. The main reason I used plastidip instead of paint is that it does a really great job of filling in minor scratches, imperfections, etc.. and painting over it is a breeze. Although I think 5 coats was overkill - sometimes it stuck to the tape.



The light wasn't great, but here are a few:

Thanks, yeah I think the clear will help keep dirt from staining the paint. I like adding spray paint on top of the plasti-dip as it creates a hardened shell around the plasti-dip and increases it's durability.

 

[absalom]

Should powdercoat them Satin Black imo ... was only 50$ per bumper and looks great.

 

[SCRunner12]

No can do on the powdercoating. My bumpers are all plastic and I can't remove the cladding very easily. That powdercoating does look good though.