How to Properly Prep Plastic Bumper Covers for Paint | Complete Tutorial

So your cars plastic bumper cover is chipped, cracked, scratched and damaged beyond repair and in need of a replacement. Proper preparation of the plastic is essential for the sealer and paint to adhere to the bumper surface. Fred walks you through a very thorough guide on how to clean, clean, clean...clean, clean, clean, clean - your new bumper cover for paint.

[@DigitalMoose]

Clean, clean, clean. To those doing front end paint work, I usually use a flex agent on any urethane clear on a bumper cover or even fibreglass valances like on a GT350 etc. You can even dull it down with additives. It’s may not be concours correct but helps avoid chips from track/road debris. Love your content and appreciate how you assist Sarah.

[@PS_on_youtube]

I recently painted my cars rear valance panel, it was bare black plastic like yours. I treated it like a metal surface.. i scuffed with 320, them 800 grit scrub pad. Then sprayed 3 coats of high build primer, then sanded and smoothed the primer, and finally the base coat and clear. It turned out ‘good’. By no means a professional result, but the 800 grit scrub pad really helped to smooth the deep 320 grit scratches, and finally the high build primer (for the most part) filled the 800 grit scratches. Good content, always like watching and learning

[@waynehiggs6529]

Love watching all the tips and hints and how to videos you make, absolutely awesome work you do. Cheers from Australia

[@BSR496]

Really like that you are willing to help out others..That says alot!

[@marktaylor4458]

This was a very good video for painting plastic. I have a bumper cover to paint and now I am going to a pro to get the work done.

[@bobmiller7426]

Thanks for this. You always give such good insight.

[@markboisvert7380]

Great info! In Maine the rock chips are a fact of life. Likewise the peeling. This video says it all👍

[@ferdinandcuevas8457]

I think that Your procedure is just what I needed to restore My urethane/plastic parts on My 92 🦊 body Mustang ! Thank You & Best Wishes . 🇺🇸🇵🇷🦊👍

[@petru-vasileboicu5842]

The final result looks amazing.

[@larryhall6416]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us 🙏.

[@CodyRyanK05]

Cool to hear some cheap DIY ways to do things for us poor types 😄 good to know the right way and the cost effective way.

[@UWrenchTV]

Glad you liked it!

[@jefftabor595]

Learned something today. Thank you

[@adlaihampton1321]

Learned so much you are very detail in your description for prepartion for the finish product. thank you best video

[@benround948]

great work guys,

[@SCBMusic1]

Definitely liked & subscribed. Thanks for being very detailed.

[@ozzstars_cars]

Hey man great job with the video! I'm about to take on a bumper paint job. My sons front car bumper was involved in a hit and run in a parking lot. I'm trying my best to keep costs down and do the job right! Thanks for the helpful info, greatly appreciate it. Subscribed! Take care -Glen

[@WriterandPhotographer]

Wish I lived down there right now..........I have done most of the prep and was just working on a bumper cover before watching your video, but will use the finer grit to feather out the thin flex glazing putting I will have to use in a couple of spots. Following your directions for prep and will have to farm the painting out to a shop since my garage would result in a lot of trash. You know how dusty AZ is. Thanks for the good content.

[@ArniVidar]

Informative as always. Thanks for doing these videos and supporting the future generations. :)

[@UWrenchTV]

Thank you, sir.

[@joshuagies4900]

Damn! Looks good!

[@waltermartin6176]

Great video

[@theflyingsquad4585]

Super cool advise , Enjoy your videos and your work , 🇬🇧

[@UWrenchTV]

Thanks 👍

[@kseries20-24only]

Huge help, I need that scuff stuff for sure! I spaced out and didn't use adhesion promotor on the last bumper and got a run.. :/

[@CodyRyanK05]

I have a beater 2011 Nissan Altima in the grey colour that Nissan loved to use for that model year. The front and rear bumper covers are both cracked and it looks pretty bad. I was gonna try to go to pick n pull but now I might actually try to repair and paint them.

[@jenniferparker8449]

This is great info

[@TheKniteraven]

Thanks!

[@alamedacustomholsters]

Thank you👊

[@ronaldschwartz4422]

Great job my bumper cracks all over and painter said it was my fault now I know he didn't do it rite thanks for showing me how to do it the rite way

[@eajomoz]

New to the channel great video man.

[@UWrenchTV]

Thanks

[@philjohnston9616]

I definitely screwed the pooch doing mine. Thanks for explaining how to go about it properly.

[@underwaterdroneservices7292]

Never done a plastic bumper, likely never will, but this looks like pretty good advice to me! (and interesting!)

[@UWrenchTV]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Dubble_Bubble40]

Great video! I'm getting ready to paint a bumper this weekend, but the only thing I don't have is sealer. Anything specific for a sealer? I'm also going to rattle can the clear with the 2k stuff. Is this not a good idea without a flex agent?

[@danferguson4004]

Yeah I want to repaint my rear bumper cover and it's already painted what kind of prep do I have to do for that? And I like watching your guys videos

[@LiveInTheNow247]

Laundry soap like oxyclean are great in my opinion. Try washing oily hands from doing mechanic car work with regular hand soap, dish soap and laundry soap and you will see that laundry soap will dissolve what the other soaps didn't.

[@charleshetrick3152]

Take a drink every time he says “right” try not to die.

[@garyworokevich2524]

Oxi Clean !?!? I'll incorporate that into my next paint job.

[@pascalz9992]

While I love watching these video's it also makes me hope I will never have to do any of this. But knowing my wife, sooner or later I'll need to...

[@UWrenchTV]

😂

[@drewdowncutomz4792]

What happens if the bumper already has deep scratches looks like 80 grit in sort of hard spots do I just hit with 320 and work my way up to smooth, and fill?

[@jimgordon6260]

Like your videos and information. Been away from auto body work for a long time and find myself needing to do some due to an uninsured motorist (explicative idiot). It has been almost 40 years since I did any. You didn't have all the paint choices back then. I am redoing parts from a donor car (white 2 stage) to my Mini Coupe R58 lightning blue metallic. After much research on the plastic pieces (didn't have many of those years ago) some are saying epoxy primer is better for adhesion/rock chip protection. I wanted your input on it. Thanks, Jim

[@ganeshnarayan5505]

Great video thanks for sharing..

[@nilugajjar8205]

Aer you in Canada I am in Canada Alberta it is lovely job

[@pkg3542]

Can you please, please, please tell me what the best sealer in spray bomb version I can use on the bumper cover. Going metallic silver paint. Thank you!! Also THANK YOU for such a killer video! Very informative. And meshes with other great painters advice, such as yourself ! 😊

[@UWrenchTV]

Fred says that you won’t find sealer in a rattle can. But you could use a 2K epoxy primer which requires a longer drying time and you might possibly need to sand it before topcoding.

[@Akya2120]

Just curious, i bought an 87 190D and I want to paint the plastic bumpers. They've got some scuffs. How would you recommend i fill the scuffs before i paint it?

[@sl5981]

I brought a bumper that says it has factory primer on it is the process the same, and Is regular primer considered a sealer?

[@livedeliciously]

Can you use reduced epoxy as a sealer?

[@Mk5rabbit]

So I've been trying to find a solid answer, if I'm buying "good" rattle cans to spray my bumper. I'm spraying a bumper... it's already has oem white paint on it, no damage, would I just need to scuff it like in the video then I can prime then spray, or do I not need primer since it's already under the white. If I was painting a house, I wouldn't need to prime over white since it's already primed. I sprayed houses for 10 years, figure with some quality paint I'll do a gpod enough job. With that being said .... Just scuff to prep?

[@lisazwerk6953]

Do you recommend SEM flex?

[@kyler4309]

Damn, that came out clean. Looking to paint my Front bumper cover, I do have spraying experience but mine is more of a single stage on heavy equipment such as cranes, skid steers, and lifts. When spraying the clear what is the best activator to use to help prevent flashing. On the single stage my shop uses, if you miss an area on the last go and attempt to come back you will leave flashing on the surrounding area messing up the gloss finish. Any suggestions on brand or where to source quality paint?

[@UWrenchTV]

Fred uses Lumabase, R-M Diamont. Find a local automotive paint supply near you and check what brands they handle. Also depends on how much money you want to spend on paint...they can get very expensive!

[@johnargue2977]

All these supplies makes me want to give up. I bought sandpaper and paint. 😅 Now I cleaner, adhesive stuff, dang

[@McTroyd]

Apparently I missed the plastic repair episode! Will have to go back and find it. '06 Mustang GT got stuck on a piece of rebar sticking out of one of those concrete parking stops. Ripped the underside for several inches. Got a drifter's stitch on it right now, since I figured it would need replacement.

[@UWrenchTV]

If you're interested here is a link to the plastic repair video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKO3q2Sdq8Sbmbc

[@McTroyd]

@@UWrenchTV Thank you!

[@PJ-ee5mc]

I have some automotive paint experience but only with European classics. So, no experience prepping and painting plastic parts. I read about the primer/surfacer you are using but didn't see any mention "Plastic" or "Flexibility" in the descriptions. Is this because flexible additives or "special paints for plastics" is no longer necessary? I have always been under the impression that painting on plastic required a whole different process and modified products. Perhaps the times have changed. Great video, by the way. Thanks for sharing!

[@UWrenchTV]

Other than using adhesion promoter all products are the same for the bumper cover plastic

[@chriswilliams2652]

Seems like gojo and scotch brite would be a good substitute

[@jacobydavis3953]

Is it also ok to clean, adhesion promoter, prime, then seal?

[@grzesiekgregory]

Primer is for bonding two paint layers so it is in between them. Sealer is for making the barrier between layers. Therefore paint sticks to the primer and not necessarily to the sealer. I wouldn't do this the way you suggesting unless you use primer-sealer "two in one", but this method has downsides as well. Honestly painting a plastic it is a pain in the hole and pointless in longer run . Best method is.... just sand it down properly like for any car jobs , accept the colour and just wax it 😊

[@everettpollard8412]

I can see SarahnTune's guy in the background. 😂

[@REKindya]

What kind of sealer did you use - everything was specific before the last step, use sealer :)

[@UWrenchTV]

Fred recommends epoxy sealer. He uses SPI sealer but you can use whatever brand you'd like!

[@MS-hd8yq]

👍

[@aproudamerican2692]

So what's the first step of prepping plastic again. Also, can I use a adhesion promoter? I forget. Just kidding.

[@mostcom]

For the algorithm. Give Jefff a big scratch behind the ear for us will ya?

[@brandonwelsh2743]

Jefff always gets the good scratches

[@mtnkat5324]

So what is good to use for a sealer? Are you just talking about primer?

[@UWrenchTV]

A good quality sealer is also used.

[@Trelnet]

Question: Alcohol based cleaners are BAD for most plastics. Why do you use them, and why does the alcohol not effect your work?

[@cordellingram808]

Honda Prelude in the back wtf!

[@thekatmann9730]

I hit the Like button. But I'm not going to comment..

[@fokker1138]

5:03 Must have haters, there's 4 down votes.

[@HELPINGHANDZ6]

They got money that little damage would have stayed

[@PerfectoKiss]

Colin Farrell

[@QuietPov]

I now know less about painting than I did before watching this

[@scottr8360]

A gallon of anti-static cost $160 at O'Reilly, so I skipped it.

[@scottr8360]

No anti-static wipes available.

[@DAKOTANSHELBY]

Right? Right? Right? Right? Somewhere there's a informative video if he would eliminate the rights. Right?

[@borg386]

Too complicated! I'm just going to put my new cover on, and then put a bra over it.

[@stevetrump7399]

Curious where to get the grey scotch pad? Most i've seen are green. I'm talkin about store regular store products. Maybe I should go to an automotive paint supply?

[@stevetrump7399]

Sealer? So I'm doing a rattle can job on my new plastic bumper cover. It's my first try. Is there a spray can version of "sealer"?

[@stevetrump7399]

And Isopropyl alcohol will double for Anti static cleaner?

[@garyworokevich2524]

Thanks!