Painted my bumperettes for $60

[RobZ]

I ended up going the DIY route for painting my bumperettes yesterday. Total cost was around $60 and was actually pretty simple. It may not be the top quality of Bumperplugs but who would know?

Materials:
Paintscratch.com rattle can
Paintscratch.com clear (Duplicolor)
Paintscratch.com Rubberized primer
Denatured alcohol
300,1000, & 1500 grit sandpaper
rubbing compound
3M glaze
six pack of Michelob Ultra


I basically used alcohol, sanded (300), alcohol again, then applied four light coats of primer. I lightly sanded with 1000 after the second or third coat dried a bit.

Next I sprayed the metallic coat (not really a perfect match with stock due to a bit more of the metallic look from Paintscratch). After a couple of coats I sanded with 1000 followed by a couple more light coats. I finished with a couple light coats of clear, sanded lightly with 1000, and a couple of heavier clear coats (should have actually cleared even more ). 24 hours later I sanded with 1500 followed by rubbing compound (3m) and then 3M glaze.

BEFORE



AFTER

[9eighty6]

Nice work Rob, quite impressive in my opinion ...

Like the use of the 6-pack too ...

[RobZ]

Originally Posted by 9eighty6

Nice work Rob, quite impressive in my opinion ...

Like the use of the 6-pack too ...

Thanks. Well, the final polishing required a couple of glasses of port to get me going.

[silver arrow]

looks good. I'm thinking of doing mine, along with the center console and the black trim between the upper and lower dash. I saw it in a GT2 and it looks great.

[greesedc]

Just got my bumperettes back from the shop that has done all my Porsche painting for 25 years. They look great...as do Rob's.

My cost: Paint and Materials = $84.00
Labor 3 hrs. @ $46 = $138.00
Total = $222.00

Less Rob's cost: = $60.00

Difference: = $152.00

Michelob Ultra = $6.99 + -

Rob's Savings........................= approx. 21 six packs

I did it myself on my muffler and rear speakers last week. Coulda used a couple of six packs from those 21 above for those two projects on my '01 Boxster.

Don

[RobZ]

Originally Posted by silver arrow

looks good. I'm thinking of doing mine, along with the center console and the black trim between the upper and lower dash. I saw it in a GT2 and it looks great.

I also started my interior. My first piece was the driver's side door compartment lid. It was already scraped up so I didn't really care if it was damaged. I learned that the soft touch paint needs to be sanded courser and then very very fine or it shows some of the sand marks. It came out decent but I'm probably going to redo it (with much more sanding prep) if the right side comes out better.

[Wingnut2u]

Originally Posted by silver arrow

looks good. I'm thinking of doing mine, along with the center console and the black trim between the upper and lower dash. I saw it in a GT2 and it looks great.

I did this and it looks fantastic especially since mine is guards red. Just be prepared, painting the strips between the upper and lower console is the easy part, pulling the old strips out of the dash is a ********************. I am just glad that the wife wasn't home to see my technique, especially since it is her car.

[Frodo]

Acknowledging that it's artifact due to the lighting (or lack thereof), it looks like you painted the whole car, including bumperettes, seal grey!

I like it!

[ddb]

Originally Posted by Wingnut2u

pulling the old strips out of the dash is a ********************.

Ain't that the truth!

The smaller strips on either side of the steering column weren't too bad for me. But the larger strip under the passenger airbag kicked my butt. I got so frustrated that I broke it.

Nice job RobZ!

[RobZ]

Originally Posted by Frodo

Acknowledging that it's artifact due to the lighting (or lack thereof), it looks like you painted the whole car, including bumperettes, seal grey!

I like it!

You're right. Now that I'm sober I realized that I painted the whole car! Maybe it was a 12 and not a six pack.

[releese78]

VERY NICE WORK ROB!

You did a great job, I painted mine a year ago and they came out.....decent at best. Luckily, I was having my Zeintop repainted and asked the body shop to spray my bumperettes while they were doing so otherwise I'd be following your lead trying to re-do the job.

[rick3000]

Great Work!
I can't tell the difference between the job you did and the job bumperplugs does.
I have been thinking about doing this myself, but is so much sanding is necessary?

[RobZ]

Originally Posted by rick3000

Great Work!
I can't tell the difference between the job you did and the job bumperplugs does.
I have been thinking about doing this myself, but is so much sanding is necessary?

For the bumperettes I think the order of importance is:

1. Paint matched correctly (metallic is tougher). I like Paintscratch.com's combination of rattle can and flexible primer.

2.Take your time with light even coats and plenty of light to medium clear coats as well as sanding.

3.Prep is important but much less difficult than the soft material on the interior.


In the end, I think I could have done better with even more clear. The shine is better after sanding with 1500-2000 grit followed by good 3m rubbing compound and finishing with the 3m hand glaze. Bumperplugs probably lays more paint and clear on than I did.

Here's an angled shot that shows there's not a 100% perfect match but what the heck, it was done with a spray can!

[23109VC]

for doing it yourself it looks pretty good. I am thinking of doing this myself over the holidays... I'm off of work for the next two weeks...so I've got time to kill and with the bad weather - the car is just sitting in the garage....

i'd likely do what you did - buy the stuff at paintscratch.com and do it over a 6 pack... maybe a cigar too.

[23109VC]

the painstscratch.com instructions say that I shoudl apply a couple coats of paint, let it dry 24 hours, and then "wet sand" the basecoat once, then apply the last light coat.... then clearcoat.

i've seen NO ONE here say they wet sanded anything. did you guys do this? I was under the impression, assuming i let each coat dry long enough (this stuff looks like it dries pretty quick - 15-20 min per coat) I can just paint it, and then clear it all in the same day.

with paint - i don't want to rush anything, but it's not like my car has a perfect paint job...i have little marks here/there...so I don't want to go overboard and do a bunch of steps that would be needed on a brand new 911 turbo....but on my 2000 boxster with IMPERFECT paint - is just a big fat waste of time and a PITA...

i'm in themiddle of my project. just put on two good coats. i have 1000 grit paper. i'm thinking of justg lightly sanding with 1000, adding the last coat of paint, then clear coating....

or I can be anal and follow the directions to the letter - and let it sit overnight as is - then wet sand it tomorrow and clear it tomorrow.

what say you all?

[djomlas]

after a week or so, take some rubbing compound and go over them, it will smooth them out and give them good shine, then put some wax on them and they will look much better

good job btw

[wanna986]

Originally Posted by 23109VC

I was under the impression, assuming i let each coat dry long enough (this stuff looks like it dries pretty quick - 15-20 min per coat) I can just paint it, and then clear it all in the same day.

Shop quality materials will allow you to do as you suggest. I'm not familiar with your product, though.

The purpose of wetsanding the colour-coat is to eliminate imperfections, certainly the degree of roughness present that might hinder a good application of clear. Using shop materials, if the basecoat is fine, it's o.k. to simply apply clear according to the product spec sheet.

Ultimately you have to be the judge in your situation. In the worst case scenario, do yo have enough material to do the job twice?

[23109VC]

i ended up painting and clearing same day. it turned out fine.

when i get them installed and the rubbing compound is done, i'll snap some pics and uplaod a new thread with my observations/thoughts - to hopefullyhelp out the next guy who tries this for themselves...