Cost to paint front bumper?

[blinkwatt]

I'm looking to change my 986 style from bumper for a 99'-02' style 996 bumper in the near future. I started doing my research and called around for estimates on the cost to paint the bumper. The stealership said $600,fat chance,another highly recommendend indie shop said $420-500 but then I was surprised by what they said. I was told that if the bumper has OEM paint that I don't need to strip it because the paint is high quality and I can just paint over it!?!?!?!? Wouldn't it be best to "start new"? How much have you paid to repaint your bumper?

Im painting my GT3 bumper myself. The bumper I bought was already black, so Im just going to sand past the clear, bondo or urethane the damage, sand it all smooth, paint, sand, clear coat, sand, glaze and buff. Honestly, you could get a bumper painted for 200 from a local shop, might not be the best, but cheap. 400-500 is reasonable for a damn good paint job with oem paint, wait untill you go chameleon or candy paint... then you get into the thousands.

Whoops, forgot to mention. Unless you have a profesional spray gun, dont attempt to do it yourself. I think they cost like 100 bucks but its worth it cost wise if you do a lot of stuff. My grandpa painted our old jeep, factory finish, for a couple hundred in supplies. If you do go that route, paint will cost a pretty penny, but nothing like 400-600. You will need paint, clear, hardener, measuring cups, paint filters, mask, sand paper, tack cloths, and an orbital buffer for the clear coat.

[djomlas]

i had a hood painted on a red car for $170, so cant be much more for a bumper

[Perfectlap]

I guess it varies by region.
When I had my side skirting painted the lowest quote I got was $400 the highest was $900. I wasn't very confident in the paint booth at the location of the lowest bidder. I picked a mid range shop that charged $700. Lots of sports cars in their garage and the paint booth looked first rate.

Recently I went to a very high end Porsche, Aston, Merc shop and told them I had to color match a fender that has a small 2" scratch/partial dent and color match painting of my GT3 front bumper which has been orphaned in storage locker for over a year. Quote? $3,4000.
The other shops said they would paint the bumper for $500-$800.

I too wish I could wield a spray gun and had a paint booth.
But even the pros don't always get it right. On previous cars (all dark) I had to have jobs redone several times because the paint booth wasn't air tight and dust
had made its way between the base layer and the clear coat. And Color matching was often a problem due to the paint fading. Its not always a case of cracking open some factory paint and shooting.

p.s.
get the GT3 bumper, I don't think the stock 911 bumper is much of a difference that will justify the cost of professional painting.

[blinkwatt]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

p.s.
get the GT3 bumper, I don't think the stock 911 bumper is much of a difference that will justify the cost of professional painting.

I would but that's not my style. I like the look of the 99-02 996 bumpers.

[Perfectlap]

Blinkwatt before you order the wrong bumper its 99-01

02-04 use the turbo headlights and fenders aka "the 911 face lift"


99-01 Standard 911 Carrera-- works with all Boxsters


Stock 97-02 Boxster front end


99-01 MK1 GT3 (with RS intakes) works on all Boxsters



2002-2004 911 "Facelift"


2002-2004 MK2 GT3


2002-2004 911 GT2

[RandallNeighbour]

$420-500 sounds like about 2x what it should cost.

[Ghostrider 310]

Originally Posted by boggtown

Im painting my GT3 bumper myself. The bumper I bought was already black, so Im just going to sand past the clear, bondo or urethane the damage, sand it all smooth, paint, sand, clear coat, sand, glaze and buff. Honestly, you could get a bumper painted for 200 from a local shop, might not be the best, but cheap. 400-500 is reasonable for a damn good paint job with oem paint, wait untill you go chameleon or candy paint... then you get into the thousands.

Whoops, forgot to mention. Unless you have a profesional spray gun, dont attempt to do it yourself. I think they cost like 100 bucks but its worth it cost wise if you do a lot of stuff. My grandpa painted our old jeep, factory finish, for a couple hundred in supplies. If you do go that route, paint will cost a pretty penny, but nothing like 400-600. You will need paint, clear, hardener, measuring cups, paint filters, mask, sand paper, tack cloths, and an orbital buffer for the clear coat.

FYI, My bodyman, who is excellent, told me any repair to the Urethane bumper cover will most likely crack again, you should never buy a cover used...

[Grizzly]

O.K., I'm back. I took the car to a gentleman I've used many times before. We decided to shoot the bumper cover, hood and passenger side fender to fix some stone chips and an annoying ding with paint loss near the gas filler door. He says $400-500, depending on whether or not he needs to blend into the passenger door to get the silver to match correctly.

I asked him how much to shoot just a bumper cover and he told me that $250- $300 is fair.

[djomlas]

someone on rennlist is selling a 996 front bumper for 175 if anyone is interested

[blinkwatt]

Oh boy,this just showed up on eBay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3AL%3ARTQ%3AUS%3A1&viewitem=&item=270064613094&rd=1

What do you think the odds are of finding one in Zenith Blue like my Boxster considering that it was only available from 98-00'. That's exactly what I want,I would have to do some work to it though. Does anyone know if filling the scratches are as easy as sanding it down and filling? I would be willing to try and do it on my own if that's the case. I called the shop and they said there are no cracks/dents/indentations that I would have to worry about,just scratches. Any links to D.I.Y. scratch filling would be appreciated.

[MCase]

Originally Posted by boggtown

Im painting my GT3 bumper myself. The bumper I bought was already black, so Im just going to sand past the clear, bondo or urethane the damage, sand it all smooth, paint, sand, clear coat, sand, glaze and buff. Honestly, you could get a bumper painted for 200 from a local shop, might not be the best, but cheap. 400-500 is reasonable for a damn good paint job with oem paint, wait untill you go chameleon or candy paint... then you get into the thousands.

Whoops, forgot to mention. Unless you have a profesional spray gun, dont attempt to do it yourself. I think they cost like 100 bucks but its worth it cost wise if you do a lot of stuff. My grandpa painted our old jeep, factory finish, for a couple hundred in supplies. If you do go that route, paint will cost a pretty penny, but nothing like 400-600. You will need paint, clear, hardener, measuring cups, paint filters, mask, sand paper, tack cloths, and an orbital buffer for the clear coat.

Depending on the color you are looking at around 75 -100 in paint (primer, hardeners, activators, base, clear) materials, although with left overs. Front bumper covers are easy to spray, but depends on how well you want it to match. It will never match the car without blending into the hood, and the hood wont match alone...


$100 is a rather ****************ty Gravity Feed HVLP gun , however, the experts with 20 + years of experince will tell you any guy will suffice. My Devilbliss with regulators, filters, etc set me back about 250.

Just my .02

[FrayAdjacent]

Looks like my car's PO probably had a run-in with something... the front bumper has been resprayed. There's drip marks under the license plate holder, there's rough areas around the passenger side intake, and the clear is peeling around that side, too.

There are numerous little chips and scratches here and there... and there's a big glob of touchup paint on the cooling air intake (the insert and the body).

I might look around later in the year, or early next year for a shop, and some estimates. Might even ask the local P-car dealer (they seem to be reasonable... one guy here was quoted $250 for driver's side glass from a glass place... $98 from the dealer).

Since my car is a daily driver... and I'll probably need a new top soon, and that will have priority.

[Stunin_Stud]

i got my bumper and it was damaged so the body shop fixed it and painted it, and the side skirts, and my console all for $1000.

They did this with the car not there, I only gave them my side vent to compare colors with so the paint game out good but slightly lighter than the car. They used a dirty primer (yellow black mix) which I think caused the tone to be lighter. Porsche uses black primer.

[johngmarco]

My Detailer will do it for $350.00. Entire front bumper like showroom condition. I have an Arctic Silver 1999 Base. Had him do the rear trunk and spoiler for $180.00. Don't think I could do it for that much and not mess it up!