painted bumperettes?
 

Anybody know how to paint the bumperettes? What kind of paint, where to buy paint, and prep. Any info would be great.
Thanks!

go to paintscratch.com and order some paint and clearcoat
then sand down the bumperettes and paint as you would anything else.

Unless your 100% sure you know what your doing take them to a shop. Bumperettes run for about $150 a set,if you mess them up theres no going back.

I paid a shop $150 for the first set and $75 for the 2nd set. Just tell your shop to sand them down and you want a flush finish to match the car.

I used the paintscratch.com kit with the flex primer and they came out great... And I am no master at painting. There is enough there to repaint many times should you mess up.

Thanks!
 

Thank you all so much for all your input!

Richard Griffin

Richard, you could also consider doing a "core" swap and get them from www.bumperplugs.com. Eric's work is excellent, and you could be done before the weekend starts.

...or you could go to advance match or color, buy some primer and do it up just fine for under $10 that way. That's what I did and they look perfect. Just take your time. Painting is not rocket science. Surprisingly this is the only pic I have of the back of my car. Guess i'm not proud of not deambering that part yet lol. Anyway, here's a shot of my bumperettes...

Oddly enough I recently had some work done on my car and asked the body shop to paint them and they flat out refused...Stating that the rubber flexes too much.

I can see where they are coming from. None-the less, mine have been painted for about a year now with no problems.

Pompous- Where did you get the primer and paint from? I looked up advance match and color but couldn't find anything. Doing it myself sounds great, and the pix of your car look great.

Richard Griffin

Eric at Bumperplugs
 

Unless you know what you are doing around a paint can. He knows how to make the paint as flexible as it can be and does multiple coats so the match is perfect.

Thankyou
To clarify, advance auto parts store has "dupli color" or "dupli match" or something like paint to match cars. That's where I bought the primer and paint. As far as sanding...I washed and sanded minimally. Wasn't necessary. Don't forget to clearcoat over top of that also. I've had them painted for a year and no problems at all. They look like they came on the car that way and im by no means a professional painter...far from it. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks for the follow up on this...
I think this will now be my next mod.

Huh? Do they paint bumpers? Maybe they didn't realize it's the same material, not a rubber.

I think he was referring to the rubber bumperettes.

Those are rubber.

My shop that I had paint mine warned me that if I bump into anything don't be shocked if the paint cracks. They painted them,came out perfect,it's up to me not to back into anything.

Pompous/All-

I wonder if the Advance paint match system can do metallic paints or if they can only do the basic colors like Guards Red on your car?

Thanks,

i will be painting mine sometimes soon, so ill document everything and post it up.

DJ-

you gonna go with paintscratch.com or something else?

JMW

yup, that will be it.
im still yet to order the paint :)

I did mine myself and did a do-it-yourself on here a few months ago. If you do a search on the forum I'm sure you will find it. :cheers:

I painted mine this weekend with a rattle can. Krylon fusion is a perfect paint for the application. It is made to stick to plastics and is flexible. It is good for outdoors, as it is often used for kids playground toys.

I did about 4 light layers of paint and 3 of automotive clearcoat. The finish is very durable, as I tried my hardest to be rough with it today with no negative results. The match on black paint is perfect

http://www.tundrasolutions.com/photo...3/IMG_2916.jpg

Looks sharp! Nice work :cheers:

Thanks pompous, I will try some pics from a real camera soon.

They're the same material as the rest of the bumper, PP+EPDM, which is a plastic/rubber blend.

rather than spend almost $300 to get bumperettes from bumperplugs, I may opt for the do it yourself appraoch via paintscratch.com

for those of you also did this - did you sand down the bumperettes, or just clean/prime/paint?

I spent a lot of time sanding & priming & re-sanding the bumperettes to get a super smooth finish prior to spraying color. It looks like the rest of the body panels.

Depending on your color, you may be able to get away without sanding. It will probably look similar to the texture on the rocker panels unsanded.

mine is ocean blue metallic.

i'm guessing i'll order their spray can "kit" that comes with primer and othe rstuff needed to do the painting job.

make sure you check the box that says Flex or Add Flex (as if it were being applied to the bumper) :)

they have a kit for painting metal or non-metal. it has a flex primer and another component that helps the paint tos tick to a nonmetal surface.

it's a comlete kit. price = $75.

that includes paint, primer, clear coat, and some other items.

i figure i will paint the bumperettes and maybe the center console or rollbar?

not sure on an ocean blue car - how it would look to paint the center console ocean blue..... or the roll bar. maybe i'll find some pics online and get an idea how it looks.

thanks for the tips guys. this soundsl ike an easy fun DIY project.

here is how mine turned out. i used MICROFINISH LLC instead of paintscratch.com but im sure its the same thing.
color mach is 100%.
i took the bumperettes off when i ordered the paint, and spent some time with them hehe
sanded them down with 200 grit, then 320, then 400, then 600.
then put on primer, and after every coat i would sand as well....i put on about 4-5 layers, this stuff is so textured and pain in the a$$ so get smooth, so take your time with that (after i finished i can still see that i could have done better).
after the last coat of primer, i let it sit over-night and sanded the last coat of primer with 400 as indicated on can.
then the paint showed up (it was about 75 degrees out), and i started painting them.
put on about 6-7 coats (pretty much the whole can is gone)
then after the paint has cured i put on about 4 coats of clear.
after the clear has hardened good (48 hrs) the can says to put on some rubbing compound to get rid of any imperfections and to shine it up (it reallllly did that surprisingly) and the final result is as shown in the pic.
really nice and glossy, smooth.
hey, for 20 or so bucks it really changes the back of the car (for some reason mine were different, one was smooth kinda and the other one was like sandpaper, the original ones so they really stuck out like a boner in sweatpants)
btw, while all that was drying, i replaced the stock bulbs inside the license plate lights to LEDs, and wow really looks nice with glossy painted parts once on.
ooo, and i was taking pics of the bike and pulled out the car to take pics as well, that's why its there hehe


http://i34.tinypic.com/2j3micw.jpg

http://i37.tinypic.com/wwm8ly.jpg

http://i37.tinypic.com/2u60n6u.jpg


btw, the bulb holders weren't screwed in place, that's why the right one looks like its lighting up on the side more than in the middle.

djlomas-

given the time/effort you put into this project (looks like it was a fair amount of effort!) - would you recommend this project as a DIY or you think it might be a better idea to just spend $250 and buy these from teh bumperplug guy?

I don't mind the effort - but I wonder if it's really really really a PITA - then spending the money might not be such a bad idea.

my car is a lot darker than yours. it's ocean blue...and while it's not black - it's dark enough that you only really notice the bumperettes in direct bright sunlight. in indirect light, you honestly don't notice them that much.

i'd like to see a picture of what it woudl look like - an ocean blue 986 with painted bumperettes... i'll have to surf around for one.

my car is de-logo'd on the rear - so there no emblems or badges on teh rear. the former owner took off the "boxster" letters. I've though about putting on "986" on the back.. part of me likes the clean debadged look...but at the same time, it sort of looks empty back there.

with black bumperettes - if i stuck on some black letters - along with my black license plate frame - it sort of gives the rear a "tied in" look - or so I think it would.

i might order the letters - see how it looks - and then if i decide it would look cleaner to paint the bumperettes - i can do that last.

the letters are only $30.

still not sure if i want to do the painting myself..or if i jsut want to pay to get them done....

i would definitely recommend doing it yourself, especially since your car is dark color, so even if you dont do that good of a job, it would not be as noticeable as say a white car or my colored car.

honestly, just keep on sanding till you see that the surface is flat (no texture), then apply some primer, and sand that as well so that its smooth, then put on paint and clear.
the whole project cost me under 30 bux, and i figured if i mess up i would take it to my paint guy (he said $90 would do it) and do it that way, but i am pleased with the results so they stay and i spend the other $60 on gas :)

give it a shot man, dont be scared, its just paint, if u mess up take it to a body shop :cheers:

are the bumperettes pretty easy to get off?

Yup, they're very easy to get off. Just get on your back and look up from underneath...it's pretty self-explanatory. Putting them back on is a little tougher, but not much.

I often take mine off when I'm cleaning and/or waxing the car.

bumperettes are held by one bolt, thats all, unbolt it and they come off.
putting them on is easy as well, this is what i do: take the bolt, and from the bottom screw it in only a lttle bit, then take the bumperette and putting the bottom part into its place first, put the top part in, and screw the bolt back up. thats all
should take one minute a piece

Not a DIY but I finally got mine painted... it really completes the look of the bootay. :D :cool: :eek: :o :cheers:

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/1491/dsc00083zy9.jpg

Disclaimer: The black dots on the fender and on the top of left bumperette are flies. :p

these pictures make me want to do it. :)

buy from the bumperplug people - $250ish.
i want to order a 986 or Boxster logo from them - my car was debadged, and I think I may want to add something back there - either the original boxster logo - or the 986 numbers.

how long would it take to sand/prime/sand/paint/clear - this whole process - if i take my time and do it right - with all the time i'll spend on elbow grease, and waiting for stuff to dry - is this a one day job or more like a whole weekend or longer due to waiting for things to dry? if I attempt a DIY - I want to make sure I set aside enough time to do it right.

you could probably do i over the weekend (2 days)
i spent a day doing sanding/primer/final sand (before my paint even showed up)
then once the paint was there, do the paint/clear.

depending on the drying windowframe of the primer is when you can start the paint.
you dont want to also clear the painted pieces before they are properly cured, so just look at the directions on the cans you use

Camera pic did not do it justice...

http://www.pbase.com/elegantcam/imag...4/original.jpg

The bumper plug people want $275 plus your shipping costs. That's nuts. I'd like to go with the paintscratch.com system.

Any feedback from you guys about the quality of the job with a spray can from them??? With shipping I should come out at less than $50. And I can redo it if I ever get tapped/scraped.

And did you use their primer as well?

Thanks, Bob