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My front bumper had taken a beating over the years especially on the lower lip and molding area. I was contemplating on tackling the lower bumper myself with this kit. Any advice is appreciated..
Never used it but I think it would turn out well if you prepped it right... Do a DIY on it I'm interested to know too ��
The filling and sanding i can do its the blending of paint and basecoat that makes me nervous. Since its the lower lip area that whole part would need to be sanded I'm guessing ..
Not a bad idea. My concern would be with the actual color match though. Even though its the right color code, you still have to take into account the type of weather and climate the car has been in since it rolled off the assembly line. Two identically painted cars will have noticeably different shades of color after say 15+ years of Oregon summers compared to say Florida summers, garage kept or not. Your best bet is to take your gas door off and go have it laser matched and mixed the right way. A buddy of mine did it with his 80's Starion bumper and it's not any more expensive. Check with Napa, Autozone or maybe even Sherwin-Williams. They'll put it in spray cans and all too but it'll be an exact fit for your cars wear. Assuming you prep it well, there's no reason it couldn't be a perfect match.
It's not going to match. Professional bodyshops have enough trouble matching tri-coat white, there's no chance a base/clear rattle can kit will match. That being said, if you are smart and careful about how you apply it, you can blend it in reasonably well to camouflage the difference. For example, if you blended up to just below the moulding, where the bumper is slightly recessed, there is a natural shift in how the paint shows because of the shadow. You can take advantage of this to minimize the contrast between the new paint and the original paint. Even a colour matched blend will not be identical to factory though.
It's not going to match. Professional bodyshops have enough trouble matching tri-coat white, there's no chance a base/clear rattle can kit will match. That being said, if you are smart and careful about how you apply it, you can blend it in reasonably well to camouflage the difference. For example, if you blended up to just below the moulding, where the bumper is slightly recessed, there is a natural shift in how the paint shows because of the shadow. You can take advantage of this to minimize the contrast between the new paint and the original paint. Even a colour matched blend will not be identical to factory though.
I'm definitely worried about blending. Its only the lower part of the bumper. its blending the sides that i can see that will be difficult.
What part are you exactly trying to paint?
Paint is one of the most unforgiving visible aspects of a car, ask me how I know. Also, blending colors on a single panel is next to impossible unless your doing the whole panel. Even blending clear coat is impossible without seeing a line unless you do the whole panel or I should say, section that runs off the side of the car ie. clearing to the end of a panel and all sides
What part are you exactly trying to paint?
Paint is one of the most unforgiving visible aspects of a car, ask me how I know. Also, blending colors on a single panel is next to impossible unless your doing the whole panel. Even blending clear coat is impossible without seeing a line unless you do the whole panel or I should say, section that runs off the side of the car ie. clearing to the end of a panel and all sides
the whole lower piece under the slats on the bumper where the TTE lip is molded. the entire bottom..
I can't see an easy way of doing this without making it look like it was touched up
Honestly I think the best quick fix would just be a brush of touch up paint to fill in the highly contrasting black cracks
All else it would have to be sanded down, epoxied/body fillered and sanded with paint and clear afterwards like you mentioned
Maybe you can do all the fixing/prep work for the bumper and take it in to have it sprayed by a body shop? They can mix colors digitally basically, spray the paint on test plastic and really get the color nailed. They might do a little more prep work after yours, but that's just their way of ensuring paint adhesion and warranty if they offer it. I did this whole process with my last car
Edit: I'm talking about just that lower half. It would be their task to blend the paint in which I'm sure they could do and just clear the whole bumper over
I used a similar kit for my bumper scrape and it came out pretty good. Results are not like a professional body shop, but if you're looking at this kit you know that going in. For the most part no one will know it was ever there unless they look closely. Just remember to take your time and mask off a *much* larger area than you will need (to blend the paint). It will look a little off when you first do it but give it 24hrs to dry.
Yeah it was the Scratch Wizard Kit - Alpine Silver. What's interesting is the kit was for a 94 GS300 and I have a 99 GS400, but it was an exact color match.
Yeah it was the Scratch Wizard Kit - Alpine Silver. What's interesting is the kit was for a 94 GS300 and I have a 99 GS400, but it was an exact color match.
yup thats the same kit i'm interested in.. they have 051 paint code for my car. Yours came out great...
Yep, just take your time and it will come out fine. I actually ended up masking it off twice...the first time wasn't a large enough area and it didn't blend well. So the larger the area the better. But no one can really tell...I even forget sometimes where the scratch was. Here is a pic in the light. So not bad for $50. The body shop wanted upwards of $500...they would have to repaint the entire bumper.
Spray Paint for bumper cracks and scratches
