Painting your bumpers

hey guys!

I'm working on a build of a front bumper and mod of the rear. The front is built from scratch, so it's gonna be bare steel, sanded, primed and painted. For the rear one, it's a smittybilt XRC w/out the carrier, and I'm building one.

I'm working at a ford dealer, and asked the guy at the bodyshop if he could sandblast it, but as it is powdercoated, he think it might be too difficult to remove it all. He suggested to just sand it by hand, buff the places where I will need to weld, and paint over it.

Also, I don't feel the need to make them powerdercoated, as I want something cheap and easy to touch up. I don't really know what paint I should use. Some says tremclad, other bedliner stuff or just some good quality industrial paint.

I thought about monstaliner, as it looks almost like powdercoat, and uses a kind of liquid plastic. www.monstaliner.com

Otherwise, it could be just a real good primer and tough industrial paint, and maybe add a clear coat over that? We have high solid paint at the shop wich seams to be quite good and looks good in mate black.

Ok so that said, what you guys would do or recommand?

well, if it's already poweder coated, i would just leave well enough alone and just touch it up as needed. basic rustolium or even frame paint works pretty well and you can get it in a nice semi-gloss or flat.

the thing is that I'm going to build a tire carrier on top of it, and I would like to get the same finish everywhere if possible.

Holeshot said:

the thing is that I'm going to build a tire carrier on top of it, and I would like to get the same finish everywhere if possible.

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ah, and i assume the bumper you have has got some kind of texture coat? if so, matching it will be tough.

exactly, it's a smittybilt XRC with a rough textured black powdercoat. that's why my guy at the bodyshop told me it would be preferable to sand it and just paint over the sanded powercoat.

Holeshot said:

exactly, it's a smittybilt XRC with a rough textured black powdercoat. that's why my guy at the bodyshop told me it would be preferable to sand it and just paint over the sanded powercoat.

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yeah, that might be what i'd do. if i recall, duplicolor makes a spray on beadliner that might do a good job of matching what you've got. it's also pretty durable too.

Is it a sprayed bedliner that got some rubber chunks in it or stay rubberized smooth finish? Or It just become rocksolid?

Holeshot said:

Is it a sprayed bedliner that got some rubber chunks in it or stay rubberized smooth finish? Or It just become rocksolid?

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let me just say, it's got rubber in it but not like the size you would find in a rhinoliner - much finer. if you just spray on one or two coats, it almost looks like you just painted it. for the most part, it looks smooth and maybe has the texture of fine sandpaper. it is not rock solid but, it is easy to touch up.

Alright, and probably much cheaper than rhinoliner I guess. Combined with a good primer it'll probably be the receip I'll go with.

I asked because a couple years back, I sprayed the floor of my old TJ with spray gravel guard, thought it would become solid but it kept a smooth rubber finish which was too easy to scratch and remove.