ok i'll save you all the "this thread is useless with out pix" line, i know it would sure be nice, but i dont have a working camera right now so i'm sorry, but anyway...i was tired of looking at the mismatched faded bumbers on my 81, i'm sure some of you know what i'm talking about well i decided to fix them in the cheapest way possible since i'm repainting the whole car soon anyway, but god if had to look at that one more day i was gonna freak out. So here's what i did for a darn near perfect match:

1. clay bar and steel wooled the whole front bumber
2. Mask off everything that needs covered like front grills, fog lights, signals and air damn with(this is crucial for no overspray)
3. rub down the whole bumper with degreaser or alchohol 2x, let dry.
4. Spray 2-3 coats of dupli-color auto spray paint, they come with a wide spray nozzle that is great for even application, and just choose the color that matches neares to your car.(let dry completely)
5. using a cleaner or polishing wax use an orbital to buff it 2x
6. using a bottle of water very lightly wet sand with steel wool until the surface is smooth and color is even
7. finally use a good coat off scratch remover or polishing compound and a little elbow grease to get out any fine scratches from the steel wool.

Not saying its perfect but for 4 dollars and about 1-2 hrs of work, man guys, it really looks great for a temporary or just cheap if you want that kind of a fix. You get out what you put in...ya know

 

j/k/



b

 

I wonder if this technique would work to cover up a few small chips and the usual spiderwebbing that occurs at the tip of the nose?

 

it may if you did a little more prep work...mine masked it a little bit but like i said i did it to quickly and very cheaply match the color back not hide any flaws and such, so i guess it might work if you really worked at it. Good Luck!

 

Thanks for the info. Sounds like you did a real good job and I learned some, and I think I may do the same with my 74.

 

Have your local automotive paint store make up a spray can of your color for you.

It only cost 12 bucks for mine. Well worth it.

 

i was gonna do that if this didnt work, but hey, i just got luck and found a perfect match, it was called borough red, and worked like a charm after the right amount of wet sanding and polishing. I just figured oh well if it doesnt work i'll go get the real stuff, but it was so faded and worn that anything woulda looked better than what was there, but i really couldnt be happier, i'm trying to find my cable to connect my camera to my computer so i can post the pics!

 

If you are talking about a rubber bumper car and you did not use the flex additive, it will start cracking like heck soon. And then you will have to completely strip all the paint from the bumpers.

So for $4.00, you may have created a big headache.

 

Might crack soon ... maybe later.
He did state that he will be doing the entire car soon.

Sounds good ... I am now convinced that somehow our brains
type bumber instead of bumper - in a semi-random manner.

Not picking on you ... it is very common.

quote:

quick 4 dollar bumper fix

ok i'll save you all the "this thread is useless with out pix" line, i know it would sure be nice, but i dont have a working camera right now so i'm sorry, but anyway...i was tired of looking at the mismatched faded bumbers on my 81, i'm sure some of you know what i'm talking about well i decided to fix them in the cheapest way possible since i'm repainting the whole car soon anyway, but god if had to look at that one more day i was gonna freak out. So here's what i did for a darn near perfect match:

1. clay bar and steel wooled the whole front bumber
2. Mask off everything that needs covered like front grills, fog lights, signals and air damn with(this is crucial for no overspray)
3. rub down the whole bumper with degreaser or alchohol 2x, let dry.
4. Spray 2-3 coats of dupli-color auto spray paint, they come with a wide spray nozzle that is great for even application, and just choose the color that matches neares to your car.(let dry completely)
5. using a cleaner or polishing wax use an orbital to buff it 2x
6. using a bottle of water very lightly wet sand with steel wool until the surface is smooth and color is even
7. finally use a good coat off scratch remover or polishing compound and a little elbow grease to get out any fine scratches from the steel wool.

Not saying its perfect but for 4 dollars and about 1-2 hrs of work, man guys, it really looks great for a temporary or just cheap if you want that kind of a fix. You get out what you put in...ya know

 

yeah like i said...i could give a crap if it cracks...i stated right up front i'm doing the whole car this winter, also the paint is so thin that there isnt really enough to crack anyway, i buffed it down so much that its just enough to blend the color a little bit better than the complete mismatch i saw before, there's already spider cracks in the paint under it that slightly show, i wasnt going for a perfect paintjob out of a can, i just wanted it to the point where from 10 ft. away, from the car next to me at a light, it looks like its all one color...so let it crack all it wants at least my car is one color again and quite frankly thats all i wanted untill this winter when i'm out of school and have a full time job and can afford to paint it right. Like i said in the first post ya get out, what you put in and i put in very little so if it goes to hell ok, i deserved it.

 

Bubba.....is that really you?

 

hey msvetteman, i'm gonna have to agree with everyone else... quit ragging on people you pessimist. (sure, call me a bubba, on something you havent even seen) why dont you find something to report me to a mod about and get a life while you're at it. Not EVERYONE has money out the *** to pay for stuff, and since i'm a student who's 21 and trying to pay my way through college in four years i'd appreciate if you'd shut up for me and everyone else who's sick of your smart remarks and put downs. If you wanna play the insult game then...Go marry your sister and whistle dixie, Don't worry though next year when i'm out of school and knockin down a good chunk of money i'll repaint the car and drive down to the gas station you work at and let you fill my car up. There, make another smart remark, and just get the last word in like you always do. I'm done wasting my time on you're sorry excuse for a forum member that is here to help people learn and share what they know or have done. By the way, i dont think you can call someone a bubba when they say right up front that it's just a quick, TEMPORARY fix

 

Mathew,
I say, if it looks better than it did before and it only cost you 4 bucks, that's a BIG thumbs up!

Greg

 

i appreciate that whole heartedly. I hate when people put down the others work just because it wasnt expensive or "by the book". I really hate having to stoop to the level of putting someone down on this forum but man all that guy does is complain and put people down.

 

I just put new bumpers on my yellow '75. They were gray fiberglass colored and looked like $hit. I won't be painting the car for about 3 months so I went to Autozone and for about 4 bucks I bought a can of yellow and sprayed them. I'm not putting it in a car show yet and from a few feet away it looks fine and it's way less noticable than the gray was. My paint guy will strip it all off anyway so in the mean time it's good enough.

 

exactly, thats all i was doing too, it gets driven on friday nights to my softball games and then goes right back in the garage, and people every weekend compliment how cool the car is and how great of shape its in, so apparently nobody can tell anyway. My mom actually thought i had a body shop do it