Front bumper chips and scratches. Bad 56K Bad

[Tuning69]

Ok so I read on here a lot, and I aspire to be as great as some of the guys in the Click and Brag section. So I place myself to the mercy of the detailing gods in asking of a question.

I have a 2005 Scion xB with 49,000 miles on the clock. This is my daily driver and sees nothing but highway time now. Last winter, I decided to be a smart *** and park my box in a snow bank, problem was, that snow bank was full of gravel. So my body kit got majorly scratched up. I also decided to be different and had relocated my tag, and had spaced it far enough away from the bumper so that it wouldn't trap dirt behind it. I did too good of a job securing it. The tag cracked and ended up vibrating against the bumper at the bottom, leaving a line. Also the onslought of rocks and bugs had dinged up the front end, I managed to take care of the hood with some touch up paint following the directions here and that turned out ok. But my plastic bumper feels horrible if I rub my hand on it. So I submit to you pictures and ask for thoughts and ideas of how to clean it up.

- Also.. It has really bad orange peel from the factory.. ideas?

Front:




Sides with Orange Peel.




Please go easy

[velobard]

You're putting on some pretty good miles, huh? As far as the rock chips, its a matter of either living with them, getting the area resprayed, or doing chip repair as you can find described under the Learn link at the top of the page in the Repairing Damage section. There is a guy who posted some incredible work on a TC with multiple coats of touch-up paint, but I sure wouldn't try that on my own. You can find it at A scion TC EXPLODING with flake *56K* eh

It is possible to wetsand the orange peel, but most everyone agrees you're risking too much to expect to repair it all without severely compromising your paint thickness.

[Tuning69]

Yea I did the hood following the DIY for rock chips and it turned out decent. need to get a PC for best results. The front bumper is like plastic and I worry that wet sanding down the imperfections will have worse results. The job on the tC is very nice and I would love for my flake to pop like that. But you can't even tell I have any.. (Black Sand Pearl paint color).

[skuz]

I have a black sand pearl Toyota Echo hatch and my paint also has a bad orange peel paint. Maybe it's the color mix ? I don't know much about painting.

[Pb2theMax]

A serious polish job would really help the front of your Scion.

My 05 Tacoma has Black Sand Pearl paint. 15k miles and my paint is pretty much perfect all around. Toyota paint is pretty soft, but I've been lucky so far.

Just make sure you don't follow close behind semi trucks. A few miles behind a gravel truck can really mess up the front of your vehicle.

[Tuning69]

Do ya think it is safe to wet sand down the bumper to remove the imperfections?

[velobard]

Originally Posted by Tuning69

Do ya think it is safe to wet sand down the bumper to remove the imperfections?

The rock chips? Sanding won't help them and I don't think it's worth sanding for the orange peel, just my opinion there.

[Tuning69]

Because the bumper and ground effects are plastic, it is more like knicks in the plastic. What about the line where the tag rubbed?

[Pb2theMax]

The bumper and ground effects are plastic, but they are still painted. That line where the tag rubbed looks like it will have to be repainted. I would just take it to a body shop and let them sand and fill all those little imperfections and then repaint the whole bumper. It might cost a couple hundred dollars though.

[Tuning69]

Thanks PB, That was something I was wondering. If I could fix it myself, or not. I like to keep my car looking nice and that is just a eyesore.

[Darren F]

what about a front end mask? anyone a fan of those?

[velobard]

Originally Posted by Darren F

what about a front end mask? anyone a fan of those?

Are you talking about a black removeable car bra or a clear bra made of film?