Black Infiniti I30 bumper repair & detail

[RickRack]

This car belongs to one of my best customers. I have been detailing this car ever since it was new. A couple months back, the owner scraped the corner of the bumper on a cement wall which severely chipped and spidered the paint. He asked me to do the best I could and repair the bumper good enough until the spring when he has the money to get it repainted by a body shop. I told him that I would do my best and that I am "just a detailer" so don't expect too much.

Here are some before pictures of the damage. I will post up some during/after pictures as well as my process in a bit.









More pictures to follow......

[RickRack]

Well to start, I masked of all areas that I didn't want to scuff while sanding such as the headlights, foglights, grill and the chrome strip that runs along the bumper. To sand down the bumper I used a DA sander which is what body shops use to sand down paint with. I sanded right down to the fiberglass in the area that was damaged and feathered it out as I got farther away from the damaged area so I didn't have to sand the entire bumper. After sanding down the area needed, I wetsanded over it with 1500 grit sandpaper to remove any sanding marks fromthe DA.

Here are the pictures after prepping it for the first coat of primer.







Next I will post up pictures during the priming/painting/clearcoat process.

[hambone575]

Rick this is looking amazing so far, hope all this comes out well!! I have yet to give a call to that shop yet but I will do and probably make a drive there tomorrow

[hadboosttroy]

looking forward to the rest!!!!

[cwcad]

Originally Posted by hadboosttroy

looking forward to the rest!!!!

as am I!!

If you are only a detailer I must rename myself. I applaud your bravado.

Look forward to seeeing the process in pictures.

[RickRack]

Now that the bumper is all sanded down, it is ready for primer. Before priming I blew off all the dust with an air nozzle and wiped down the bumper with prep-sol to remove any silicone, wax, oils & dirt which will cause defects in the paint.

Here is a picture after 3 coats of primer.




Here are pictures after 2 coats of paint, but before the clear coat.




After the paint was laid down and dried overnight, I lightly sanded down the area I painted as well as the top piece of the bumper on the side which had no damage. The reason why I did this is so there would be no tape lines and I didn't have to paint the entire piece with paint, only clear.

Here is a picture after 2 coats of clear coat.



After pictures are up next....

[Mr. Glass]

Looking good man!

[RickRack]

Here are a few pictures after I was done clearing, but before I compounded and polished out the painted areas.






Here are the pictures of the finished product after compounding and polishing it out.
It was dark out when I took the pictures, but you get an idea of how it came out. There was some slight OP, but I didn't want to take a chance and try to wetsand it because it was so fresh and could've ruined the whole thing. Definitely didn't want that




All in all it came out pretty good for an amateur.

[LightngSVT]

Holy crap you have "skilz"!!!!! Did you spray bomb or use a gun? Froma what we can see in the pics so far it looks excellent!!!

[cwcad]

and this was all done with a spray can?

Nice job of taping. Can only imagine that this is going to be turning into a miracle worker status coming out of a detail shop. i really like the way this is going

No matter what it looks like as far as OP the end result is just amazing to me. the owner should be ecstatic with what you have done

[hambone575]

Alright so where did you get the new fender? What a quick find!

This is absolutely amazing. Your........... I dont know im speachless!!
WOW WOW WOW

[Sarcazmo]

Lol @ 'just a detailer.' You might want to change that to 'just a freakin' amazing detailer!.'

Great work!