Am I Going To Be Disappointed With Bumper Repaint?

[melissa809]

Very true. I`m just in a dark mood lately. I`m almost ready to give up my car hobby....just keep my beat up DD and live headache free

[Accumulator]

I`m almost ready to give up my car hobby....just keep my beat up DD and live headache free

The Curse of Autopia..."only perfection is acceptable"...can take the fun right out of the whole Car Hobby thing. I hope you can find a happy medium where you can keep the car nice enough to be satisfying while not letting it become a no-fun grind.

The one thing I can think of regarding a bumpercover job is to make sure it`s painted *off* the vehicle and then installed.

This shouldn`t be a big deal, oughta go fine. I`ve had countless bumpercovers repainted/replaced and it almost always turns out OK.

Take the car there spotless and point out to them that it doesn`t have wash-induced/etc. marring and that you need it to still be that way when you get it back.

Use something fresh-paint safe like OCW on it until it finishes curing/outgassing (I wait 90 days).

[pwaug]

melissa809-- You mentioned that the body shop is run by a potential relative--is this going to cause problems if you`re unhappy with the work or how they treat your car?? I usually try to keep business separate from family/friends to avoid issues where I might feel uncomfortable holding back payment if the work compleated is not acceptable.

[David Fermani]

There should be no reason why a body shop would wash your car and/or get overspray on it if you`re just have a bumper replaced. They can quickly remove the cover from the car and park the car outside away from potential overspray issues. Then, when the bumper is ready to be reinstalled pull the car back in and assemble it.

[melissa809]

Thanks, guys. I think I`m going to go through Detailing Dynamics. ..they also did my original paint correction. Their website says they also do collision repair.

I assume they sub it out...but I think when everything is done I`ll have them fix a few rock chips I picked up on one of our road trips.

On a side note, I got rear ended coming back from Mustang Week....which was a traffic filled drive....and our experience this year at Mustang Week sucked.

So it makes this fender bender a kind of cherry on top....lol...ugh

[Accumulator]

melissa809- ah jeeze...hope your luck changes, like..starting right now.

[melissa809]

Thanks...in the grans scheme of things it`s far from a tragedy

[Stokdgs]

As far as overspray, in your case there may not be any at all, and I speak of overspray from other vehicles near yours that are being spot primed and painted not in the booth..

And anytime someone puts a full flow connector on the end of an air hose, all kinds of dirt and dust is thrown around if they are not careful and even if they are..
Hard to find a shop that actually cleans out the entire workspace with water and heavy pushbrooms every night..

And the body shop - they hardly ever clean up their mess, they just keep piling it up until they cant move anymore - then it gets kind of cleaned up..

As has been said and as I have already said before, you will want to have it cleaned by them before you get it, just to remove any potential junk off of it..

Look at it this way, I did this as a kid and then later as an adult, and I never scratched anyone`s paint up or wrecked anything.. There are still some of us out there...
Good luck,
Dan F

[ShaneB]

There should be no reason why a body shop would wash your car and/or get overspray on it if you`re just have a bumper replaced. They can quickly remove the cover from the car and park the car outside away from potential overspray issues. Then, when the bumper is ready to be reinstalled pull the car back in and assemble it.

Exactly what I was going to say! You can even coordinate with the shop when everything will happen. They can order the bumper and paint it without even seeing your car (black is by far the easiest color to match), you can take the car in, and in less than an hour the cover could be swapped and you`re on your way. No need to leave it for an extended period, no need for them to wash it.

I worked in on a body shop and many times when just a bumper cover needed replaced, it was painted and ready before the car was even brought in. Also covers are typically just replaced with new as they aren`t very expensive in relation to the costs of more serious collisions. The new covers are typically shipped primed and ready from the factory. A quick scuff with steel wool and they are ready for paint. So you shouldn`t need to worry about the paint failing as long as this is the case

[melissa809]

Thanks so much!

[MooreImpressive]

always keep in mind, you can never duplicate the durability of a factory finish. no matter the paint or the booth bake, a repaint will always be softer and therefore much easier to scratch/damage. the good thing: you generally have more clear to polish when it does get damaged. and Ford loves tri-coats, which equal very difficult to match correctly in all types of lighting. hopefully its black or white.

[ShaneB]

always keep in mind, you can never duplicate the durability of a factory finish. no matter the paint or the booth bake, a repaint will always be softer and therefore much easier to scratch/damage. the good thing: you generally have more clear to polish when it does get damaged. and Ford loves tri-coats, which equal very difficult to match correctly in all types of lighting. hopefully its black or white.

I beg to differ. The quality or durability of a refinish job, all depends on the guys doing the work and the quality of the products they are using. I wouldn`t be surprised if some or all Mercedes Benz dealership body shops are spraying that ceramiclear on repair jobs where that`s what was originally on the car. Just as durable and same scratch resistance

[JSFM35X]

I beg to differ now that my front end on my Infiniti was re sprayed by finishline it is so much more durable and thicker than the rest of the car. Not even close.

[MooreImpressive]

This rule was the very first thing taught to us when I went to the nation`s leading auto body school, taught by an instructor with over 40 years of experience, of which I was the class president out of 35 people. I`ve painted many cars myself, using top of the line products, and have worked on hundreds of fresh paint jobs as we have relations with several local body shops to do wet sanding and final finish work. I don`t speak of things I know little about. When I write something on here, you can be sure it`s with absolute confidence, and experience. It`s up to you if you want advice from someone who "had a brother who got a bumper painted one time" versus a guy thats painted and/or worked on hundreds of them in a high end bake booth. Go tour a final assembly plant where they paint the vehicles (my dad worked in one for 35 years) and tell me that the process is anything close to what a body shop does. It`s not.

[JSFM35X]

All I can tell you is from first hand experience. Car manufactures are painting thinner and thinner to save $. I am talking mass produced cars, not hand built one off cars or specialty cars.

This rule was the very first thing taught to us when I went to the nation`s leading auto body school, taught by an instructor with over 40 years of experience, of which I was the class president out of 35 people. I`ve painted many cars myself, using top of the line products, and have worked on hundreds of fresh paint jobs as we have relations with several local body shops to do wet sanding and final finish work. I don`t speak of things I know little about. When I write something on here, you can be sure it`s with absolute confidence, and experience. It`s up to you if you want advice from someone who "had a brother who got a bumper painted one time" versus a guy thats painted and/or worked on hundreds of them in a high end bake booth. Go tour a final assembly plant where they paint the vehicles (my dad worked in one for 35 years) and tell me that the process is anything close to what a body shop does. It`s not.