Hello,

sometime this year I want to change my standard bumper to possibly the M5Tech bumper. For those of you that did this, did the body shop do some special treatment for the front bumper like an extra coat of paint or clear. I figure a little extra to compensate for rocks or other debris that would slam the front bumper on the road.

BTW, my paint is Titanium Gray Metallic II (A36). I don't know if that info would help since from what I understand metallic paint sticks differently than flat paints.

 

I think they just paint it like any other body part. You could add that 3m clear bra stuff if you are especially worried about dings/chips?


I'm not sure what my shop did, but my paint is flawless and its been over a year now. (regular bumper --> m5tech)

 

Thats correct, a true body shop guy would throw in a special coating on the front bumper that acts like a soft barrier when the rocks hit the paint. Without this your paint would be off in 6 months and even worse when it rains and snows after you hae hit those chips.
I have seen people take a plastic bumper and just paint it, when the paint starts to wear off it looks GETTO.

 

mmmm no not really, the key is the curing process to make the paint adhere properly to the bumper material, the PP material of rep bumpers needs more time to cook on properly so you can slather paint on it all day but if it isnt cured right it wont matter

 

One of my hobbies is RC helicopters. Typically when you by a heli kit, it comes with a polypropelene body\canopy. PP is slippery or oily. I don't know how auto body shops prep PP bumpers, but when I prep a heli canopy I:

Sand rough
Use a lighter or small torch and glide the flame all over the surface to burn off excess oil
Sand smooth
Use small flame again to burn off excess oil
spray with adhesion promoter
spray primer (multiple coats)
spray color (multiple coats)
spray clear (multiple coats)

 

I think I am refering to the adhesion promoter