Any recommendations for painting exterior plastic trim (unpainted, for repair)

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bast525

New member
Hey all. I posted about this a while ago... my car's rear bumper got hit about a month ago in a parking lot. My insurance isn't covering it, and a full repair would require replacing the bumper and several hundred dollars that I can't spare right now (baby on the way).



So in the meantime, I just want to get the bumper looking as nice as possible. The damage wasn't that bad... much of the bumper is unpainted black plastic, which is where the most of the damage is, and is what I'm concerned with.



The plastic got scraped up moderately and looks like crap. I tried sanding it down a bit, and while this did reduce the scrape and smoothed it out... it turned the once-black plastic into a patchy/cloudy grey.



Someone suggested that I could sand off the whole unpainted section, get the whole thing nice and smooth, and then prep, primer and paint it (maybe with a flat or satin black).



Does anyone have any more in-depth suggestions for me if I were to decide to do this? If I did it and it came out good the damage would be all but impossible to spot, as far as the small amount of damage to the painted area. Which would be good enough for me.



I'm looking for suggestions as far as what type of paint to use (brand, exact color and type that would work good on a plain black plastic bumper), what grits of sand paper to use and when to sand (in between applications of this or that).



Just any tips that you guys may be able to offer to help me do this and have it come out looking nice, and being durable as well. :thx
 
I want to say that running a torch or heat gun over it will fix things up a bit...don't quote me on this but if you are going to paint anyways it might be worth a try.



I could probably send you an ounce of dye or so... it might take, it might not. Try that before the heat gun :).
 
part of the bumper is painted (red), and the lower part is just plain black, textured-but-sorta-glossy plastic. If it is painted, it's very hard to tell.... just looks like plain black plastic.



I'm way to scared to come anywhere near this thing with a torch, but a black dye might be just what the doctor ordered. That sounds easier than painting/prepping/etc.
 
okay... another friend of mine came up with the exact same idea about lightly going over it with a torch. he's got a propane torch and is willing to give it a try... so I guess I will try it.
 
You could always try some exterior trim dressing such as Black Wow.



you have nothing to lose. Black Wow works really good so give that a shot first and see what it looks like.
 
TrufflePig said:
You could always try some exterior trim dressing such as Black Wow.



you have nothing to lose. Black Wow works really good so give that a shot first and see what it looks like.
Click to expand...





Well... my friend with the propane torch flaked out... so... I decided to take a little chance and try (drum roll please).... black shoe polish :2thumbs:



Believe it or not, after a few days (and a lot of rain) it actually looks great. I don't think this will suffice as a long term or permanent solution, and if gets ugly I'll just remove it with rubbing alchohol.



I will look into dyeing, trim dressing, the torch method, and if none of those work well enough I will paint it.
 
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