RyanPerrella

I am looking for a competent body shop in the austin area that doesnt charge a fortune. I have a rear bumpercover thats white and needs to be black. Simple as that, needs to be scuffed and painted. I went to one place in the sticks on the reccomendation of another body shop and I was expecting to see $200-$300, and the woman quoted me $550. I didnt even bother to ask any questions after that i got in the car and drove off.

If i cant get this done for <$400 from a shop I am plenty confident enough to paint the damn thing myself. But I would prefer to just go and drop the thing off and be done with it. Assuming the price is reasonable.

I need a rear bumper cover for a 1990 928 S4 repainted. I may also have the front painted as well as its pretty well chipped up.

Any suggestions on body shops?

Othersise I will take suggestions from those that know what type of paint to buy, brand and line and how much I should need to do the front and rear covers. Also a filler that i can fill the small chips with.

I am going to make this a weekend project at this point so any suggestions, or fingers in the right direction is appreciated.

Thanks in advance

BPG_Austin

Ryan, the boss at work had his 356 repainted at Dons paint and body just off North Lamar and 11th (?). It looks fantastic. They do mostly collision work. Don't know the cost but might be worth a look.

Ben

RyanPerrella

Ben,

Thanks for the quick response.

After posting i made a few calls, I found a local guy about 1.5 miles away and I am getting both front and rear done with him. I couldn't beat the price, I wish i had more work to do honestly.

BPG_Austin

Sounds like a good deal. Let me know how she goes Ryan.

Bg.

JHowell37

With modern cars and modern bumpers you might be able to get away with painting the plastic just as would steel or aluminum. Unfortunately, the 928 uses an extremely soft plastic (neoprene some have said) and it must be refinished according to what the paint manufacturer states for plastic refinishing. This is not a simple scuff and shoot. A scuff and shoot is a recipe for disaster regardless of what you're painting but it's most prominent on plastic.

I'm most familiar with Glasurit products. BrendanC is familiar with PPG. And Dan the Podguy has been in the business for decades and I'm not sure where his preferences are.

Virtually every manufacturer out there recommends complete stripping of the existing finish on plastics. This is because it's not possible to really know what's been used in the past and this isn't something where you can just throw on a sealer and paint. Stripping these bumpers is a bitch. There's no nicer way of putting it. You must strip the ENTIRE bumper. This includes the edges that are covered by the bumper beading which must go as well (if it hasn't already.) Once it's stripped, you have to thoroughly clean it 2-3 times with a special plastic friendly solvent. Because the solvent will still make it swell anyway, you must wait a while for it to properly dry out before moving to the next steps.

For filling you need special filler that can flex. Fortunately, there are several options to choose from in this category. I recommend Evercoat brand fillers since most fillers are polyester based and that's Evercoat's business. They're reasonably priced as well. If you're just filling some small nicks on the surface, then I'd recommend some evercoat Poly-Flex filler. It works just like plastic body filler. There's also the option of using a product from their Maxim line which is a flexible epoxy filler. I used that for building up some old bumperettes I refinished a while ago. Personally, for the bumper, if the damage is slight and superficial only, I'd go with the poly-flex filler.

But this is also the part where it gets tricky. Some products require adhesion promoters in order to properly adhere to the plastic. Other products won't properly adhere if an adhesion promoter is used. So ultimately, your best bet would be to use a flexible filler that is specified by the paint manufacturer that you've chosen.

On the subject of priming and painting. Your car probably has a single stage paint and I'd recommend putting a single stage on the bumper as well since it will likely match better. But again, you'll have to deal with compatibility. Do you need adhesion promoter or not? You'll definitely need a flex additive in the primer, and perhaps in the base coat as well. Again, it boils down to the paint manufacturer.

Honestly, the best method I found for stripping was media blasting. The cheapest you're going to completely blast that bumper will be about $100. $50 for a cheap sand blaster, and another $50 for blast media.

Whichever filler you use, it will cost around $35 plus you'll need spreaders and some lacquer thinner to clean up, so factor in $50. To sand and shape the filler you'll need a sanding block (I prefer the 3M sanding sponge) sand paper (which isn't cheap, but you shouldn't need much) in varying grades. You'll need a plastic cleaner, and most likely some sort of adhesion promoter.

So you're looking at a material cost of around $250 and that's before primer, paint, reducer, flex additive, etc. Of course the body shop material cost won't be that high because they'll spread the cost out over several jobs. In your case, as an example, the poly-flex filler comes in quart size bottle. You're not going to use a quart of the stuff for this job, but you've got to buy that much because it doesn't come in smaller quantities.

If you go shopping based solely on price you will likely find someone who will scuff and shoot. Then you'll be throwing a tantrum the instant a shopping cart hits your bumper and there's a huge white spot showing.

If you plan to make a hobby of this sort of thing then by all means go for it. If you just want your bumper cover painted (and I hope you want it done properly) then about the most I'd do is strip it and possibly fill it. After that, drop it at a body shop (with a new role of beading for them to install) let them paint it, and even consider having them reinstall the bumper cover so any damage done during installation will be on them.

RyanPerrella

J

Sounds like your talking about a $2000 job here for both bumpers.

I guess we will see when that first shopping cart hits the bumper.

I gotta be honest, i dont think you need to worry about adhesion because its got paint on it already, paint sticks to scuffed paint. I dont care what the substrate is made of, if its got paint from porsche, which it does, then scuffing and painting is all thats needed. Ive never heard of people going through all that work to repaint these bumpers. I dont know what they are made of, but they seem pretty typical to me when you look at all other OE urethane bumper covers.

If the paint doesnt stick, then i will deal with it then. What its going to cost is certianly worth the gamble as you see it.

N421LV

Jeeeze! Reading JH's post has me re-thinking the idea of "a simple re-spray of the front bumper sometime later on when the rock chips become excessive." Maybe I need to get that bra after all.

RyanPerrella

J,

Upon your reccomendation I have decided against respraying the front bumper at this time. I figured that if it turned out like new it woudlnt match the hood and the fenders of the car. I think i am still going to have to bust my *** to remove the damn front bumper though to replace the beading which i do have. Mine is awful.