I recently "kissed" one of those horrid concrete parking barriers with my 2012 C2GTS, leaving the lower front bumper lip with a bad case of road rash. At first I thought it was either a lost cause that I would just live with or maybe I would let a body shop refinish for a couple of hundred bucks.
Some research here on RL and elsewhere revealed that I could get a brand new replacement thru Suncoast for $300, but it comes primed, not painted, which got me thinking that refreshing the original could be a DIY project.
Elsewhere I learned that the proper satin finish black paint is made by SEM, called "Trim Black", and can be bought in an aerosol can at specialty auto paint shops.
Further reading suggested that removing the lip is simple and involves gently prying loose the single fastener at either end, where it wraps into the front of each front wheel well liner, and the rest simply pulls away from the slot in the lower front bumper designed to otherwise hold it it place.
Once removed I used first 400 then 600 grit wet/dry paper to smooth out the road rash. The SEM product does not require a separate primer, you simply give it a few coats as you would spray paint anything else.
I got a very acceptable result, the color match is perfect and I realized that this trim piece is meant to be sacrificial, like a zinc anode on a boat prop - you are going to hit the pavement occasionally with such a low clearance vehicle, and better to scrape plastic than metal. So when it starts looking beat up again I plan to repeat the refresh, unless the trim piece is really trashed, in which case I will get a new one from Suncoast. Same could apply to the side skirts, or any other similarly satin black finish trim piece.

Jonathan

 

I know that you took before and after pictures, riiiight??

 

Sorry, my bad, no pix. Was not much to look at, to be honest.
J

 

Ive redone the black plastic on many cars. All the parts are bare from the factory and fade out. Always look better andd holdd up better after painting. Some differences in my opinion would be, work your dent with 320 or 400 wet till its as gone as possible. Then I suggest wet sanding the whole thing with 600, then painting with 'sem bumper coater', black, which is better than the trim paint, its thinner and gets into the pours better.

 

I have the aero kit on my GTS so my front spoiler is painted...but I clear bra'd it. My black plastic side skirts are looking bad from road grit kicked up from the tires.

 

with your black car, you could do the side rocker panels with spray sem your self or have them painted black to match the cars paint. it wouldnt matter because you wouldnt notice it either way. i painted my side rockers silver a year ago. And i see alot of tiny road rash, so i repainted them . You are going to get alot of that on a panel in that position behind the wheels. I figure you would have to do it every year or two.

 

Agree that starting with a coarser grit, depending on the severity of the road rash, is a good idea, as is sanding the entire piece w 600 before paint. I will do this next time (and I am sure there will be a next time!). Is the bumper black the same shade as the trim black? I was not sure so I went with the TB this time.
Jonathan

 

I think the color is about the same, the trim satin black may be slightly glossyer

 

Just writing to say thank you for putting this DIY together. You saved me $300.
Cheers.

 

More than $300 since the part comes in prime grey and has to be painted.

 

then.

 

The SEM product are gloss...anything recommended in matte?

 

they are matte upon first application and actually finish satin after a few washes just to be clear

 

if you use the trim black it is slightly glossy but not gloss. You could really put one of the sem bumper trim colors on it, then sand it with a scuff pad or 600 paper and then paint it with any color paint you find. Like satin krylon

 

I like the idea of applying the SEM paint and then lightly buffing to break gloss....thanks for the replies.

The lip and side skirts are fairly battered after 43 K fun miles...