RE: Refinishing euro bumpers

["Ian Overholt" <ioverholt@hotmail.com>]

There are 2 basic directions you can go.  You can sand the bumpers smooth 
and paint over that, or you can strip the bumpers without sanding and paint 
them like the factory did.  Since there have been several responses about 
the first approach, I'll describe the second approach (which is the one I 
did).  BTW, I thought about getting my bumpers smooth so they looked more 
like a modern car, but I finally decided that I liked the textured look 
better because I'm used to it.

This method was pretty messy and it took longer than I thought, but I think 
that applies to ANY body work you do on a car.  :)  First I went to Home 
Depot and bought a stripping compound that doesn't dissolve plastic.  I 
cannot remember the name right now, but I can dig it up for anyone who is 
really interested.  It was in a plastic bottle which I took as a good sign 
that it didn't dissolve all plastic.  The stuff worked easy enough, you 
spread it on the bumper (using solvent resistant gloves), let it sit there 
and boil the old paint off.  Then you rub the bumper with a brush and all 
the paint flakes off.  Finally you hose off the residue.  My bumpers had 
several different layers of paint, so I had to reapply this stripper about 
three times.

I then filled a couple of holes a previous owner had drilled for license 
plate mounting.  Painting them was terribly easy.  In fact it was the 
easiest part!  I used an adhesion promoter for the base.  I applied three 
light coats of that.  Then I used some generic bumper paint for the top.  I 
sprayed on four light coats.  That was it!  I've had the bumpers on for a 
year now and I do not see any chips.

My bumpers had already been painted, so I had a little more of a challenge 
than someone who has naked plastic.  If you are starting with naked plastic, 
most of the work I had to do you would not have to do.  You would just clean 
the bumper real good, apply the adhesion promoter then the flexible paint 
over top.  That will give you a nice factory-looking set of bumpers.  I 
originally wanted to paint my bumpers white (since I've got a 16V and my US 
bumpers were white).  But I actually like the black look.  It offsets all 
that white car!  As long as we're talking about my opinion, I think that red 
and silver cars definitely look better with black euros.  The black bumpers 
help give the car definition.

Ian Overholt
'88 16v
'78 Champagne Edition

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