I sanded down my entire car to bare metal a few weeks back. Got it into the shop for a good coat of primer. Also bought a new front bumper cover for it. My question is this...isnt the front bumpercover, rear bumper cover, and the ground effects supposed to have primer on them???? When I got the car back everything was primered but those pieces. I asked about it and the manager told me that they dont put primer on them. It would just crack. He said that they would put a sealer on the pieces then add a special paint that is made to bend with the piece itself.
How correct is this?

 

They are pretty correct, except for not painting the bumpers. All they had to do is put the flexing agent into the paint and they'd be set. When I did my car thats what I did anyways.

 

you dont have to prime the bumpers. the black on the bumper is the primer. at the shop i work at, we very rarely prime bumpers unless they need work. normally when its ready for paint you wet sand it with 600 grit sand paper. then hit it with paint. just remember to add flex.

 

does any one know of a good flex agent and if it is compatable with most paints

 

If your new covers are aftermarket(NOT GM) .. then you should look at the sticker on the interior of the cover. Most have a "NOTICE" that informs you to not use flex agent in the top coat (paint) ... since the black primer on the cover is the "flex", also there will be sanding and prep instructions.

 

No, Its a GM cover. So it should still need the flex agent. Right?

 

Well I primered my gfx?!?
than painted them!
should I be worried?

 

Adding a flexing agent to the paint is a must,but nobody has mentioned using some type of "adhesion promoter" on the plastic before you shoot any paint on it.Makes the paint stick a whole lot better.

 

Adhesion promoter works just fine on plastic, with that said there is only one problem .. with the urethane bumpers that our cars have on them. Most "adhesion promoter ' cause static electricity not very good when you are about to apply a top coat.
( of course I have seen a few promoters that claim to have a anti-static formula in them)

So I can only tell you what works in my shop.. and that is the new flexible primers that are avail, I haven't used flex in the actual base/clear since the introduction of the flex primes.

Most of you know how bad the paint will crack on the rubber "areo" spoilers on the birds .. well after much abuse ... still not one hint of a crack on my formula spoiler(going on 2 years).

But like I said .. works for me .. Might not work for you.

I would go with the advice of who ever paints the car, since they are the ones that have to warrenty the job.

 

If I remember correctly I used PPG flex agent. It came in a white and blue can. I only used it in the primer as well.

 

Hmm,didn't realise the problem with urethane.I've used loads of adhesion promoter on loads of bike plastics and never had a problem.You learn something everyday I suppose.