I spent most of the last week sanding and prime my car, then today I decided to do the front bumper. It was already flaking off so I figured I could peel most of it off, nope. I don't want to sand it because its not metal and I always leave grooves in anything not metal. So my question is what is the approach for getting the paint off?

 

sorry to say...you have to sand it...sence its a plastic bumper you cant really use a stripper cause it might suck the stuff in and then not let paint dry...try sanding really lightly...by hand..with a nice rubber sander (or something that conforms to the shapes) i did it with my bumper. and it turned out great. now i just need to learn how to paint. (any tips?)
Snuffit

 

Sanding the bumpers is really pretty easy, I actually use a DA pnumatic power sander, a little 200 Grit sand paper and go to town. The Bumpers are tougher than you think, You can really work on it, and not damage it.

If you have cracks in the paint, you will want to completely sand them out, peal them off, whatever, because if you don't, they will only come back.

WHEN YOU PAINT THE BUMPERS REMEMBER TO USE A FLEX AGENT!!! I cannot emhasize this enough so I will say it again. WHEN YOU PAINT THE BUMPERS REMEMBER TO USE A FLEX AGENT!!! If you do not, it will look good for a while till you touch it and it cracks. then all the paint will start pealiing off. The Flex agent needs to go into the primer and the clear coat if I remember correctly.

John

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87 Formula Yellow/Black

5.1 TPI Automatic
Baer 12" brakes 4 wheels, KYB AGX Adjustable Shocks & struts, Custom Leather interior, WAAAY TOO MANY MODS TO LIST

87 Formula TPI (5 Speed) Yellow/Gray STOCK

1967 Buick Riviera 430hp Turns high 14's (Not bad for 4300 lbs)

83 Camaro (Parts)
83 T/A (parts)

http://www.3rdgenformula.com

 

Thanx for the reply, thats what I was afraid of. I guess I'll try sanding, worse case I replace the whole thing so what can I hurt. As for the flexing I have a feeling the last time the car was painted the shop didn't do it right because it looked perfect for about 6 month then paint flaked off right down to the plastic. The only thing I can suggest for painting is to have it done. It is not to expensive just to have a car sprayed, the body shops get you on doing body work, and by the time you buy the paint, masking, your time, and knowing where all the little imperfections are, your better off not messing with it. Although I've seen a couple of do it yourself paint jobs turn out real nice.

 

If you can use a DA it will go alot faster than hand sanding,believe me.I hand sanded the little dip for the badges on the rear bumper,that took about 2 hours to get every piece of paint off.To get all the paint of the front and rear bumber took 5 hours total work.I dont even want to know how long it would take to get the paint off by hand sanding it.

 

I dont know why people are saying you cant use a stripper when you can. I stripped both bumpers with eurothyne<sp> stripper and it came out great. The only other suggestion i can think of is maybe finding a shop to sand blast it 8o lol. Be prepared to buy about 4 cans of the stripper in the spray can though cause you will use 2 per bumper and do it in a cool area, it works better. <around 70-85 degrees is prefered>.

 

I like SEM's flexible parts stripper. Works real good.

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IROCnRoll
'86 Camaro Sport Coupe and '88 IROC