Painting fiberglass bumper fillers

[Sal Lubrano]

I went today to find a body shop to paint my new fiberglass bumper fillers. I found three and these were thier quotes. $200-$180 and $100. All I need is for them to paint them I will install. I am thinking of taking them to the $100 shop but he really did not look like a professional-Did not have an oven while the other two had all expensive cars and ovens. Does anyone know if I can do a decent job at home with maybe a prevail sprayer for a good price or should I go with the $100 shop. If I can do them at home what would I need and the steps I would need to do to paint them. My car is not a show car but it does not look horrible.

 

[ChavoLC2]

Fiberglass

Preparing, Priming and Painting Fiberglass Parts



It is preferable to apply a two-part epoxy primer prior to painting your fiberglass parts. There are several epoxy primers that can be used with excellent results. If you fail to use a good epoxy primer before applying your finish color paint, the finish paint will probably not last very long, peeling off of the fiberglass long before you think it should. In some quarters, knowledgeable fiberglass fabricators also believe that some color coat painting systems tend to deteriorate and damage the underlying fiberglass materials. In this section, we hope to demonstrate the proper way to prepare your fiberglass parts for painting.

Some of the fiberglass parts you may elect to add to your Challenger include the nosecone, Hoerner wing tips, wheel pants, and gap covers. Work needing to be done to the unfinished fiberglass parts may include cutting, triming, drilling, filling, filing, and sanding.

The following list contains some of the items you will need:

A rasp or Bastard file
A portable electric drill and drill bits
An electric grinder
A painting respirator
320 & 400 grit wet or dry sandpaper
"Super fil" epoxy filler
A suitable paint prep cleaning solution
Two-part Epoxy primer paint
Color coat system (paint and thinner)





Starting With Unfinished Fiberglass Parts
Cutting, Drilling, Filing and Sanding Before you start painting your fiberglass parts, a certain amount of preparation is necessary. Parts must first be fitted to the airframe. This usually requires some trimming, drilling of mounting holes and, in the case of the nosecone, you must also cut out the hole for the front landing gear leg.

Another area which requires work is the seam joining the two shell halves along the top center of the wheel pants. When the two halves are joined at the factory, the resulting seam leaves a 3/16" raised ridge along the joint. The best way to remove this ridge is with a rasp or Bastard file. You will want to bring this ridge down to the same level as the surounding surface. You may encounter (expose) air bubbles in the bonding area of the two halves. These can be filled with "Super Fil", a two-part epoxy aircraft filler. When the Super Fil epoxy has completely dried, sand it down with 320 grit sandpaper until filled areas are flush and smooth with the pant surface. Then continue to sand the entire joining seam to even out and remove any file marks. Finish off by "wet sanding" the entire pant outside surface with 400 grit Wet or Dry sandpaper. Prior to applying epoxy primer, clean the sanded surfaces with your chosen paint prep cleaner.

Before painting fiberglass surfaces, you need to first "slightly" scratch these surfaces with 320 grit sandpaper, used dry. This will facilitate a better bonding surface for the primer to adhere to. These surfaces must then be cleaned with a suitable paint prep cleaning solution prior to painting with the primmer. This is an "ABSOLUTE MUST".


Painting Fiberglass With A Two-Part Epoxy Paint When painting any fiberglass surface, it is "VERY IMPORTANT" to completely clean the fiberglass surface prior to painting. In the photo to the right, you will see round spots in the paint surface. This was caused from contamination of the fiberglass surface prior to painting.

In this case, a white epoxy paint was selected as it will be less intrusive when painting over it with your finish paint color.


Mixing a two-part epoxy paint will vary, depending on what brand you choose. Therefore, you will need to follow the manufacturers instructions for mixing the base and catylist. After mixing your paint and after thoroughly cleaning the fiberglass parts, you will apply to each fiberglass part three coats, using a cross pattern for each. Allow each coat to dry completely before applying the next coat...



Sal good luck you ought to be able to yourself. ROC 87 on here is a very good painter does his own stuff in the garage. If you drop him a PM he would be more then happy to give you some tips. Now if you don't want to mess with it, and If the 100 dollar guys "PREP" your bumpers right(you don't want em' to peel with 1st high pressure car wash) I'd go with the 100 dollar guys(does that include paint or is that just labor?if that includes everything go with them for sure..) just let bumpers dry good you don't need em' baked for an extra 80-100 bucks. Like you said it ain't a show car

 

[TURBOV8R]

I've painted cars and bikes back when Moses wore shorts,but I agree with going with the $100 guys IF you correctly fit and prep the parts.I worked at a "shop" in the late 80's and truthfully they can shoot paint no doubt but the birds they have doing the prep work is well,sometimes,not all of them, is the same as watching monkeys with a roll of tin foil. Ask questions on paint type!!Very important.Good luck.......

 

[forcefed3.8's]

Epoxy primer is old school, urethane primer and sealer stick to gel coat. I just got done doing a set for a guy at work. The fillers looked great until I primed them, and they had alot of pin holes. The $100 shop probably won't fix those. Remember you get what you pay for, and cool ain't cheap. I couldn't afford to paint a set of fillers at home for $100, materials alone will be more than that unless they are using junk.
Based on the set I did, I would charge 2 hours to fix pin holes, and 4 hours paint.
2hrs body at $40 an hour is $80
4hrs paint at $40 an hour is $160
2hrs paint and materials at $22 an hour is $44
Add it all up, and a quality job should cost $284 + tax.
A cheaper quote will just tick off the flat rate guy fixing them, and the job will suffer, and just because you were quoted $100 doesn't mean it will be $100 at the time of pick up. There are alot of hack shops out there, so beware. Some give low quotes to get work in the door, others do low quality work, and it will cost you more in the end to get them redone right. How many threads have you read about bad paint/ body work, and how many of those jobs were probably taken to the cheapest shop? Just an opinion of a guy who deals with this stuff everyday. Paint isn't cheap, and the work isn't as easy as everybody likes to think it is.

 

[turbofrank]

Paid $240 for my rears and install them on car first.

 

[ChavoLC2]

Bumper fillers

Forcefed 3.8 points are Valid and from mucho experience ! You're probably better off like he and TF said to get it done right the 1st time.