Painting your own stuff / Prepainted pieces?

[prsrcokr]

Does anyone know if vendors offer pre-painted body pieces? I'd really like to replace the bumper on my car for something that'll cool a little better but I'm not that good with paint. The shop I checked with wanted what seemed like a lot to paint one piece. Does anyone offer this when pieces are purchased?

Anyone done this on their own and it turned out well?
Thanks,
Brian

 

[Nomad707]

even if they did offer prepainted peices, which i'm sure no one does..

Even if they used the same color code as you, it will be different colored no matter what you do.. because your car has been in the sun, it fades, you might not see it, but when you get something freshly painted with the same color code, and put it next to something painted more then a year back, you will tell the difference.

Painting a single peice is cheap..just prep it yourself with primer and stuff, and take it to maaco if your on a budget.

 

[Clip]

if you're painting a bumper yourself, make sure you look into flex additive so the paint can give slightly instead of cracking when the bumper bends.

 

[Nomad707]

clip im glad you mentioned that.. im preparing to repaint my 3E5.. with the flex additive for plastic peices on the car.. do you suggest any particular type?

And should i mix it with ALL the paint i will be spraying the whole car with? or ONLY the plastic peices?

 

[Clip]

clip im glad you mentioned that.. im preparing to repaint my 3E5.. with the flex additive for plastic peices on the car.. do you suggest any particular type?

And should i mix it with ALL the paint i will be spraying the whole car with? or ONLY the plastic peices?

PM Adjuster to get a few more tips, and look for his thread on painting in general. I usually let the local body shop take care of mine (they've seen it three times already) and the spraying i've done didn't need it.

i'd only mix it for the bumpers (and trim if you're painting that), but that's only speculation. i figure it'd be better to have a hard shell on the sheet metal surfaces with the paint only cut by a reducer and hardener

 

[wh0wants2know]

For the bumpers you'll need an adhesion promoter (I think that's what it's called at least) that you spray on before you paint and then paint within the flash time of the adhesion promoter. Ask your paint shop which one is the correct one to use for your paint. Mine gave me a rattle can of some clear stuff and it worked fine.