# Textured bumpers?!



## Jamesk93 (Jan 25, 2014)

Hello people, just curious on the textured bumpers I've just painted. A friend of mine wanted his bumpers and trims colour coded to his van but he stated he didn't care about the textured surface and just wanted them white. So I got to work on keying the surface with scotchbrite and warm soapy water to remove contaminants.

Before painting, all the panels were thoroughly degreased and then plastic primer was applied. When applying the colour I noticed silicones were appearing all over some of the panels (correct me if I'm wrong but I was always told, if this happens, allow to cure for approx 15 minutes and then lightly dust over the silicones to seal them) well after doing this, the problem was solved.

My question is, will the paint adhere to panels properly or will there be paint peeling problems in the future? 

Many thanks, James


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## steveo3002 (Jan 30, 2006)

anyones guess really

did you use panel wipe as well?


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## JMorty (Apr 25, 2011)

I had the bumper and door moldings painted on my old MKII Clio and had nothing but problems with flaking due to it being textured. Lasted 6 months ad it would peel off.

Best bet is to get it sanded mate, seemed to have more to hold on to then.


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## Jamesk93 (Jan 25, 2014)

Yeah they were thoroughly panel wiped and then plastic primed.

JMorty - when we normally get textured bumpers in, we normally completely sand the texture off and if the customer doesn't want this we turn the job away incase of having problems, but my mate said all he wanted was to have his bumpers the same colour and doesn't want to spend mega money. I advised him that it isn't the best option but now I've had these silicone problems, I'm kinda doubting whether the paint is going to adhere to the surface.


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## toddy23 (Jun 16, 2012)

Most people wont do textured bumbers,my nephews caddy I'm doing now he wanted them smooth but it's just to much hastle but like said sand all the texture,plastic prime,high build primer,sand smooth and paint the colour of choice tjis way it shouldn't come off


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## toddy23 (Jun 16, 2012)

A lot of work(hours) goes into this type of works that's why it's expensive if bodyshops do it but the job will last


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## Jamesk93 (Jan 25, 2014)

So I guess silicones or no silicones, there's still going to be flakey/peeling paint problem later on down the line?


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## Greathalf (Jun 10, 2014)

I had a customer spend a lot of money to get this done on a rav 4, lasted about 4 months before it was peeling off and looked even worse,


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## toddy23 (Jun 16, 2012)

Heavy texture isn't really to be painted,I've heard people rubbing it down with 80 grit total texture gone but I suppose it gives the primer,paint some grip lol


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## toddy23 (Jun 16, 2012)

This is what I like about paint threads is lots of different painters on here with different ways of doing things or what there tried,I for one sometimes think I've never tried that way before or this paint or that clearcoat and am always keen to make my jobs easier and have learnt lots on this forum


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## mr paint (Jul 11, 2009)

If I do any plastics ,

de-grease area
sand with 180 grit then 240grit on interface pad 
de-grease

apply 2 coats of plastic primer allowing flash off time usually 5 mins in my case this should wrap around the part 
apply 2 coats of 5:1+10% thinners high build primer once again should wrap around edges 

allow to cure or bake 

guide coat all parts with a contrasting colour 

sand with 400grit paper dry then follow up with 600 paper wet

NOW: 

if you want texture but colour coded ... add texture with spray ..allow to flash and base clear as normal .

if you want flat smooth look ...base and clear as normal 


reason for your silicone is : you never cleaned the panel before prep and its pushed contaminants further in when you sanded 
OR
you never used it before primer 

When using a prep wipe it should always be 2 cloths one putting on to raise contaminants other to wipe off 

Hope this helps 

Tommy


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## toddy23 (Jun 16, 2012)

Just what mr paint has said is spot on.how do you thank a post?


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## Focusaddict (May 31, 2010)

Just click on "thanks" button on his post.


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## Tintin (Sep 3, 2006)

Mr Paint - does the high build primer have to be special plastic high build or can it be ordinary high build? Got an old black plastic bumper to fill and paint at some point.


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## Paintguy (Oct 31, 2005)

Aside from incorrect primer choice, the main causes of problems when painting textured plastics are improper cleaning and over application of primer to "bury" the texture.

*Cleaning:*

This step is so important and should take up around half of your prep time. Old plastics could have had years of all kinds of dressings applied which have the main purpose of not allowing anything to stick to them, so they must be completely removed. Even brand new plastics will be covered in release agents which stopped them sticking the the moulds during manufacture.

I'll first power wash the items to remove the bulk of the contaminants. You then need to give them a thorough clean with something designed for the job. High strength degreasers should work fine (like G101) but I use a specific cleaner (Lord Fusor 703). Use a nail brush or similar to get right down into the texture. If you just use a scotchbrite pad as most do you only ever clean the tops of the texture rather than getting right down to the bottom of it, so the paint will only have a small part of the surface to stick to and the contaminants laying deep within the texture are still there ready to be spread around later when you panel wipe the surface or whatever.

Another power wash to rinse off and then you can use a solvent degreaser. I prefer a strong slow one rather than these quick flash panel wipes. As Tommy mentions above you must use 2 cloths - one wet and one to dry. Change them regularly.

Once all of this has finished you can start to sand or scuff the plastics however you want, apply a plastic primer/ adhesion aid and go from there.

*Over application of primer:*

I've seen it many times where someone hammers on the high build primer to bury texture. This is so wrong. Whilst it might look fine from the outside, while the primer is curing it will shrink, pulling away from the depths of the texture so it is almost floating over the surface, just sitting on the "peaks" of the texture. Clearly this means it only has adhesion to a small part of the surface. It is the extreme end of an effect we call _bridging_, where primer is applied over deep sanding scratches. If the scratches are too deep or the primer not applied correctly it will bridge over these scratches instead of filling them in. This causes shrinkage and adhesion problems later down the line.

Lightly prime, sand, lightly prime, sand etc is one way to go about it properly, but as others have mentioned if you are going for a smooth look then sanding off the texture first is really the best way to do it. Then you don't have these deep "valleys" between the texture for the primer to try and fill, so bridging won't occur, and adhesion will be massively improved.


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## JMorty (Apr 25, 2011)

Solid post there.


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## Jamesk93 (Jan 25, 2014)

Hello all!

Wow am shocked with the amount of replies and how detailed some people have been! Thank you for all the tips!

See I work with a boss who is stuck in his ways and is never keen to learn different ways and his way is always 'best'. Although when we do paint textured plastics the texture is always removed completely before priming. I asked a couple of older guys I work with on how to prep the plastics without removing the texture and was told just warm soapy water and a scotch will do the job.

As for plastic priming, I believe how I've been told to apply it isn't the correct way, as I was told that just a light coat is plenty.

Is there any reason why no one uses degreaser in a spray bottle and wipe excess with a cloth? 

Maybe a topic should be created and stickied for others to refer too? Maybe a couple of people could post a few techniques, tips, do's and don'ts 

I've still got some panels left to paint, so I'll have a go with doing it how some of you have described and see if it turns out ok

Thanks, James


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## Paintguy (Oct 31, 2005)

Jamesk93 said:


> Is there any reason why no one uses degreaser in a spray bottle and wipe excess with a cloth?


The environmentalists would have a fit, that's why :lol:

It is a common practice but modern regulations simply don't allow it. Spraying all of those VOC (solvents) into the air would give the tree huggers a heart attack. Even something as simple as a panel wipe bottle is strictly controlled as it has to have a closable lid that is kept sealed when not being used. Even used cloths can't simply be discarded. They should go into a sealed container for disposal by a regulated waste disposal company, or be allowed to dry in a controlled environment (spray booth or oven does the trick) so that the evaporating solvents can be contained somewhat.

It's a minefield out there if you really want to do everything by the book


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## Commadee (Jun 12, 2014)

I've used panel wipe / degreaser and a scotch brite to start off, no soapy water, 
Then use two cloths with clean panel wipe to clean up at the back of me,
Only working to manageable section at a time 

Once dry the parts rubbed down are white,the parts missed are left shiny 
Change the scotch brite and start rubbing again with panel wipe as the wet on wet 

The scotch brite and the panel wipe will get rid of wax tar bugs and gives the bumper key ready for plastic primer then paint 

Hope this helps as an fast alternative option

Mr paint ant paint guy have spot answers start to finish, well good posts 
and if scotch brite doesn't work use an alternative product 

preparation is key


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## Jamesk93 (Jan 25, 2014)

Thank you commadee, still got some panels left so I'm going to change the prepping technique and see if it solves it.


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## Jamesk93 (Jan 25, 2014)

I tried the scotch and degreaser on the last few panels today and didn't have a single problem! :wall:

Just hope the paint will hold together on the panels that were prepped with the soapy water incl. the front bumper!?

Thank you for the responses people and don't plan on painting textured bumpers again unless they want the texture removed completely

James


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