painting valence and bumper plastic

[95RangerAK]

so i have seen these painted before and i thought i would post some pics of how i did it.

First i sanded both with 180 grit sandpaper i had laying around. then i smoothed them over with some 400 grit. the 400 wasnt really neccessary as it didnt do much. then i used painters tape and newspaper to cover the metal and parts i didnt want black on my bumper.

this pic is after painting, sorry no before pics.

I made sure to be especially anal about the corners as i didnt want any black paint on my bumper, just the plastic peice.

For the valence i just put it on buckets covered with newspaper so they wouldnt be black. then i followed instructions on the spray paint.

made sure to sand and paint in the holes so it wouldnt look like a shitty job.

thats the paint and sandpaper i used. '
fairly easy job and when i get brackets for the fog lights i will post more pics of how it all looks on the truck

 

[koda6966]

Let me know how it holds up I'm doing the same this spring to the bumper metal and a valance when I get one.

 

[Hazmat Ranger]

Looks great - my only recommendation would be to quickly wipe the parts down with Acetone or MEK before spraying to soften the surface a tiny bit (they melt plastic) and that would allow the paint to fuse into the plastic better than the solvents in the paint alone. Will not destroy the part if it is a quick wipe, like removing a film of dust.
Would work equally well on interior panels.

 

[Hypnotic Toast]

Make sure you do put up some pictures of this when you're done, I'm interested to see how it looks. I've been thinking about doing the same thing.

 

[IRKillroy]

as hazmat said, you need to prep the surface better... cleaning is very important, 'cause if you don't get all the oil and road grime off the paint will flake off..

 

[mjonesjr]

I did this to my '97 Ranger I had. If you cleaned the parts well after sanding, then it will hold up good. I used the same paint too.

Here is a couple pictures of mine.

Before:

After:

 

[95RangerAK]

I did this to my '97 Ranger I had. If you cleaned the parts well after sanding, then it will hold up good. I used the same paint too.

Here is a couple pictures of mine.

Before:

After:

how did you do the silver two tone? pm would be sick!

btw, before seeing your post and before ever seeing you on the ranger station i have your truck as my background on my computer... haha its a sick ride man.

 

[mjonesjr]

how did you do the silver two tone? pm would be sick!

btw, before seeing your post and before ever seeing you on the ranger station i have your truck as my background on my computer... haha its a sick ride man.

My truck got keyed one winter for whatever reason so I decide to do something different with the paint. I like the older Rangers with the 2 tone like this and knew that there wasn't a '93+ Ranger like it so I did it; not to mention that my brother had a '79 painted similar with the 2 tone so I had a little help.

Thanks for the comments. I have been floating around TRS since '04, but the site has changed numerous times.

 

[95RangerAK]

my truck has been keyed twice. dont know who or why and its really lame. did you do it yourself or have a paint shop do it. because im not really in the heavy cash flow right now so i couldnt afford to have a shop do it. but if this was a semi easy at home job i would love to know how it was done...

 

[mjonesjr]

I had a shop do it. It cost $600 or $700 I can't remember.

 

[95RangerAK]

little update on the painting... not much has happened the truck is sitting in my garage waiting for shackles and waiting for me to put the rear suspension back on.. bumpers chillin in my living room, paint looks great on that. but the valence somehow got scratched and so i am going to re-sand and re-paint that. maybe apply a few more coats to prevent scratching. i thinks it was my little puppy that was climbing around or something somehow got it. idk. but the truck is still immobile on account of the rear suspension and i need to get it to a shop to have the cps re installed correctly. it looses oil pressure and i dont want it to mess anything in that engine up.

also, if any of you are interested in the tailgates with circular holes drilled in and reverse lights put in them i am doing the same thing tonight at shop class. will post pics and such probably tomorow.

 

[daniel3507]

did you do any clearcoat on it or just a couple coats of black?

 

[cuztumfx]

Hi every 1
I have painted for over 25 years
I will throw this out there just to help out if I may.

When I paint plastic parts I scrub them with a good ajax soap and water.
I then even use something like dawn dish detergent and rinse thouroughly

Then I always ( and This is important ) use an adhesion promoter

You can get spray cans I use Bull Dog with flex.

I get the bigger cans at the local auto paint jobber and use a hvlp spray gun to apply it.
The flex lets the paint give a little since its on plastic not metal

I apply the Bull Dog within one hour of cleaning the parts. There is an agent ( chemical) that will resurface if you dont get a seal on it within the hour

I then within a half hour after applying the bulldog, apply my primer
Then within another half hour I apply my basecoat or the color coat I want to make the part.

I then clearcoat with a pro auto clear ( you would need a good breathing mask for this ) the clear coat is dangerous to breathe even a little

ACTUALLY any ,yes even the paint bomb cans your using , is somewhat dangerous and you should always use a good filtered mask

I would not use krylon canned paint to paint auto parts , it will always stay a little soft and will scratch easy

If you want to you can contact me at cuztumfx@yahoo.com and I can explain more about how you can do the painting
Cuz

 

[95RangerAK]

dam cuztums haha you know your stuff. i just did one coat of black spray paint after sanding the shit out of it then wiping down with a wet cloth. i just kinda wanted to try it i realize it isnt the best ay to paint but it was only 3 bucks...

 

[cargs]

i painted my grill and headlight trim with the Krylon Fusion pictured above. The parts faded very quickly and needed repainting after 1 year. i tried putting a clear coat on it, but it bubbled the paint and i had to redo the whole job (probably used the wrong clear coat for the paint).

I painted my fender flares with truck bedliner in a spray can. first i used a plastic primer (from rustoleum i think). The truck bedliner spray has held up much better than the Krylon. It has a bit of texture in it so it has a rough finish, but not thick like a roll on liner.