Painted a bumper - Anyone offer painting services?

[miad]

Does anybody offer light paintwork along with their detailing?

I had a long time customer call recently and had been in an accident. very nice elderly man who has gotten me a few extra clients along the way. he hit the side of a building and destroyed the front bumper of his car, a 2000 Civic with really low miles. cracked the bumper and scraped the headlight badly. he asked me if I knew of a good body shop. he has $1,000 deductible and cant afford to pay it so he was hoping to get it fixed for less out of pocket. told him a body shop wouldn't do it for less than $600-800 or so but I would look in to the parts and see what I could do. found a brand new black primed bumper on eBay for $89 and paint materials only $25 so I told him I would do it for him. I used SS enamel fast dry paint. Harbor Freight purple gravity feed gun. all I had to do was scuff, tape, and shoot. put up some drop cloths in the garage and covered everything with plastic. I sort of think it turned out pretty well. he didn't expect it to look perfect so I'll go over and touch up a few things after putting it on. unfortunately I really didn't take any before pictures but it was just all flat black. had to tape off the grill areas and those are what needs touched up because the tape work didn't go perfectly. otherwise I think it looks pretty decent for him.

 

[Tato]

If it was plain black and now is showing properly white, then you achieved your goal! Even more, you were able to find the mean for your customer to solve his issue without spending tons of money.

I do offer some touch-ups and micro-painting (using 0.2mm airbrush when needed), but it's not major here like paint correction and coatings are.

From what I can see at the pics, the work went very fine, congrats mate.

Kind Regards.

 

[Audios S6]

I do not offer this. I have considered painting my bumper and after this thread, I may take it on.

That bumper probably looks better than what he had before his accident. Solid work.

 

[miad]

here is a picture of the car before with the damaged cover and headlight. will be installing the new one in the morning and will post after shots. hoping I can hard sand that lens to see if I can remove most of the paint transfer and scratches.

 

[add lightness]

That's a pretty solid hit! Your paintwork looks good though. Did you get the paint from eBay as well?

 

[miad]

I buy all my paint supplies at a nearby auto body supply store. touch up paint, scuff pads, sand paper, etc...

 

[diablojota]

Good luck with the fix. The bumper looks pushed back. There are likely some broken clips behind it. In addition, check to make sure the foam bumper (hidden behind the bumper cover) is in good condition. I replaced a bumper cover to discover that the foam bumper was also cracked in half and needed replacing. Those are cheap as well, but a must to replace for safety reasons.

 

[miad]

everything went smoothly. very easy bumper installation. fit and fitment was surprisingly good. take a look at the headlight. I knew it had scratches and paint transfer on the bottom half really bad. I told the owner that I thought it would look a lot better, I didn't expect it to look brand new. literally 99% of the damage is gone and it also looks a lot clearer. I went ahead and cleared up the other side too so that they looked even. customer was very happy. this project went pretty well.

 

[iron_worker]

Very nice that you could save the guy some money and make a bit for yourself at the same time. You did nice work too. :xyxthumbs:

IW

 

[Dr_Pain]

Well done Miad!

The only question I would have is does your liability insurance cover you to do paint and body work? .... or did you do this out of the generous helpful heart you have!?!

Personally I do not extend my services beyond paint corrections. I won't even do sanding unless I know the painter personally and know and have worked with him. There are too many variables to account for and too many possibility that a good gesture will come bite you in the rear

 

[miad]

not sure about insurance, probably not covered. I have been to auto body school, but it was in high school. and have done a little painting many years ago. have also worked at 2 body shops as a detailer, so I worked around freshly painted cars all day. I just figured it was a way to make a few hundred quick and easy, while doing something different than detailing for a change. plus I have been buy/selling a few cars lately and wanted to get some experience painting parts in order to get more profit. it wasn't too risky, but certainly not something I would do for 95% of people. risk would out-weigh reward in most cases.

 

[sanson12]

Very nice job buddy! Couple questions.
What were the specifications of the air compressor you used to complete this job(gallons/hp)? What were the grits of the sanding paper you used to do the bumper? What grit did you end with? Im actually planning on painting both front and rear bumpers im going to flip.

 

[miad]

not totally sure about my compressor but I think its a 20 gallon Campbell Hausfeld that's about 25 years old. I had it turned down to about 65psi. far as the sanding, it really wasn't sanding but just using a red scotch brite pad to scuff the primer. the bumper was brand new and came already primed in black so all I had to do wash scuff, clean, and paint. for a painted bumper that you want to repaint, you would want to use a DA sander (can do it by hand, but lots more work) and about 220 grit, working up to maybe 500 grit to cut through the clear and well into the paint, then just clean, paint, and clear. its pretty simple. I just used a Harbor Freight purple gun that I paid less than $20 for. play around with it first using water so you can figure out the spray patterns and pressures needed. I use a water/oil separator right off the compressor but didn't use one on the spray gun itself, but it is recommended. if you have a big enough compressor, you can do a whole bumper without it kicking on during painting, which would fluctuate the pressures a bit.