Painted plastic and rubber parts - How to detail?

[jakesdad]

Do the bumpers and other painted plastic or rubber parts need to be treated differently from the metal parts when buffing and detailing?

 

[ObsessiveAutoDetail]

From personal experience, watch plastic bumper covers when using the rotary. Some newer bumper covers and even trim pieces are not painted in the traditional method. They have a coating or film on them. Kind of like a vinyl wrap you'd see on a commercial vehicle.

 

[StoneRaizer]

I compound, polish and wax the bumpers with my PC on speed 5, same as I do the rest of the car except that I use 4" pads instead of 5.5" to fit into the tighter spaces. Be careful when around edges because it's possible to burn away the paint down to the bare plastic. I did that and now there's a couple little black spots that look like rock chips. I'm planning on getting some Dr. Colorchip sometime to fix that.