[s-cars] Front bumper skins

[JenRob]

dave- i assume you have a ur s4 bumper ? there are the textured parts that 
are unpainted plastic. i seem to remember you are going to paint these body 
color? basically this will be best for appearance. the textured unpainted 
parts cannot really be repaired and still left unpainted. any sanding to 
these parts will remove the texture molded into the plastic.  painting over 
will also cover some of the texture, so best to lightly sand the surface 
imperfections. use a medium to finer grit paper. a medium at 100 grit will 
be a little coarse. you want a 4 -600 grit. in a nut shell : you want to 
remove the imperfections needed, but not put deep sanding grooves in the 
plastic, because you will need to wet sand with 1000 grit after using a good 
self-etching primer to get a nice smooth surface for the paint to adhere to. 
remember the whole bumper will need to be lightly scuffed and cleaned of any 
contaminants prior to painting. - rob
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Ellis" <UrS4 at sympatico.ca>
To: "JenRob" <jenrob at mchsi.com>
Cc: <S-CAR-List at audifans.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2005 8:29 AM
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Front bumper skins


>
> Good to know!
> What type of sandpaper did you use to prep the bumper?  I'm just about to 
> start removal and prep of the used bumper I found to replace my damaged 
> original, and this will be the first time I've painted plastic automotive 
> parts.  Same deal as for metal?
>
> There's some scratches and rock chips to paint over on it.  Also, it looks 
> like some sort of clear coating (to protect from rock chips?) was sprayed 
> on and then subsequently flaked/rubbed off under where the license plate 
> was installed on the donor bumper.  Since I don't have a front plate to 
> worry about (no front plates in Quebec), I'd like to clean it up, fill in 
> the mounting holes, smooth the finish out, paint, and have it "lookin' 
> purdy".
>
> -Dave
>
>
>
> JenRob wrote:
>
>> hello all- been lurking for a while and finally decided to chime in even 
>> prior to my s6 being back on the road.... if you were to paint any bumper 
>> the flex agent will do nothing to aid the paint in adhering to the 
>> textured surface. flex agent  "evaporates" to use this term out of the 
>> paint over the course of several days after application.  the flex agent 
>> only helps the paint  be temporarely more flexible to aid in re install. 
>> i just painted both of my bumpers and all was fine with no flex agent. 
>> the prep of the part ( sanding and the use of good self etching primer 
>> will probably do the trick to help with adhesion.
>
>
>