Painting the bumpers on a Forester?

[sim7396]

I have a 2003 Forester 2.5X that we bought new in Aug 2002. I know,
the car was minus one year old when we got it...

Anyways, the car has a nice metallic color and black bumpers. I would
like to paint the bumbers with the same color as the body of the car.
I think it would look nicer, plus it'll give me the illusion of
driving something new, or at least different.

Is it a good idea to paint the bumpers (bumper covers)? My concern is
that the paint might crack or peel at some point. If I go ahead, how
much $$$ would the paint job cost me?

Thanks!

Simon.

 

[Frank]

I have a 2003 Forester 2.5X that we bought new in Aug 2002. I know,
the car was minus one year old when we got it...

Anyways, the car has a nice metallic color and black bumpers. I would
like to paint the bumbers with the same color as the body of the car.
I think it would look nicer, plus it'll give me the illusion of
driving something new, or at least different.

Is it a good idea to paint the bumpers (bumper covers)? My concern is
that the paint might crack or peel at some point. If I go ahead, how
much $$$ would the paint job cost me?

Thanks!

Simon.

My wife's new '08 looks nice with the painted bumpers next to my '03
with black. But a couple of years ago I scraped mine and damaged tail
light backing into garage and body shop managed to salvage bumper
without replacing. Looks fine and did this to avoid increase in
insurance because if repair when above ~$600 my premiums would have gone
up. Color in black bumpers is uniform throughout but painted is
obviously only on the surface and can be easily scratched off.

I suspect to do what you want to do, you may have to have whole car
painted and bumpers may need special treatment for paint to adhere.

 

[David]

My wife's new '08 looks nice with the painted bumpers next to my '03
with black. But a couple of years ago I scraped mine and damaged tail
light backing into garage and body shop managed to salvage bumper
without replacing. Looks fine and did this to avoid increase in
insurance because if repair when above ~$600 my premiums would have gone
up. Color in black bumpers is uniform throughout but painted is
obviously only on the surface and can be easily scratched off.

I suspect to do what you want to do, you may have to have whole car
painted and bumpers may need special treatment for paint to adhere.

It'll look exactly the same from the driver's seat, so who cares?

 

[Mike]

Check this page out. Has factory colors in spray cans, and paint for non
metal parts so it shouldnt crack. Proper surface prep will prevent it from
peeling.

https://www.paintscratch.com/

 

[Bonehenge (B A R R Y)]

Check this page out. Has factory colors in spray cans, and paint for non
metal parts so it shouldnt crack. Proper surface prep will prevent it from
peeling.

Paints for flexible parts often have a flex additive mixed in at
application time by the painter. I might have missed it, but didn't
see a mention of it on that site. The flex additive isn't cheap
stuff. Years ago, I paid ~ $25 / pint for the PPG version to paint my
airplane's wingtips, so I'd doubt they would add it as a precaution. I
also remember a "pot time" for the additive. You couldn't mix up a
bunch and store it.

The bottom line is to specifically ask about the flexative when
placing the order, or seek a local auto paint store that fills spray
cans with custom blends. We have several auto paint stores in our
local Yellow Pages that can fill spray bombs, and I don't live in a
heavy metro area.