Bumper / Hood chips

[jonklein611]

Thanks to lots of highway / interstate commuting in the winter, my bumper and hood have TONS of chips. Thanks 18 wheelers in the left lane.....

 

Which would be better, sit there with touch up paint and hit every lil chip in them? or sand em and get em repainted (can you repaint a bumper?)?

 

Also the hood has scratches from ppl walking by @ work..... .

 

Any tips / hints / tricks?

 

Thanks,

[jonklein611]

Any thoughts?

[vkchu]

i guess it would depend on how picky you are and how much time youre willing to devote to work on it.

 

lots of time + not much $ wanting to be spent = a pack of langka and lots of elbow grease.

not much time/care + $ okay to spend = new bumper cover and new hood. then you might want to also get a bug shield guard and maybe a clear bra to slow the damage next time around.

 

as for me, i couldnt really be bothered about the bumper since i live in the nyc area. rock chips are just something i have to deal w/. if it was cracked, id spring for a new bumper cover.

[jonklein611]

true, i think touch up paint will be the way to go, spend my $$$ on go fast / turn fast parts.

 

Thanks

[nm]

Depends on how many.

Mine is so sandblasted, that touch up would be pointless.

If you're going to do either, when done, get a clear bra.

[OCDetails]

It was the bumper that was my main problem. A clear bra on the hood shows up like a sore thumb. I don't care if it is "invivible" because you can always tell it is there unless you have white. If I had it to do over again then I would have definitely gotten it on the bumper though. That thing was sandblasted after 6 months of driving. I got a bug guard on the hood that held off the chips up there, but there was no stopping the ones on the bumper or the ones near the top of the hood (which is where most of the chips on my hood were). For the hood I just kept on top of it with touch up paint and some Langka blob eliminator to smooth them out. It wasn't a perfect match, but it was better than nothing.

[dazzen]

Here ya go

http://www.danase.com/lacopachreki.html

one of the best touch up kits, far better then using just the touch up paint alone.

[jonklein611]

My bumper held up for around 10 years or so, this year it's gone to toast. Any way to do just a total repaint on it? Or is that not worth it?

[OCDetails]

Of course you can do a total repaint. It could run you upwards of five or six hundred dollars depending on how extensive the damage is, but it is also possible that a body shop could just repaint a new bumper that starts out in better condition to begin with. They offered that to me once when I needed a bumper repaired after an accident. The cost to get a new bumper versus repairing the old one was only $50 difference. A new bumper wouldn't necessarily fit the same or be the same shade of paint in the areas that don't need to be repaired, so I opted for a repair. You never know though... They may be able to source another bumper in the same color, but better condition, for not much money. It's worth calling around and checking out.

[nm]

A clear bra on the hood shows up like a sore thumb. I don't care if it is "invivible" because you can always tell it is there unless you have white.

Eh, I had it on my old car (my LGT was purchased with quite a bit of chipping so I didn't bother). it was sort of a lighter metalic green (VW Fresco green), and you couldn't tell there was a clear bra on the hood unless you looked for it, or caught it at just the right angle. (It does however tend to highlight any chips that are already there, so it's best done new or after a spray)

A combination of higher end material and good application (the guy who did mine was from M3 automotive [if in Minneapolis, send me a PM and I'll recommend him, not cheap though] and does a lot of thier demonstrator cars) and making sure wax doesn't build up at the edge.