My two piece bumper was pretty beat up, so decided to see if I could paint it.

Used DuPont paint (urethane) and a good spray gun. Used single stage so it had the gloss built in.

It came out OK, without a lot of orange peel. I do plan on buffing it out after it has had a chance to fully cure.

Cooks Automotive (San Jose) did a good job matching the color with their machine, but we had to pick out the meta flake size and ended up choosing medium, which was wrong. With the paint on it is pretty easy to tell that the original color used very small flakes.

Also what happened on the last coat, on the top of the bumper, I shook the gun a bit before I shot coat 4, so the paint looked a bit blotchy, i.e., more flakes. Next time I'll know that you have to keep the metal flakes suspended, so shaking is good before each coat. There is probably a right way to do this, so all you painters speak up! Maybe the hardener was going off, I don't know.

Didn't have time to do the bottom before heading to the hill climb, but I'll bring the splitter back and finish it before Medford.

Oh yea, this was an OSJ painting exercise.

Painting is fun, just messy.

Click to view attachment

I think the pro's are going to tell you, that you should have gone BC/CC on a metal flake.

I know were talking a tiny amount of material, but you cant cut and buff flakes or metalics on a single stage.

IMHO, I would run it just like you painted it and dont touch it.

What is BC/CC metaflake?

I've been thinking that I might just get another quart with the right metaflake mix, sand the existing piece with 220 (wet) and then shoot it again. Pretty amazing what a good gun will do.

Another question: I don't mind buffing out a dual stage paint. Is this the better way to go?

Base Coat Clear Coat- So you are wet sanding/buffing the clear coat and not the flakes.

Yes basecoat clearcoat is BC/CC.

Like nick mentioned BC/CC is the only way to go for something your going to sand and buff in the end. This way you sand the clearcoat smooth and not the basecoat/ flakes.

Plan for at least 3 coats of clearcoat (If you have the material, shoot as many as you can, it is your front bumper.... Personally I'd go for 6 coats, as you'll be sanding off 2 then have 4 layers for protection and sanding off later), and you probably only need 2 coats of base.