New Bumper - Paint/ Powdercoat/ Or?

[tsototh]

I've got a new front bumper for my truck finally fitted up. It was custom made by Andy - aka "Bamachem". Anyway, I'm getting the truck back in the next day or so and am pondering my options for painting the bumper and wanted to get your opinions. Here are my options I am looking at in order of my preference:

1. Rustoleum Spray-on bedliner - Tough, Fine texture (so not bumpy like a herculiner), reviews for it were pretty favorable, cheap, easy to touch up.

2. Powercoat - More expensive, should last quite a while!

3. Paint body color (Silver Met) - Would use duplicolor matched color, would give a clean look to truck, would suck when scratched...

4. Rustoleum (or?) - Semi-gloss black - easy to touch up, cheap.


Well, those are my thoughts. I'll also be getting sliders in a few weeks, so I'm thinking of going with the black scheme all the way around... Let me here every else's varied opinions!

 

[pfran42]

#4 if you use it off road a lot. Mine gets scratched up all the time. All I do is l(sometimes) ightly sand it, cover the hood in a plastic drop cloth and lay down a fresh coat of Rustoleum Industrial Strength, (I may try the charcoal grill paint next time). If you do it right, it looks 90% as good as powder coating.

 

[FullyLitLED]

Rustoleum gloss! IMO it looks clean adds the new PC shine and can be wiped down

My TJM has that!

 

[TheFuzz]

I'll agree that it depends on your intended use. Lots of trail work/crawling/dragging it over obstacles? Hit it with rattle can and don't look back. Your wallet will thank you when you inevitably ding it up.

More expo/fire road/less technical type stuff? Powdercoat all the way - thicker and more durable for the long haul. Never personally been a fan of bedliner on anything but truck beds, but I have seen a few well put together rigs on here that use it (Loud and Desert Yeti come to mind). YMMV.

 

[jgray]

Personally I think on bumpers powdercoating is the way to go. It will hold up better over time and is more resistant to scratches from tree branches and such. You can probably get a bumper powdercoated in the $100 range and if you add up the cost of time + effort + prep materials + bedliner or spray paint cost, as well as future touch up maintenance I think it's well worth the money.

For something like sliders which regularily get abused bedliner or spray painting I think makes more sense.

Also from my experience using different paints and bedliner spray can products I would recommend getting the Duplicolor Bedliner in a can over the Rustoleum brand. I've used several inculding the Rustoleum and the Duplicolor is a better finish.

 

[jonharis]

I scratched my bumpers and sliders the first day I had them on the truck. Talked to Christo and for some reason he wouldn't warantee the PC. not sure why. For the kind of use I do, I'll just Rustoleum the scratches every once and a while.

 

[Manhattan]

I have had terrible luck with painting things - whether rattle can or preval loaded with actual Toyota paint. The results have been the same - chasing rust. On my Demello bumper for my FJC, I bought it uncoated. I did the following...
- Cleaned the hell out of it with soap, water... lots and lots of water
- Dried it with towels
- Dried it with high pressure air
- Let it sit in sun (93 degrees) for a couple minutes while I got the Acetone...
- Wiped down with Acetone
- Primed with metal-etching primer
- 4 more coats of ^ that ^
- 3 coats of Toyota Ti Silver (factory silver on 2007 FJC)

It looked great!

... for about 3 months... then the rust started showing up everywhere. I took it off and had it stripped and powder coated black.

 

[jgray]

^^^This is why I say powdercoat first and touch up later. The powdercoating will protect areas that will be a PITA to touch up too...

 

[hoser]

^^^ what he said.