Dodge Nitro Bumper Job
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Well, I should have taken more pics of the beginning process but I needed to get moving. This job is for a teacher at my school. I repainted her driver’s side fender flare previously. She accidently ran into a sign and cracked (beyond repair) her front bumper cover. OEM cover is like $288 and aftermarket cover is like $220 ready to paint. Well I needed it fast for her so I picked up the $39 textured front cover because only one place had the Nitro’s bumper in stock and it was the textured one. They make this bumper textured for the base models. Anyways I got the cover home and there were horizontal bars in the fog light openings with clearly no mounting holes or “cup” for the fog lights. The invoice said bumper cover with fog light housing, i should ahve doubled checked. Anyways nothing I could do, I just drove half hour to get the cover. I called the teacher over and cut out her fog light surrounds from her bumper. Then I molded them into the aftermarket cover. Along with sanding and filling in all that damn texture, everything came out well. I charged a bit more since i needed to fill in that texture.
I am happy, but a very hard cover to paint.
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[IMG]http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e25/nexson1/3rd%20album/IMG_3749.jpg[/IMG]I have trouble with shooting clear into deep holes, any advice/tips?
[IMG]http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e25/nexson1/3rd%20album/IMG_3750.jpg[/IMG]Looks like it turned out nice..U must not charge for labor as putting those fog light openings and removing the texture must of cost more in labor and materials then buying the correct cover?? :deadhorse
Well I charged extra because it wasn’t the correct cover and I explained the whole texture thing to her. Basically she needed it done asap so her kids wouldn’t see she screwed up her bumper (ahshamed I guess, kids were at dad’s for weekend) i charged $260 to do it. The fog light thing was unexpected so I waived it. I don’t mind because it is good experience for me. These fog covers actually didn’t ghost on me. Should have gotten pics..
good job! :clappy
looks good. Those are some nice easy ones to do (when you aren’t dealing with the texture and fog lamp issues).
As far as spraying inside odd places, there are a few things that can help. I usually spray the edges first then the face. When there are openings, I spray from the back of the bumper to get into them better. From the front, I will spray into them very carefully, triggering the gun to control volume and watching gun distance. I make sure to get just enough material in there (so you don’t run it), a hair on the dry/peely side. Then when you make your passes over the front of the bumper, the extra product that sprays in there should be enough to finish the job (like allowing the clear to lay down smooth and wet, without running). If you are really slow and use faster products you may have an issue keeping the clear wet/open enough to flow out nicely in those areas.
It takes some practice, but once you figure it out, it isn’t too bad at all.
Good luck!The advice is apperciated Ben, thanks!! :cheer:
I think the problem i had was that my clear hardened a bit too fast (like you said), and I got that dry spray while going over the areas around the fog light. The overspray didn’t melt into the fog light openings because it was already flashing off. Just a theory.
U did a great job.
Looks good Nex
Nice one Nex.
I’ve painted that colour a few times, and as you say, it isn’t the greatest at coverage.
ya looks like it turned out great aside from the lil issues. thats what makes this buisness not so predictive kinda keeps us on our toes and as you said helps us learn new things
i think i might start a under the table business from my home garage who cares about all those darn state and federal taxes and i could take work from all those professionals who charge too much is your booth epa compliant by the way
looks good you should go to work at an auto body shop
Looks great!
With deeper recesses, first, I’ll shoot a tack coat in there and let it flash for 10min or so. Then, I will turn my fan in, fluid in and air pressure down slightly so that it becomes more of a narrow jet. Then, you squirt the clear in there with a medium-fast pass. Also, too much air pressure and you’ll create positve pressure in the recess and the clear will bounce back against the wall of air, giving you a dry clear finish.
Test spray the jet on some paper first so you know how it’s going to lay down. Even practice on some old bumpers first. You [b]don’t[/b] want runs on curved recessed surfaces!
HTH.
thanks for the advice on the fogs, these were defintely some of the deeper fogs I have shot in a while. Anyways if I don’t get hired in August back to be a teacher, I might be at a shop.
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