How to go about respraying part of a bumper

m5rcc

Hello

Hope someone could advise how to go about repairing some damage caused to my Golf.

Someone sadly was very careless and instead of making sure there was enough space to move, decided to instead scrape my front offside corner scraping part of the bumper. Thankfully most of the damage was caused to the front bumper mould and some light grazing to the main bumper which i think I can get away with with some polishing.

How to go about doing the mould? I couldnt find any coloured moulds on eBay, but found a new primed one. I know my colour is LA7T, United Grey, and I have found this, which comes with a lacquer.

Do I need to sand the new mould first, then apply the paint then apply the lacquer? What is the best way to go about it?

Could anyone kindly advise?

Thanks in advance.

HappyMJ

The colour will not match. You have had the car for some time exposed to the sun and it has faded ever so slightly. You need a computer to match the existing colour if you want it to look right otherwise it will be a different shade to the original.

m5rcc

Who matches it? VW directly?

Notmyrealname

m5rcc wrote: »

Who matches it? VW directly?

No, whoever is spraying it. They'll get it as near as possible and blend it in.

GolfBravo

Since the part is already primed you don't need to sand it.

Avoid any cheap aftermarket spray paints - they all claim they are perfect match, but they are not.

VW actually sell genuine touch up and spray paint kits, like this one here. You just apply paint, wait for it to dry and then apply clear coat (instructions should be included anyway). You may be able to get it for even less £££ from a VW dealer.

It will not be a perfect match, however, due to your car's paint fading - but since you are only painting a small trim part it should be OK.

s_b

if the part you have posted is the part you want to paint
and the paint is grey metalic
the only thing you need to do is lose the blue finish with some propietry primer in grey
i use a heat gun to get everything nice and hot so each coat of paint readilly sticks without running (dont go mad)
you wont have a problem with fading as its only solid paints with no lacquer that faded
your biggest problem is colour matching from the can and as said if the manufacturer does these cans then ok they might be dearer but the quality from them will be much much better and can make a novice look like a professional

use the heatgun to make the old part come off the bumper too if its held on with tags (again dont go nuts as you can melt stuff)


no capitols used for the benefit of mrknowitalnotmyrealnametrolll

m5rcc

VW wanted to charge me £180 for parts and labour

The primed part is not a genuine one so I'll need to source that first. I'll see if I can source genuine paint from VW directly as suggested.

GolfBravo

£180? They would probably get one of their mobile trimmer/painter guys to fix it in 20 minutes anyway, using a spray can and a heat gun.

The VW part number is LLS 0M6 A7T, and don't be surprised if they don't have one in stock since there is not much dealer margin in them. The shop from the link above sells it for £16.60 delivered.

The genuine VW paint kits are superb quality - few years ago I helped a friend to fix his Mark IV Golf front bumper bar, in Reflex Silver. The car looked brand new, not a sign of scratch and spray paint - there was no difference in colour at all (in strong Australian sun, UV sunglasses on or off).

BTW, all paints fade with time (UV rays and oxidation) but metallic paints fade significantly less than non metallic. The general rule is that the closer the colour is to red in colour spectrum, the more UV rays it absorbs and fades. The closer it is to blue, the more UV rays it reflects. With your car's colour there is nothing to worry about really.

m5rcc

I shall try and do it myself. Just need to source a genuine VW moulding part

Limey

The quality of fit is a bit hit and miss with non genuine parts such as bumpers. Certainly with Ford bumpers my ex and her colleagues used to groan when they had to fit non genuine bodywork parts.:laugh:

Oh and for the best DIY colour match take the car to a auto paint supplier and get them to mix up a few cans of spray paint. I reckon you'll need 4-5 cans to cover a bumper, maybe a one more to practice with, then laquer on top.

The destructions on most cans say to hold it 30cm from the item being sprayed but that usually ends up with 60% of the paint going elsewhere, so I usually halve that distance and move a bit faster with the can to prevent runs.