LexBrett2

Hi All;
I own a 2006 Mercedes CLS500, but I also post to the w211 forum given the similarities in the chassis.

Let's face it. Automotive painting is very difficult. Most of my DIY projects have been very successful on my current and past cars (i.e., rotors, pads, air struts, fluids, full nitrous install, GPS, etc), but painting my bumper has proven to be an exceedingly challenging task.


The Story.

A few months ago I felt inspired by several internet posts to paint my bumper, as there were several small imperfections. Each webpage said this was "easy", and all you need to do is get the factory matches paint and sand, spray and resand sand until perfect. Sounds easy enough, right? I thought so too.

Now that I have completely ruined my bumper, I am brainstorming a gameplan and wanted to share my thoughts. For starters, I hope to get input from the community. But I also want to help people avoid the same mistake I have made.

My Challenges.

1. Obtaining Paint. My first problem was actually getting the factory matched paint. I tried 2 different sellers and instead of selling me Pewter Metallic code 723, they sent me the color black. In fact, one seller sent me the wrong color paint 5 or 6 times. Each time I had to wait at least a week to get the spray can in the mail. Plus, at $30 a pop, this paint is not cheap.

2. Removing Bumper. I know I should have probably removed the bumper in the first place to paint, but it is such a PITA. Since I did not remove the bumper, it was much, much more challenging to avoid paint imperfections like dripping and uneven application.

3. Environmental Conditions. My garage is cold and rather dark. I believe the ambient temperature influences paint application and texture. Low light conditions obviously do not help either.

4.Surface Preparation. I did not adequately or use primer, which probably was my greatest mistake. I also did not sand enough. My plan is to spend at least an entire evening sanding and priming.


The Plan.

1. Take My Time, Get Enough Paint and Study. I kept running out of paint, but this time I bit the bullet and bought 3 cans of paint. For your reference, here is the paint:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/MERCEDES-BE...72.m2749.l2649

I also bought a book on ebay to learn how to paint. I think I have it covered, but as they say "you don't know what you don't know". Here it is:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/How-to-Pain...72.m2749.l2649

Also, as a general reference, I used the following to understand the process of painting a bumper,


2. Remove the Bumper Before Starting my Work. I am almost certain that my paint job will come out better if I first remove the bumper. For those of you who have painted or plastidipped wheels, think about how much better your wheels turn out if you first remove them. Here is a video on how to remove the rear bumper of the cls,


3. Do Work Indoors. This time I will be doing my work in my garage with full lighting with my vehicle parked outside. It will probably be a little embarrassing to have my car outside my house with the bumper off, but it has to be done. This way I can have ample space and lighting. Also, I feel that the temperature must be influencing the paint and I will put a heater in my garage. Not to mention it will make it less stressful to work.

4. Practice. The paint is very expensive, so I have not practiced much. However I do have all the incorrect paint that the ebay seller sent me, so I plan to paint the resonator I removed from my car.

5. Try to Understand Orange Peel (but not sweat it if I cannot). I am expecting the bumper to have some paint imperfections (orange peel). For the life of me, I just cannot figure out how to smooth my bumper using the techniques all over the internet (ie, on my crappy bumper there is orange peel which I tried to remove but I just made it a lot worse). Here is an example that looks so "easy". It is not,


Well, that is all I can think of for now. Feel free to comment on suggestions or questions. As I go through this process, I will try to document all my steps.


Updates
Update 1.
I purchased the following clear coat and primer. The clear coat appears to be very high quality and has good reviews. The Rustolum Primer seems like it should do the job,

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rust-Oleum-...AAAOSwLkdY8ZkK

https://www.ebay.com/itm/U-Pol-Clear...72.m2749.l2649

rapidoxidation

"factory paint" is more of a two part epoxy, IIRC. Not a spray can. That said, I've gotten some really good and durable results on aluminum bash plates for motorcycles by following strict prep procedures.
1) smooth and virginally clean surface to start
2) degrease and deoxidize the surface. Water should stick to the surface and not bead at all.
3) If you degreased and deoxidized the surface yesterday, do it again today before you start priming. Can't stress enough the necessity of the proper base prep if you want the paint to stick.
4) prime
5) prime again
6) light coat of spray
7) wet sand with 600 grit
8) repeat 6&7 as needed for a really nice and smooth coat
9) 1000 grit wet sand
10) clear coat
11) repeat 9 and 10 as needed for a really nice and smooth finish
12) don't ding the paint on installation.

Takes a lot longer than what a painting booth and epoxy paint will do, but it works. For a rattle can paint job anyway.

LexBrett2

Hey Buddy,
Thanks so much for the response. I guess your point is that spray can painting isn't the best, but your method has worked for you with good results?

Also, it sounds like degreasing is really important.
What product do you use to degrease?
Just Purple Power or regular engine degreaser?

In terms of clear coat, the paint I purchased indicates it is a "single stage" paint.
Will this work?
If not, what clear coat product would you suggest?

Thank you very much in advance!

Yidney

It is very hard to get good results on an area that big with a spray can. Also, I have not seen a paint that does not require a clear coat in many years. Single stage usually just means that you don't mix the paint in two parts - like epoxy. I find that most spray can clear coats are not very durable. They degrade in sun in a year or so. You would have been better off buying a cheap spray gun at Harbor Freight, and buying/renting an air compressor and using real paint. Surface prep is everything. Wet sanding the entire surface down to 600 or 800 grit, then wipe the surface with alcohol to make sure you have no finger oil on there. You say cold, but don't say how cold. I would not paint below 60 degrees F.

EDIT: Two stage also means that you have to apply the color coat in stages - pearl paints often are two stage.

LexBrett2

Thanks for the tip about temperature.
My garage currently has no heat, so I definitely will warm it up before I start painting.
Current temp is close to freezing!
Aside from taking a long time to dry, it sure seems like the paint doesn't spray as consistently in the cold and seems to produce orange peel texture/.
Do you have any recommendations about clear coat spray can brands or primer?
THANKS

rapidoxidation

Keep in mind too that most spray cans use compressed hydrocarbons (think Propane) as a propellant, in addition to the flammability of the product being sprayed Something to carefully consider if you're using a space heater to warm up the garage.

LexBrett2

Thanks for this additional tip.
Automotive fires are no fun.
I will make sure to keep the space heater off while I spray.
Once I had a fire when I was installing Nitrous Oxide on my w203.
It was not as big of a deal as it sounds, but it could have been much worse..

Andre91

Have you ordered the paint yet? If not, you may have better luck going to a local auto parts store that sells body shop supplies. At least here in Canada, some NAPA locations have a full body and paint department, and will load factory match paint into aerosol cans for you. Make sure you tell them it's for a bumper, some paint systems may specify a different formula for flexible plastic parts. The primer will very likely be different. Ideally, your primer, color, and clear should all come from the same system from the same manufacturer. If you can't find a retail auto parts store that offers that service where you are, a professional body and paint supply house should also be able to do it. You'll probably get better quality paint that way, and get some good advice from the guy behind the counter.

I'd recommend avoiding sanding all the way through the factory coating and exposing bare plastic if you can avoid it. If you have any visible bare plastic, you may have to spray it first with an adhesion promoter before priming, depending on the paint you choose to use.

While you're at the store you'll also want to pick up a can of wax and grease remover and a tack rag. You'll wipe down the part with the wax and grease remover to remove any oils or residual wax before sanding, before priming, and again before painting to ensure that the surface is perfectly clean. Any dirt, wax, grease, and especially silicone will cause problems. After using wax and grease remover, you'll want to dry the part with a clean lint free cloth and then wait 15-30 minutes for any remaining solvent to evaporate. Since you're not working in a perfectly clean environment, you'll want to wipe the part down with a tack cloth immediately before spraying to remove any loose particles or dust that may have settled on it while waiting for the wax and grease remover to dry. This stuff is cheap and a little time spent cleaning will save you a lot of time fixing defects later.

As someone else mentioned, spray cans aren't ideal for large/complex surfaces, but you can still get decent results. The most important thing when you're spraying is to not start or stop spraying directly over the part. This is true whether you're using a spray can or a real paint gun, the initial blast of paint when you start will be thicker than the rest of the coat. Also, keep the can moving to avoid buildup in one area, and it's always better to do many light coats instead of a couple of heavy coats. Light coats prevent runs and drips, and also allows the solvents in the paint to evaporate without bubbling.

LexBrett2

Thanks for the great tips, especially about not starting to spray directly on the surface. It didn't occur to me buy paint locally or from a bodyshop, but next time I will explore that route. Definitely I will avoid sanding down to the plastic

LexBrett2

After hours and hours of studying and preparation, I worked all weekend painting my bumper.
It looks like crap and I consider the job a failure, and I waisted an entire weekend.

Although I do almost everything DIY on my car, painting is just not for me.
To add insult to injury, now in addition to a crappy bumper, I also feel sick likely from the particles I inhaled while sanding.

So I am closing this thread.
But can anyone recommend a good, honest body shop in Northern Virginia?
Questions/comments/critisisms welcomed!

kajtek1

What turn out to be a problem? Pictures?
I did some automotive touch-ups, but I do lot of latex paint spraying in house remodeling. Even with thick latex it is easy to have paint running and it will show all the imperfection. That is why most of house painter even when they use sprayer for fast application - roll the paint after for even finish.
Spray cans are especially difficult as they use very thin paint to start with. The procedure is to run thin film as first coat, what will make "gluing base" and then before it fully hardens, spray heavier coat on top of it.
That said spray cans take usually about 10 coats to give good coverage. Patience, patience, patience.

rapidoxidation

and a dust mask while sanding, respirator while spraying.

LexBrett2

Basically, I ran out of paint. I really thought I had enough. Plus, I failed to adequately prepare the surface. I sanded for hours and primed, but somehow it just didn't work. I know when I am beat and I have thrown in the towel on this one. I wasted a lot of time and money already, so I am going to pay someone to do it. I have gotten estimates ranging from $300 to $1000. Attached is the lowest estimate. what do you all think of the attached estimate??

Once my bumper is fixed I will work on more fun and productive stuff; replacing my back up camera, change transmission fluid, and testing how my Ozz 17" ultralight wheels from my w203 work on my w219 set up (at least a 10-pound reduction in unsprung weight per wheel) !!

kajtek1

Hiring people for the job is whole science. Check the shop ratings on google and yelp and go from there.
If you can see their jobs done, the better.

LemonSqueezy

A proper bumper paint job where I'm from usually runs about low $700s if not a lot of items to detrim and easy remove and reinstall time. On the higher end it goes to about $850-900 with labor rates being $90/he.

that being said, a couple points from earlier. Bumpers are always painted off of the vehicle at a proper body shop. You need proper ventilation to do this type of body work. You also need a clean room paint your bumper, otherwise dirt particles get blown and trapped into the paint. Every car painted from the factory will have orange peel, wetsanding can reduce that.

Almost all cars nowadays are a 2 stage paint setup. Some versions of pearls are 3 stage, but not all are.

you're probably looking at about a 1.5-2 hour charge to remove reinstall bumper, 1 hour repair time, and about 3-4 hour for paint and clear coat.

good luck with everything, painting is hard