V8 paint work

[vws]

Hi all,
I'd like to paint the front bumper to remove the scratchs on my V8. Maybe someone can tell me how many hours it needs to remove and replace the front bumper and the lower part.

Cheers,

John.

[JK1]

A bunch........

I did mine a few months ago right after I got the car.

It took me 4-5 hours to get the undertrays, spoiler and bumper off. Probably about 5-6 hours to re-install since I was trying to be careful and not scratch anything.

This was one of the first things I had ever done to the car and the hidden nuts/bolts took a while to find and get to. I could do it quite a bit quicker the next time.

Here's a brief description by Geoff Moat from the UK yahoo list. Quite comical and sums it up nicely:

"I had the pleasure of removing one from my S4 and I guess that the
S4s is broadly the same.
Begin by studying basic gynaecology and elementary contortionism.
Remove the skirt protection lip and oil cooler and radiator crap
guard panels
Remove the front skirt - there are nuts and bolts hidden all over
begining at the front of the wheel arches - all accesible from below.
There is also one at each front corner accessible through a hole in
the skirt.
Once all the bolts are undone, a bit of judicious manipulation should
free it from the bumper and the car.
Stop all bleeding, clean shredded hands, apply elastoplast as
required then continue.
Remove spare wheel and mouldy sandwiches etc. from inside bonnet
Remove ABS cover and brackets attached to inner wing and pull unit
back enough to allow access to bumper bolts.
Climb inside bonnet with suitable 10mm sockets and spanners and begin
to undo even more nuts and bolts - they run around the entire front
inner edge and the ones in the vicinity of the front corners provide
hours of harmless entertainment.
When the last one is out, grasp the bumper firmly, utter the magic
words "let go you F****** B******" and it should fall gently to the
ground.
Along the way light relief is provided by odd bits of trunking and
lighting cable plugs to undo.
Clean up, go to pub and win "hunchback of the week" prize.
Go to bed and have nightmare about putting it all back!
Geoff Moat"


Good luck,
Jim Knowles

[rob.e]

vws said:

Hi all, I'd like to paint the front bumper to remove the scratchs on my V8. Maybe someone can tell me how many hours it needs to remove and replace the front bumper and the lower part. Cheers, John.

John - is there any reason you want to remove the bumper to paint it? It is more usual to paint it in-situ so that the surrounding areas can be blown in to colour match. This is especially true of metallics. If you paint the bumper ONLY to factory colour then you may find that it does not match the rest of the car as the paint may have faded with age/sunlight.

Just my 02p. I'd check with the bodyshop you intend to use first before you start stripping the car.

cheers
Rob

[kylie]

I am with Rob on this one. Sure the ultimate is to take it off, get it perfectly colour matched and put back on, but the difference between leaving it off or on while painting, it takes a trained eye to notice. I actually funily enough have dropped my car off to a guy today to get my rear bumper re-sprayed as the paint is all crazed across it. They only paint exotic cars for concourse shows etc, hence a fantastic reputation. He showed me some work he had done on a bumper that was left on and it was very well done, infact exceeded the standard that I expected. They can get into the tightest of gaps no worries. He basically said its no worries taking it off either but as suggested above will take costly hrs to fit. And for what, so the proof will be in the pudding when I get her back the following Monday.

Cheers
Kylie

[solar]

I had the nose piece repainted in situ. Looks great no more chips or flakes and it was bout 340$

[mperez225]

Hi Matt,

Who did you use?

Regards,
Manny

>> Edited by mperez225 on Monday 8th September 14:08

[solar]

Fine Line Auto in Boca Raton. Just make sure that they know not to drive your car. I got my car back with a couple extra miles, those boys were like wooooo!

[JK1]

While it is certainly easier to paint the bumper without removing it, you do run the risk of having the clearcoat start flaking off at the seams after a while. The problem is the paintwork will be out of warranty when it happens.

The gaps are very deep and it is very difficult to prep those areas properly for the paint to adhere well and to get the same mil thickness of finish back in the gaps.

I was lucky in that my car is black, the paint matched very well and no blending was needed. If the color is difficult to match it can still be blended with the bumper off or loose.

I think it's one of those instances where you'll get what you pay for.

I'm no paint/body pro but I did stay in a Holiday Inn last night

Just an opinion,
Jim

[solar]

my car is also black and you cant tell

[vws]

rob.e said:

John - is there any reason you want to remove the bumper to paint it?

Hi Rob,
No, i was thinking that it was the best way to make a good job.
john.