Well I got my my Smittys in today and due to bad packing the bumpers are all scratched up. I knew that the finish on the cheap Smittys would be weak anyway so I am not tearing my hair out or anything. Besides I figure I would scratch any bumper when I go wheelin and would have to fix it anyway....

Those of you that have had the pleasure of scratching your bumpers might have some cool fixes that you have used to great effect in the past so please chime in! I don't feel like spending the money on a new powdercoat job until they look amazingly bad so perhaps a DIY bed liner or some kind of base coat with a matt finish..... You guys tell me

By the way, is it just me or does the search engine on this forum have a mind of it's own

 

I used a black sharpie on my rear XRC bumper with tire carrier. There were only a few scratches that weren't that deep so I could get away with it.

 

dupli color spray on bed liner seems to be the fix of choice on this forum.. I actually ended up spraying my entire front bumper with it so the touch-ups match better.

bought it at Autozone like $8 per can.

If there is anything I learned, dont spend a lot of time or money on the bumper finishes, they WILL get scratched out on the trail.

 

Same crap happened to my bumpers. People, please bubble wrap or something when you send us Jeepers our accessories! Yes, we plan on scratching up our toys, but that's WE/US, not YOU.

Sorry for the little rant. There are a few things you can do to clean up the scratch, although neither option will fully get rid of the scratches.

1 -- Spray a can of Pledge over the scratch(s) and massage it in. Lemon Pledge has wax in it. You can pick the stuff up in any kind of super market.

2 -- Massage actual wax over the scratches. Preferrably a compound wax like what Turtle Wax makes.

3 -- Mother's has a wax product called, "Back to Black?" Something like that. I use that stuff on my bumpers after offroading and use it on my plastic fender flares to. It gets rid of stains and more or less hides the scratches.

 

Perfect! That is what I was looking for! Ill just spray the whole darn Bumper also!

Yeah I didn't want to spend 1400 dollars on a bumper since I will just tear it up anyway

 

duplicolor is the best solution, you can do spot touch ups and it works like magic, very easy to work with

 

x10 on duplicolor spray. I went to all the auto parts stores and bought up what they had because I love the stuff so much. The only place I haven't used it exclusively is on the foot wells, because I don't think it can handle constant abuse. There I did two coats of herculiner, then about 8 coats of duplicolor, and 2 coats of 3M bedliner to get it a black color. Yeah it was over-kill, but it looks so good.

I almost guarantee at the rate I'm going I'll have more dupicolor than factory paint or original untainted plastic. In the spray it has such minimal texture that it just looks good.

 

When they get too bad, I've always used POR-15 as a base and a rattle can bumper black paint.

 

Yeah I noticed a big gouge in the billet handle too Can't bed line that I am waiting for the dealer to return my call. It is actually bad enough to where I might consider sending back. Not looking forward to another 4 week lead time!

Anywho what are your thoughts on the 3m stuff compared to Duplicolor? And what the hekk is POR15?

 

I thought you arent supposed to paint over Por-15?

you should sand them with some 3m scotch brite pads so it has something to stick to, shouldnt paint a smooth surface like powder coat, 3m pads easy and fast