Rednroll

This topic has been discussed many times of what to use for rattle can paint for touch-ups on the AEV or Hard Rock 10A bumpers or an alternative to the AEV paint since it's expensive and has to be ordered online. I have read many of these discussions since I have an AEV front, and a HR 10A rear bumper where the most common responses seem to be "Get the AEV paint, it's a perfect match for both."

Another common suggestion originating from Maximus was to use the Rustoleum Black Fine textured paint for the HR 10A bumper and their Bull bar.



I had my doubts with these replies since no one seemed to ever post pics where I own both of these bumpers and I could tell the paint of my front AEV did not match my HR rear. They're kind of close but the AEV always seemed like a darker black with a shinier finish.

My TF rear brake light extension bracket had developed rust and faded pretty badly over the winter. I decided to pick up some of the Rustoleum Black Fine Textured paint to use on the $80 TF brake light re-location bracket which seems to come with some inferior powder coat/paint. Here's a preview of what I was trying to fix. The bolts aren't TF, I had to replace the supplied bolts after 2 month since they rusted pretty badly but this should give some idea of the paint fade. What I don't have shown is their supplied mounting spacer where the powder coat just flaked off where it looked like I had a big rusted spacer mounted to my rear gate.


During my TF brake light extension re-paint repair, I seemed to have solved most of this touch up paint mystery and figured I'ld share.

This is the TF bracket spacer which I stripped down to bare metal and re-painted with the rustoleum fine texture black rattle can. I set it on top of my HR rear, and my AEV front bumpers to judge how well it matches.

It's not quite a match for the HR rear bumper. It's a bit darker and has a shinier finish....Hmmmm? Kind of similar to what I noticed about my AEV front bumper. Coincidence?


So here's that same part, set on top of my AEV front bumper which has been painted using the AEV paint over 2 years ago, where my original observation was that the AEV rattle can was a perfect match for the AEV original paint.


The Rustoleum seems to be an exact match for the AEV paint. I'll even go out on a limb to say, that the AEV paint is likely the Rustoleum paint, rebranded by AEV.

Also this should clear up any questions in regards to if the AEV paint is good to use for touch-ups on the HR bumper. I don't consider the AEV paint to be a good match. It's nice paint for touching up bumpers, but definitely not a match for the HR bumpers.

The disappointing part in all this for myself, is that I was looking for a rattle can paint that would better match the HR rear bumper since I wanted to re-paint the front AEV bumper due to needing to repair the common AEV bumper seam rust, but I still haven't found a good match for the HR 10A color. Therefore that part of the mystery goes unsolved and my quest continues.

Summary:
Alternative to AEV rattle can paint?= Rustoleum Fine Textured Black
AEV touch up paint?= AEV rattle can paint or Rustoleum Fine Textured Black
Hard Rock 10A touch up paint?= Mystery Unsolved.

karls10jk

Where'd you pick up the Rusto fine textured? This summer I'll be freshening up bumpers, flares, rock rails, etc. and there isn't excess cash flow to splurge on powdercoating. Also....if it looks decent then maybe I'll be able to convince my brother to refinish his Metalcloak flares this way as well.

Rednroll

Meijer's. It was $5.67/can. Currently letting the brake light extension bracket paint dry overnight. I'll post some pics once I get it installed tomorrow to give you an idea of how it looks. So far I think it looks pretty good, very similar to a powder coat look. It looks very similar to my TF HD hinge, where it seems to match better than it originally did where it looked like TF had used 3 different vendors for painting their hinge, tire carrier and brake light extension with the BL extension being the lowest quality of coating. At least 2 out of the 3 pieces should match when I'm done.

Rednroll

Here's some pics of the Rustoleum fine texture paint I used on the TF brake light extension bracket.

Re-Painted rear of bracket


Bracket Re-paint contrast inbetween TF carrier and Hinge. Bracket seems to match pretty well with the Hinge powder coating.


Repaint Complete

inline6

good info, thanks

Rednroll

I tried one more thing this past weekend, where I think this is going to be my goto combo on black powder coated parts such as you mentioned that need to be touched up.

I added 2 coats of Rustoleum Ultra Cover Matte Clear over the top of the Rustoleum Fine Textured black paint. The Clear Matte doesn't make it too shiney in my opinion, adds a harder outer coat for durability, and seems to hide any texture unevenness.

Here's the combo of what I used.


The combo doesn't quite match my HR or AEV bumpers but overall, I think it's a good combo for refinishing black powder coated parts where you want some texture, but not too much gloss.
Here is my test sample set on top of my AEV bumper where it's the Rustoleum black fine texture by itself on the left, and then 2 coats of the matte clear over the top of it on the right.


I repainted my Mo-China-par fuel door cover using this combo and I'm really happy with the end results.


I went to another Meijer last week to pick up some more of the Fine texture black, where that Meijer didn't carry it. So if you have trouble finding it locally, I also found it on Amazon for a similar price. Definitely a better cost than the AEV $17/can paint and seems to be the same stuff.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QD7J7I/?coliid=I6AMMNWAQ5QI8&colid=20TXEAD6EBPRA&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

karls10jk

Adding the matte clear is a nice touch. That clear coat will be easier to clean up down the road, or at least that was my experience with painting center caps.

Rednroll

That was my experience as well. If you look at my test sample closely, after I finished painting, I had it sitting in my garage while I was sanding my fuel door cover which of course it collected some dust on it. Before I snapped that pic I posted of the test sample, I took a micro fiber cloth and just wiped the dust off, where I noticed the side with the clear coat wiped off easier and the micro fiber cloth wasn't snagging on the texture of the paint.

Rednroll

This is my next repaint/repair project that I've been working towards with all these other smaller repair jobs. Taking care of this AEV bumper seam rust, and then re-painting. Although not the ideal color to match my rear HR bumper like I was hoping, the benefits of the Matte Clear seem to outweigh the color difference since I'll have some color difference regardless between the front and rear bumpers where likely the only one who will notice the difference in color will be myself.


With that Amazon listing of the Rustoleum fine texture, I also saw they have a dark grey "Pewter" color. I'm kind of curious if that may be a better match to the HR rear black color which is a lighter black. I may pick a can of that up and give it a try to see how well it matches the HR bumper.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019K90BA/ref=twister_B002LSIFLK?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&coliid=I6AMMNWAQ5QI8

Bob Roach

I have been researching repainting my AEV front bumper. I am planning on a Stubby Crawler Bumper conversion of my AEV Tubeless Bumper. This involves cutting the ends off just outboard of the Fog Lights. Then adding a Flat Plate to each end, then repainting the bumper. Going this route I can retain my $330 Front Skid Plate. The front skid plate is not useable with most other Stubby Bumpers from my research. Still debating retaining the Crush Cans, or adding shackles to the Frame ends.

The AEV paint is a little pricey at $17 a Rattle Can, but WAAAAAY Pricey when ordered from AEV with another $17 in shipping added on. Having a Rustolium Option s a good deal.
NOTE: Quadratec does stock the AEV touch up paint. Added to a larger order you should get Free Shipping.

Bob R