I have a 06 xl and due to that I have the solid black bumper. I was going to buy the smooth FX4 top portion of the bumper and have it painted to match the white color of my truck. I got out looking at it today though and it seems as if the texture really isn't as rough as I originally thought and was wondering could I just have my original top portion painted to white and it come out fine. I realize it won't be 100% glossy smooth due to the small texture but hell I figure its worth a shot, especially beens my truck is used alot and gets scratches n dings anyways.

I was just curious if you could just prime over the black then spray the white n gloss and be fine. Worse comes to worse if I dont like it than I can buy the smooth FX4 style and go that route, the original was just going to sit and collect dust anyways so figured its worth a shot. Any thoughts?

 

Yeah you could, but if your trying to represent the edge look and stuff, only the bottom is painted.

 

Im talking about the XLT and FX4 style where the top portion of the 06+ front bumper is painted to match the color code of the truck. For instance hopefully Scott doesnt mind but heres a picture of his truck.




As you can tell there is a seperation and that top portion actually pops off. On the higher end models that top portion ss a smooth plastic thats painted to match your color code and the bottom is the black textured, which on the XL's its just black and textured on the entire bumper. I also thought it was really textured but after looking up close, its kinda like sand texture. From a distance looks totally smooth, you can only tell its textured if you just put ur hands on it or just get down right in front of it.

 

what you can do is sand the texture down and use a high build primer...then it will be smooth...maybe not perfect but you wont notice unless you get really close to it

 

in my opinion, painted texture=no way

this is the answer! use that high build.

 

i know some stuff when it comes to body work...seeing how i work in a body shop lol

 

Well if it was really rough textured then I prolly would or just buy the smooth piece but the texturing on the 06 is very fine and you cant even tell unless its right in front of ur face.

Also I have no doubt that the totally smooth one would probably look alittle better, but to order one its going to be around $150 just for the part, and to sand that whole piece down, and use high build primer and all that is going to be alot of work. I use my truck on the farm alot, take it in the woods, and kinda give it hell at times so its just one of those things that doing all that work or extra money just to scratch is up n ding it up probably wouldnt be worth it you know.

 

What grit would you use to sand it down? WOuld you sand it all the way down or just alittle bit to get the high build to stick?

Then how much and what grits would you use on the high build primer if at all?

Thanks

 

i would use 220 to sand the texture down...it doesnt have to be perfectly smooth but knock it down a good bit...after its primed id block it down with 320 and then wetsand with 600