Polishing rubber bumpers

[bigjones]

Time for me to relax a bit so I'm just cleaning the car up.

A couple of years back I tried all manner of cleaners/polishes/abrasives but no luck.

I was wondering if anybody had chanced upon the magic elixir of a good polish.

I believe some folks have actually painted them with good results. Trouble is a paint job is usually only as good as the surface and these bumpers have pitting. Maybe that new primer that covers defects would be worth a go.

 

[Guest]

IIRC, Eastwood has a rubber bumper restoration kit, but that's for painted bumpers. I need to do mine also. I planned on fixing scars and then painting. Might want to ask in the B forum too.

 

[bgbassplyr]

WD 40? Supposed to one of the 40 things it will do ISTR.

 

[bigjones]

<span style="font-weight: bold">I planned on fixing scars and then painting</span>
Body color looks nice but after 10 years I actually like the rubber bumpers on Midgets now.

<span style="font-weight: bold">Supposed to one of the 40 things it will do ISTR.</span>
Wow! About the only thing I didn't try. I'll give it a go tomorrow and report back.

 

[Guest]

<span style="font-weight: bold">I planned on fixing scars and then painting</span>
Body color looks nice but after 10 years I actually like the rubber bumpers on Midgets now.

<span style="font-weight: bold">Supposed to one of the 40 things it will do ISTR.</span>
Wow! About the only thing I didn't try. I'll give it a go tomorrow and report back.

I wouldn't use WD or anyt other oil/lube if you plan on painting again in the future. I don't use anything on mine cause I don't want to fight to get it out of the flaws when I go to repair it.

 

[jlaird]

The ones I have seen painted like the car I like.

 

[Guest]

The ones I have seen painted like the car I like.

I can't get past that.

 

[JPSmit]

The ones I have seen painted like the car I like.

I can't get past that.

LOVE it on the MGB's - Midget's not at all, just doesn't work to enhance the lines.

 

[Guest]

Haven't seen a B like that.

 

[aerog]

I believe some folks have actually painted them with good results. Trouble is a paint job is usually only as good as the surface and these bumpers have pitting.

That's right. Pits and dings will show up plenty. For the most part mine are really good, but the few bad areas do look bad. Paint and plastic prep materials have changed a lot over the years, talk to a decent paint shop and get some advice on how to do it...if you choose to of course.

Personally I think some car colors look great with black bumpers, others look better with painted bumpers. I get tons of people stop me and ask about my MGB's bumpers, usually the comments are along the lines of "they should have done that from the beginning".

Unless your goal is originality it really all boils down to personal choice.

 

[texas_bugeye]

Wow that is a really nice look! I have never seen that done before . I really like it! How was that done? I did not know you could paint one of the rubber bumpers.

 

[jlaird]

Again, that is lovely.

 

[JPSmit]

Now by comparison (praying it doesn't belong to anyone here) I find this just looks like it has a fat lower lip.

 

[jlaird]

You are right JP. However it does look better than stock.

Makes you wonder why that was not done to begin with.

 

[Morris]

At the time, bumpers were thought of as a sacrificial part. Something that could get banged up, thrown away and easily replaced. In fact, the whole reason rubber bumpers were added to the car was due to the insurance lobby. Insurance companies did not like paying out for expensive chrome bumpers. They thought it would be cheaper to buy a few congress men and get the "5 mile an hour" bumper laws passed. Also, at the time, people had a nasty habit of parallel parking by nerfing the bumpers of the car in front of and behind them... so in fairness, insurance companies were buying a lot of bumpers.

Of course, now that all cars have painted bumpers, insurance companies deeply regret buying that law. Painted bumpers are extremely expensive to replace. Bolt on chrome bumpers would be much cheaper. But the benefits to weight and aerodynamics of modern bumpers cannot be denied. So there is no going back.

 

[aerog]

Now by comparison (praying it doesn't belong to anyone here) I find this just looks like it has a fat lower lip.

You might have a point.

Some colors look better than others. It all boils down to personal taste really

 

[aerog]

Wow that is a really nice look! I have never seen that done before . I really like it! How was that done? I did not know you could paint one of the rubber bumpers.

Thanks - I've seen quite a few of them done.

I'm not a painter and don't know all the details, but I know <span style="font-style: italic">prep</span> is the key to it. You have to sand the bumpers and smooth them out. Any pits, dings, scrapes, etc will show up. There are a variety of primers and adhesion promoters made to work with that type of bumper material - and there are paints and paint additives made to keep the paint from getting brittle once it's on the bumper.

The biggest concern is paint cracking down the right...and yeah, they'll crack if you don't do it right. Mine have but the car was painted about 12 years ago. They're just hairline cracks that don't show up much unless you really look for them, and they're in high-stress areas.

I think you could help the cracking situation by beefing up the rubber from behind with expanded foam to stiffen up the bumper, or even add a layer of fiberglass behind it. I'm not sure if heat expansion is an issue or not but using the right paint and/or additives might prevent that too.

 

[JPSmit]

Now by comparison (praying it doesn't belong to anyone here) I find this just looks like it has a fat lower lip.

You might have a point.

Some colors look better than others. It all boils down to personal taste really

the fat lip comment is only about Midget's - B's look awesome!

 

[JPSmit]

Makes you wonder why that was not done to begin with.

Don't forget that back then nobody matched paint to bumpers - in the mid 70's blacked out trim was about as cutting edge as it got. And, in fairness, the technology wasn't there for paint match and flexibility etc. etc.

 

[Guest]

My brain isn'r wired for it. It knows they are "supposed" to be black. The B looks nice, but my brain is sqeakin'. As stupid as it sounds, if they were fiberglass relpacements, my brain would be o.k with them being painted. I know it's no different than modern painted bumpers, I just can't get past the mental block. Makes me think of folks that pain chrome body color.

When i was young, I liked modified and custom cars. Now that I'm older, I prefer to see them as closer to stock.

Nice car Scott.