im trying to paint my car little by little im trying to start with the bumpers but they are plastic stock black and idk if i can paint them any diffrent color ive never done that before idk if they can be sand down can some one help me out pls

 

You may want to post this in the correct forum, as this is a technical forum (so you can get the most help that you obviously need).

Your better bet would be to "E" coat the bumpers. Around me it costs $60-$100 depending on what it is. Then use a flexible paint - otherwise cracks will develop. You have a LOT to learn and SEARCHING is your best friend... Ever hear of the Google or the YouTube?

 

"e-coat" is a coating thats applied at the manufacturer. when you order new METAL body parts, and the arive all blacked out, thats e-coat. you can scuff it up and prime/paint over it depending on what the manufature recommends.

you can not apply it to plastic. brand new plastic bumpers that arive all blacked out, is just plastic. probably with some kind of oily mold release on the surface - wont be on a 20 year old civic.

to paint the bumpers i would start by cleaning it, i would use dish soap and water to make sure everything is stripped off of the plastic, followed by wax and grease remover. you can either use coarse scotch-brit pad or "0" synthetic steel wool to scuff out any part of the bumper that looks shiney. scuff it untill its all dulled out. if you have access to a dual action sander (a.k.a. D.A. sander, and prefferably this type) or a random orbital (will do the job as well) and use some 180-220 grit to knock down any knicks and scraps, finishing off with the scotch pad.

from here on it gets a bit lengthy, but to make a long story short you would prime, block-sand, maybe prime again, followed by more block-sanding, color, and clear.

weather you use the rustolium method, rattle can, or professional type equipment, its all the same, you want everything smooth and even. i wouldn't suggest rattle can unless you are pretty seasoned at laying down paint, which i doubt you are since you're asking about it.

and the flex additive n3va is talking about, i wouldn't really worry about it because we have small rigid bumpers. you want that stuff in the primer when you're spraying big floppy bumpers, like maybe an eg bumper, and definatly anything bigger (ek, em, ep, so on) as its just a round floppy plastic bumper. the paint doesn't need any flex adds nor the clear. just primer. if you want it.

and honestly once you're ready for primer, if you can find 3m rattle can primer its actually pretty decent. make sure you take the bumper off the car when you decide to apply anything to it too. easier to mask it this way and nobody likes ricer looking over-spray all over the car. something thats become all too common for our civics with kids these days.

 

There is more of a "1-step" method to painting black plastic. Go buy plastic prep compound, and brown scotchbrite. You just squeeze some of the compound into the scotchbrite, sand with it, rinse off with water, then paint it with whatever you want to use for paint.

I recently painted my plastic fenders and bumpers, you can check out the results here. I was really pleased.

https://honda-tech.com/forums/showpo...8&postcount=14

https://honda-tech.com/forums/showpo...9&postcount=23

https://honda-tech.com/forums/showpo...4&postcount=28

 

Oh really... Just the first thing to pop up... I have had stuff done before anyways - plastic that is. Whatever it may be called - but here is a company that says they can e-coat stuff.

http://www.chemarkconsulting.net/doc...er_APRIL06.pdf