Thinking of Wrapping Chrome Bumper

I'm planning on de-chroming my truck. The biggest challenge is going to be the chrome bumper. I'm not willing at this time to replace the bumper. I'm not a big fan of armor options.

I was thinking about vinyl wrapping the bumper to match the body (Super White).


Has anyone done this? If so:

- Has anyone tried color-matching with the Super White? How closely does it match?
- Where did you get your wrap material?
- How hard is it to do yourself? If I have wrinkles and bubbles, my OCD inner-self is going to scream.

Thanks for the replies. Next steps would be to plasti-dip my badges, either wrap or plasti-dip the chrome surround, and one day, replace the chrome side steps.

Edit - my truck is a concrete warrior, used to haul DIY supplies and the occasional trailer.

 

Not directly what you're looking for but I just got rid of my chrome bumper a couple weeks ago. Took some 80 grit sandpaper and Rust-Oleum bed liner. Didn't take long and cost was <$20

Good luck ditching the ugly chrome.

 

https://www.ecoological.com/toyota-bumper-covers.html

 

I had my chrome bumper wrapped 3.5 years ago when I had my truck done in matte black. Not much help on the white issue with color match.

I believe it is 2mm 3m matte black vinyl, had a shop apply it to the entire truck. Didnt think I could do it myself.

Still looks ok

It takes the most abuse of anything with dragging in the sand and such, or giant rocks.





Just noticed I have almost 0 pictures of the back of my truck in my album.

 

I painted the oem bumper using automotive touch up paint and spraymax 2k clear. Ultra thick clearcoat is very scratch resistant. It did take me a few hours to prep it. Use etching primer. As for wrapping it, I would not personally do so as it is susceptible to damage.

 

Thanks. I'll consider those. But the question still remains on color. Their white is "brilliant white." How does that look with the super white?

 

I've considered painting it. However, I'm a bit nervous as I don't have a lot of experience with auto paint. All my painting experience has been woodworking.

 

I just used spray cans essentially. Automotive touch up mixes their paint like they would at a shop and packages them in aerosol cans. Sand with lower grit like 120 up to 800 or so. Etching primer works to fill in the deeper scratches and preps the bare metal for great paint adhesion.

After flash drying the primer for 30 minutes, spray 2 light coats of base and flash dry in between. Then spray 2-3 thick, wet and glossy coats without letting it run and let flash dry in between. After your final base and 30 minutes, spray 2-3 thick coats of the spraymax 2 part clear.

You don't have to be a pro to paint. The clearcoat will really gloss any imperfections in your base coat. If you are familiar with staining and poly with wood, painting automotive stuff is not much harder. It is simply utilizing the correct primer which greatly promotes adhesion. Plastic parts you would use an adhesion promoter in place of a primer as it allows the paint layers to stick and flex.

 

https://www.automotivetouchup.com/touch-up-paint/

if you decide paint it, here you can get matched color.

 

I hated my chrome bumper and didn’t feel confident in painting it myself so after going through the plasti dip thread and finding a similar thread, a couple other super white owners just plasti dipped it. Mine turned out a lot better than I was expecting and only costed about $14 (1 can of white and gloss). I plan on buying a new bumper eventually though because this one is dented badly so I don’t think the bumper shell posted earlier would fit.
Also just fyi plasti dipping the grill surround is going to be a bitch if you’re a perfectionist and want to do the grill in a different color too. I’ve tried twice now to black out the grill (because it’s all faded and worn looking) and keep the surround white but never comes out as good as i’d like.

 

That looks pretty good! Tone is only a touch off but not bad at all for plastidip.

 

Plastidipping the grille surround is just a waste of time. I did that last year and the amount of debri that comes off the road from other vehicles chips away at it. I’m in the process of painting it after removing all the derp this morning.

It’s not really any more difficult to paint, just more layers. I wish I would’ve just painted it to begin with. I’m probably going to paint my bumper now given how easy it is.

 

Yeah, still undecided what I want to do with the grill and surround. I'd like to change the grill because I think stock looks cheap. As far as the surround, I haven't decided if I want to make it color-matched white, or black, but the more I think about it, the more I'll probably paint that.

 

I’m more of a fan of the blackout of the grille surround and bumper. Only thing that really sucks about the surround is it can be a pain to get off if you haven’t removed one before.

Here’s what one looks like blacked out if you haven’t seen it. That’s when I first Derped it.

 

I used plastidip on my chrome rear bumper before I upgraded to a brute force fab bumper. If you're going to go through the trouble, just do it right and use paint or bed liner. It shouldn't take you more than one or two cans and you can always touch it up later (both plastidip and paint). If you ever accidentally gouge vinyl, there isnt much you can do to patch it where as a new coat of paint does wonders.

 

I would get two cans for the bumper.

 

Agreed, two cans of base coat is more than sufficient. One can of etching primer and one can of spraymax 2k.

 

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I really do appreciate it. I was leaning to rapping because if I messed it up, then I would just peel it off with no damage. I was going to attempt it this weekend. However, I see the logic you guys have shared in painting. Now, I have to think about if I want to tackle that or not. Replacing parts I can do all day. Altering parts makes me a little nervous because if I mess up, then I'm shelling out a lot more $$$.

That said, I'm seriously thinking about painting my both my grill and the chrome surround black.

Thanks again everyone.

 

I went this route when I ditched the chrome bumper on mine:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Painted-04...-Bar-For-2005-2015-Toyota-Tacoma/263124211073

 

Is that a bumper, or a plastic cover?