Taking off the bumpers

[brndns_hoe]

Anyone know where to even start taking the front/rear bumpers off so I can paint them???

 

[YNOT]

not hard. it's just bolts, lay under there and you'll figure it out.

 

[brndns_hoe]

cool, i figured as much, but thought i'd ask b4 i break something that could have easily been avoided

 

[brndns_hoe]

well, I managed to do the rear bumper today, the front will have to wait 'til next weekend....

 

[tast101]

oooo looking goood!! Guess I know what I'm doing, now. hahah

 

[brndns_hoe]

thanks bro, ya the shop was gonna charge $600 for front and back, but I'm doing it for less than $100

 

[rogue status hoho]

well, I managed to do the rear bumper today, the front will have to wait 'til next weekend....

damn, that loooks so much better! Ive been wanting to do this desperately to my tahoe too! can you please tell me the process you went through to do this? What you had to buy too? thanks! once again, looks great!

 

[brndns_hoe]

i picked up a random orbital sander at home depot, ryobi brand, for about 40 bucks and 80 grit sandpaper. sanded the chrome til it wasn't shining anymore(still the chrome color, just dulled). oh, and cleaned it with soap and water before and after, but wax/grease removal is probably better. picked up from O'Reilly's a can of self etching primer, a can of primer, a can of duplicolor black, and one of clear coat. sprayed the self etching primer first, 3 or 4 layers, then the primer, then took some 800 grit sandpaper, lightly wet sanded it(not with the orbital sander, just by hand) enough to smooth out the primer. Then a few coats of black, and then clear coat and that was it....Although I think I should probably sand it with some super fine sandpaper and then use rubbing compound to get it to shine a little bit better. I used nearly all the black and clear coat, so more will be needed to do the front bumper. A lot more in my opinion to hold up against the elements, plus I'll be doing the valance and bumper cap as well.

As far as taking the bumper off, you should take off the plastic top first, underneath there a plastic "pegs" for lack of a better word, you can squeeze with needle nose pliers and it pops out easily...then you'll see there's 4 bolts sticking through the top. I already forgot the socket size, but it was a little loose, but worked. Metric would probably be better to use. Also used a small wrench, easier to get to most of them. And there's 2 bolts below to take out also. Unplug the license plate lights. Then just work the bumper off. The bottom plastic piece comes off like the top one. The toughest thing for me to get out was the..uh..to the right of the license plate where there's a lock to remove when you drop the spare tire.

It was simple enough to figure out how to remove, but I figured I'd spell it out, might make it a little faster for ya.

 

[tast101]

I got a paint gun, maybe next year I'll order some primer, paint and clear coat and have a painting frenzy.

 

[brndns_hoe]

paint gun!? i'm jealous...