Refinishing 740 plastic bumpers

Brad

The bumpers on my mum's 740 sedan are looking pretty shabby:

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Could anyone suggest how to refinish them?
Some background:
The bumpers were painted a light grey which was already peeling off when she bought the car in 1999. I attempted to refinish them myself a few years ago using K&H bumper paint. A few months later it started to peel off. I thought I'd prepped the surface well, but maybe not....
I used the same paint to redo my 940's rear bumper and only now is a small section starting to peel but it's lasted about 12 years.
The local car paint shop quoted me $650 to redo both in matte black and that's with me doing all the dismantling. I'd rather have another go myself.
What should I do to prep these bumpers before repainting them? I'd like to make sure they last a lot longer this time.
Thanks for any suggestions.

jamesinc

Umm, if you can reliably strip the paint off, you can always use the heat gun method to re-black them.

In any case, the key to painting is prep. Strip off all the old paint and use prepwash (a.k.a. wax and grease remover) to get those surfaces pristine. if there are any gouges, use a fine file to remove the lip, and if they are large use plasti-filler to fill them, then sand it smooth. Prepwash! All the time!

Do you have paint gear or are you looking to do this with rattle can paint?

@YLD244‌ knows a lot more about painting plastics than I do, if he's around maybe he will chip in with some more information for you.

Dauntless

Buy some bumpers that haven't been painted, and swap them on?

Brad

I think Dad has a spray gun but I'll have to check on that, otherwise it will be a rattle can job. What is the heat gun method?
I guess I must not have cleaned them properly last time. There were some gouges in them that I filled in and the paint has also peeled at those locations.

I thought of getting un-painted bumpers, as long as I could find them in good condition.

Thanks.

Vee_Que

That car came with unpainted bumpers, there is a few products that are designed to blacken unpainted bumpers, but I can't recall the names right now. Doesn't help as they already are painted though.

Brad

Yeah, I use to have a bottle of that stuff - I think it was Turtle Wax branded. Might still have it in the garage. It would be almost as old as Noah's Ark if it's still there.
I think re-painting these is the way to go as the re-blacking stuff would probably show every little imperfection.

ARAB2004

I have just re-done my 740 black trim including bumpers. My bumpers weren't painted so I took them off, cleaned, plastic primed and then used a bumper paint (made by dupicolor I think)...looks good but does show up any imperfections...

Ex850R

There is one that one of the USA sites sells that is beez kneez by all account.

Look up bumper refurbed on VS. IPD , Mathews Volvo Site , even PFS UK.

Brad

I see what the heat gun trick is now (on Matthews Volvo Site). Interesting idea, maybe if I got these bumpers clean enough it might work. But then there are still patches of filler too. Still looks like a paint job....
IPD sells SEM bumper coater. Anyone know if that's equivalent, quality-wise to K&H or some other brand here?

Ex850R

SEM is the beez i think....
The het treatment will work in getting the juices out of the plastic but wont last as the plastic has aged and lost the juices it needs to look good ( dumb , non tech explanation...)

iceton1975

Its cheaper to buy new like I did, than paint them, $280 each front and rear

Brad

I didn't think I'd still be able to get them new from Volvo. Might look into that option too. Thanks.

iceton1975

I just got one 2 weeks ago

iceton1975

iceton1975;38837 wroteI just got one 2 weeks ago

.
They come under Swedish classic now, so may take upto 10 days to come from sweden