if you want to match the bumper to body color i would clear it, but IMO bumpers shouldnt be body color they should be black and if you do black you dont need clearcoat, and if you use flat black and put clear over it it makes the finish shiney (something else i dont want from my bumper) so it depends on what color you want the bumper to be, if you are doing body color either get it with the clear mixed in, or buy the rattle can body color match and a rattle can of clear (iv done this on a door too )

tm985 where are you located?

 

I say look at it first.. My 99 had a rust spot on the outside, thought i would clean it up.. It was rusted from the inside so in two seconds flat i made it 3x the size xD

 

unfortunately that is also a possibility

 

Good point but I did give it a quick look, I will get underneath and check it out. I know a decent body shop but wasn't really looking to spend like that. That would kinda suck.

I had an 88 toyota 4runner when I first got my license. Thing started to rust like crazy towards the end...luckily my durango is in much better shape than that thing was though.

 

Located not far from Boston, MA.

As far as shops that we have, it's mostly AutoZone, but there's a couple other random places I could go check looking for stuff. I do want to take a closer look at it-I would think that a new bumper like that would be a big PITA-I had a similar replacement on that old Toyota I was talking about in the previous post it was like $400 to throw on but it color matched so I didn't need to paint it.

I was actually thinking about throwing one of those aftermarket grilles on the front of my durango but I'm going to take a look at the bumper to make sure it's not rusting from the inside out.

 

You would only replace the top metal and not the lower plasctic piece, ebay its like $80 shipped to your door (not painted)..

 

well I did just take a look at it and it looks like it's not in bad shape...it does have the appearance of minor rust inside and near the bolts but other than that not bad. Also the rust spot that I had mentioned is still firm and doens't feel like my thumb is gonna go through when I put a good amount of pressure on it (thank god) so it looks like I should be able to sand/black primer?? then put that grey on top of it like you said.

 

Thats good
Sand > degrease > Rust convertor > Primer > Paint
Mentioned rust convertor because you dont want to attempt to grind all the way down to good metal with pitting.

 

good point, it's not exactly smooth.

Other than that I looked around the whole vehicle, there's not much road noise if any when driving-can I expect that it will last a long time before it starts falling apart? it's in real good shape right now, ESPECIALLY for the years and the mileage.

 

As for rust, keep an eye on the window seal/scrapers @the bottom of the side windows, tailgate as everyone knows, under the door sils