My rear bumper rusted out from the inside out... it was a mess, and I was not in the mood to deal with it.. until... I was working on the exhaust and hit my elbow against the end and knocked a 3 inch hole in the thing....

I bought the new one on eBay for $123 delivered, streetNshow was the vendor. It said made in Taiwan on the box.

Bought a quart of Omni single stage urethane (MTK) and hardener ($50), used some reducer I had left over from another old job... Quart was only $10 more, I'm a sucker for a bulk buy

Its a great color match, I'll get it on later this week. I ended up using a rust dissolver to clean up the bumper pad, the rust had stained it badly. Its nice and clean again.

I tried to farm out just the painting job, but the quotes came in pretty high ($250 was average). It took me about 3 hours to remove the old, separate the parts, test fit the new bumper, scuff the new bumper, and spray it. I did put a good run on the end when I bumped into my bumper jig (aka jungle him)... so its not perfect. Had I not run it, I think one wouldn't even notice the bumper wasn't factory.

 

Jeez. You got any more pictures of your truck? I haven't seen an 8 year old bumper that bad before. lol

Good job though.

 

Yeah... rust belt! I go through bumpers, its the business end of the truck. Rest of the truck is nice, other than the bed sides are starting to rot from the inside out - like most everyone in the rust belts. If Dodge would just undercoat properly, I'd be much happier.

I put the old bumper on there so I can drive it while I'm waiting for the paint to cure.... here is the only other current picture I have...

 

Wow, I feel sorry for you. That is why I like the fact I don't live up there. lol
My bumper is original and the chrome is immaculate.

 

You don't generally find chrome bumpers rusting out like you do the painted ones, it does happen but not too often. The problem with the painted ones is all it takes is a scratch in the paint and it's all over with.

 

On my last truck, a Chevy, I put 3 chrome bumpers on it by time/mileage. All rusted from the back, where the chrome isn't applied well. I buy new, and try to retain for 10 years.

I'm in western PA, where you can't see more than a couple blocks due to terrain. The state and local govts pile the salt on the road, and that tends to pile up under the vehicle and sticks in corners and tight areas. The coatings that Dodge uses won't stand up to this slurry of nastiness.

You know the manufacturer can do a better job, there are plenty of coating technologies that would help - as well as designing so you don't have areas where stuff is going to get into and sit. I assume the incentive for them to do better isn't strong enough.

I should have replaced this bumper a couple years ago, when it started looking bad... but life's busy.

 

good that you used a catalyzed paint... anything else is junk... to avoid rock chiping an etching primer should be used before paint though. one coat is fine its just for adhesion,,,thats if it was bare metal or that cheap black primer they put on new parts to avoid them from rusting before delivery,,
http://pc.dupont.com/dpc/en/US/html/...19303_615S.pdf

 

I never switch suppliers, I always have part of what I need in the cabinet as a leftover from another job. I've heard Dupont single stage is supposedly better than Omni.

I tossed the new bumper on today, didn't polish it yet. Its plenty shinny, so I'll get to it later. Still a couple fasteners that need bead blasted and painted... stainless steel exhaust tips aren't installed yet either.

Had to clay bar the rest of the truck so it the bumper didn't look out of place!

 

That looks great. What did you do for the plastic?

 

Used the one that came new on the truck. The rust had me concerned. First I tried some home remedies you'd find on the internet. Wasn't working, or I got impatient.

I then used Captain Lee's rust dissolver (picked up at a car show years ago) to remove the rust stains from the plastic. Captain Lee's had the rust off in a couple minutes. Then I just cleaned it really well and hit it with some vinyl protector... I think it was in a yellow spray bottle.

I hope I can keep from hitting it with a shovel this year, we need to do some landscaping... like I said, its a truck!