Fed up with people skipping the prep stage on plastic bumpers

Honestly, I keep seeing guys just scuff and shoot on these aftermarket bumper covers without any adhesion promoter. Did a touch-up on a 2020 Civic last week where the paint started peeling after two months because of that shortcut. Took me like an extra 20 minutes to strip it back and do it right. How do you all handle customers who just want the cheap fix without the proper prep work?

2 comments

2 Comments

piper_flores691mo ago

Two years ago I probably would have been one of those guys skipping the prep. I did a bumper on my own 2015 Ford Focus, just scuffed it and shot it with base and clear. Six months later it was peeling around the edges and I had to do it all over again with the proper adhesion promoter and primer. That taught me the hard way that those 20 minutes of prep save you from having to strip the whole thing and start over. Now when a customer pushes for the quick fix I show them pictures of that peeled bumper and explain it'll cost them double in the long run. Most of them end up paying for the full prep once they see what happens otherwise.

gonzalez.vera1mo ago

Oh man, that is the exact kind of lesson you don't forget! My buddy did the same thing on his old Civic, skipped the adhesion promoter because he was in a hurry to get it done before a car meet. Looked great for about three months then started bubbling up around the edges like a bad sunburn. He ended up having to sand the whole thing down to bare plastic and start from scratch, which took him way longer than if he'd just done it right the first time. The funny thing is he still tries to tell people it's fine to skip it (you know, to justify his own laziness) but I've seen the aftermath and it's a hard pass for me. Nothing beats doing it right the first go around, even if it feels like extra work in the moment.