I made a mistake this weekend relying on clear coat from a can, now the front of my car looks like crap. Long story short, ever since I had the car it has had a ton of rock chips. My girlfriend got tired of it and literally filled in all the rock chips with touch up paint. Then to top it off, I followed the instructions to clear coat it by using off the shelf clear from Advance Auto Parts. Next thing I know, the bumper and edges of fender/hood are matte black, while the rest of the car is gloss black.

Is there any way I can remedy this myself? If I have to repaint, is there a DIY I can follow myself? I have been calling around town for quotes to repaint the front, but haven't had time to bring the car in to get a quote (have a really busy schedule).


I attached a picture from 2 weeks ago from Deal's Gap, and a few pictures of how it looks after this fiasco.

Please help!

 

Given all of the imperfections on that bumper I'd say the matte clear coat is probably the least noticeable aspect of it. The bumper needs a good re-paint just for the damaged areas alone. I give your girlfriend props for trying to make it look better, my wife would never lift a finger to work on my s2000, lol. I think the clear coat you used was a matte finish ?, some are glossy some are matte, etc.

You can try to claybar and wet-sand the bumper and follow it up with a good polish to see if you can get it to shine up a bit in the short term. In the long term I'd honestly get it repainted, it will make the car look a million times better. Good luck.

 

Yea I know it looks like crap before and after. I just never painted it since I kind of liked not babying the car. I routinely go to tracks day and road trips, and I really enjoyed driving it however I wanted without being worried.

I got quotes from $1500-$2000 for the front end, which I really don't want to spend on the car at this point. It's going on 175k miles and slowly becoming a weekend fun car.

I'll see if those ideas help it out a bit.

 

$1500-$2000 is a bit steep. I found a place that redid my daughter's TL front bumper, repair, repaint, and remount for $300. Looks great a year later still.

Try boning up on repainting/repairing bumpers on uTube and all. You can go several routes.

Find a better place. Try dealers (Honda) and "specialty" car sales outlets. They usually have in house shops and will probably cut you a deal. That is what I did. Dealer fix up shops often work only a couple or one day a week to work on the trade ins. Schmooze.

Fix, sand, and prep the bumper. Take it to a paint shop. Remount or maybe they painted it on the car as it is just the bumper. Could find a used one without all the damage.

Do it all yourself. Prep it, then paint it yourself. You can find aerosol cans, 3 step cans-base, color, clear- that match the Honda paint. Starts at $100 for the 3 cans.

 

I took off my bumper and took it into a paint shop and got it done for $300, then reinstalled it. I left the rest of the front end the way it was, much less expensive that way.

 

That was the original plan until the clear overspray got on the fenders and hood. Now those will need to be repainted as well.

 

You could always compound and buff the fenders and hood to remove the overspray and have the bumper cover refinished, save some $$$ that way.

 

Did exactly that today.

Wetsanded the fenders and hood, then applied rubbing compound. I have a few more layers to do before adding some polish, but its starting to look better than before!

As for the bumper, I'm just going to take it off and take it to the shop as was recommended. I might get it covered in a clear bra when its done to keep this from happening again.