Looking for feedback from Rattle Can painters about long term paint results
 

So the paint on my front bumper is chipped very badly and I'd love to have it repainted, but since it's a purely cosmetic fix I'm not willing to drop the money it would take to have a paint shop do it. As an alternative I'm considering doing a rattle can paint job in my garage. I've been searching the forums about rattle paint and there are quite a few of you out there that have done this on bumpers, lips, etc.. and have been pleased with, what I can tell from the threads, the immediate results and some of the pictures I've seen look pretty promising.

What I'm looking for now is for anyone who has done a rattle job on their car and can share results of the job several weeks, months, years later, specifically giving feedback about longevity of the paint/clearcoat, if it's started chipping again, fading, etc... Also it would be great to know what products were used and where they were purchased from and what your experiences with those retailers/websites was like good or bad.

Currently the main sites I've found are paintscratch.com and automotivetouchup.com.

Any feedback anyone can give is much appreciated! Along with pics!!! Let's see what you got :)

I did my front Stillen lip last year in my garage. It came out beautifully but if I was to do it again (which I will be this spring) I'd have a pro do it. Why? Because almost anyone can make it look good immediately but it needs to last through all the weather, abuse, etc. I followed the book on painting it - scuffed, adhesion promoter, flex primer, paint, clear but within a year I had some defects, chips etc.

I can't remember the products I used but they were good quality from the Carquest paint dept. and they weren't cheap. I'll be spending the extra this year to have it done right along with some other paint fixes.

I think you can do a great job with rattle cans. I got my Stillen lip professionally painted, and it already has some chips, but I figure that's just going to happen, especially since it's on the front of the car and it gets driven a lot. I don't think it's the painters fault, especially since the rest of the part stills looks great today when it's all cleaned up. :gotme: Guess you gotta look into plastic covers for that.

As far as I can tell, if you follow the process of painting for a professional outcome, that's what you'll get if you do it right and don't rush it.

Do it wrong and it'll look like absolute sh8t

How about professionally fixing it and then paying extra for a plastic clear tape? If you use reputable company I think it'll outlive the car so you never have to worry about it again.

I assume by your location that you get some pretty harsh winters with snow, salt on the roads, etc... I'm in Northern California so I don't deal with the same weather. In fact lately, we barely even get any rain.

Do you recall how many coats of paint/clear you put on? And if you used a 1K or a 2K clear?

The whole idea is to save money. I agree that having it professionally done would be best but I just can't bring myself to spend the money. Plus, I enjoy the DIY aspect of things so it's also an opportunity to learn something new. I have considered rattle painting and then putting a clear bra on but that's getting pricey.