Bumper paint stripping advice

[Scooter]

I'm completely clueless re paint wrapping etc, so can someone take a look at the attached and tell me if this is how regular paint cracks, it seems thicker than I'd imagined but like I say i'm clueless.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to strip it completely? You can see I can easily remove the bits that have been stressed in a bump but the rest is holding firm.

[evinX]

Looks like the gel coat has cracked, a smooth filler that goes over the fibreglass to make the part smooth. It does crack, have to pull it all of and put filler where the cracked gel was.

[Scooter]

Cheers, It's a smooth surface underneath, it's one of the few bumpers made from polyurethane not fibre glass so naturally has a smooth finish I think? I'll look into what gel coat is presumably it gives the paint some toughness/flexibility?

[ripped_fear]

Looks like paint crazing to me from impact. If its polyurethane don't fill it. Strip back to the plastic and paint over again, only way to get rid of the marks, simply painting over them will cause the new paint to sink and highlight the problem again.

[Scooter]

Yep it's definitely had a bump and the paint has flaked where most stressed, but these bits peeled off easily, is there a good way of tackling the other bits where the paint is still very firmly bonded?

[ripped_fear]

Yep it's definitely had a bump and the paint has flaked where most stressed, but these bits peeled off easily, is there a good way of tackling the other bits where the paint is still very firmly bonded?

 

You will need allot of disks, and sand it right back on a DA or something similar, would take forever by hand. If the rest of the paint is ok, then scotch bright it up, so it has no shine, then feather it into the area you have to fully strip to the plastic.

[Scooter]

Ok cheers mate sounds like a job for a friendly body shop friend! I've got it up for sale but may keep it now, bodywork stuff just scares me a bit, with the worry of having to tweak intercooler bits etc but all part of the fun I guess, and ultimately the stillen is tougher and I don't think it sticks out as much as my current one so the approach angle will be better.

[ripped_fear]

Ok cheers mate sounds like a job for a friendly body shop friend! I've got it up for sale but may keep it now, bodywork stuff just scares me a bit, with the worry of having to tweak intercooler bits etc but all part of the fun I guess, and ultimately the stillen is tougher and I don't think it sticks out as much as my current one so the approach angle will be better.

 

A body shop will make light work of it, but is more than do-able at home, but the paint would IMO need doing in a booth properly. Unless you have the tools, and time needed, then it wont be worth your bother doing the prep work yourself. That bumper could be flatted back, primed, painted and cleared, in a matter of a few hours at a body shop.

[Scooter]

I get you cheers, as it was just flaking off I had visions of diy'ing! I might try looking at my bumper to see if I can whip it off and offer up this one and check for fmic clearance and mounting points etc, thanks for the info.