This weekend, I had great results painting the bumpers/wrap around valence/side trim/underside grille and plastic on the front and rear on our 92 sedan and 94 wagon. Thought this might help some of you guys - the faq really doesn’t go into this much detail, but as I’ve done a bit of auto painting, I thought I could pass on how easy this is to do.

For under $50 (from by local auto paint store), I purchased 1 qt of SEM #39144 Trim Black (acrylic lacquer), 1 gallon of acrylic lacquer thinner and 1 pt of SEM #38354 plastic prep. Now I have an HVLP paint gun, and mixed the trim black 1:1 with the lacquer. However, SEM sells #39143 (I think this is the corresponding # for the color I used) in the rattle can for about $8-9 per can. So, if you don’t have a paint gun, two-three rattle cans and the plastic prep would work just fine for just around $30. Your paint store should have a color chip book of all the SEM bumper colors - there are many, many choices. I just took my best guess and am happy with the shade.

Interesting point: The two cars had different color schemes: The 94 had solid black front/rear bumper/trim while the 92 had a combination of black, gray body color and a darker shade of gray body color just on the top strips of the front/rear bumpers. All black areas on both cars were completely faded and chalky looking. However, the 92’s gray paint on top of the bumper was peeling/flaking off, and the lighter gray body color had plenty of nicks and scratches. So my wife and I decided we would make the whole thing black.
Really simple process. Each car took about one hour to prep and mask.

First, I used a gray (fine?) scotchbrite pad with some comet/bon ami style powder and water from the garden hose. The idea is to not only clean, but completely scuff up the areas you plan to paint. I went over everything twice with the scotchbrite. On the 92 with the flaking paint, I wet sanded the top of the rear bumper with #600 grit paper (wrapped in like a 3”x4” sanding pad) - a paint stick will work well too (especially getting under the rear quarter lips). When finished, I liberally washed the area with water and wiped down with a towel. I then parked the car in the sun (on an incline) to let all the water seep out and dry.

After about 15 minutes in the sun, I pulled the car back in the garage and wiped down everything with the plastic prep and a clean, lint free rag. I then began masking off the body color on the fenders/quarters with 3M masking tape (the g0od stuff at home depot). I also masked the door trim. Home depot also sells green masking paper, which I then applied overlapping the tape I just layed down. I went back and slighly overlapped this paper with a second paper application just in case I had any crazy overspray - which I didn’t with the HVLP gun. Overkill I know, but it only took five minutes. If you use the rattle can, I advise you apply possibly even a third layer of paper. Cheap insurance against overspray.

I let the car sit in the garage overnight before spraying - as I didn’t want any water seeping out and ruining my prep work. So the next day, I shot everything. Just dust on for the first coat - use smooth, overlapping strokes from one end of your target to the other. Remember, less is more for the first few coats. By the fourth dusted coat or so, you’ll start to see the full coverage. After the fourth dusted coat, you can begin applying the color more heavily. Remember, as I didn’t use any primer, I wanted to create a nice base for my thicker, heavier coats - which is what I did. The SEM laquer lays down very, very nicely. I had no runs, nor would I anticipate you having any.
It dries almost immediately - so probably 10 minutes after you spray your last area, you can remove the paper/masking tape. Be sure, before you pull all the paper/tape off, you quickly pull the car out in the sunlight so you can see if you missed any areas. I have great lighting in my garage, and I still missed a couple spots. But don’t keep it out in the sun for long with the masking tape on.

One last thing - we had plenty of nicks/scratches/gouges in the rear bumpers/valance. I didn’t fill any of them, or even sand them down too much. The paint does a good job of hiding them - not filling them - but hiding them. You really don’t notice them anymore.

Good luck!