Hey Steven,

I hope all is well with your Navigator, and you got it fixed. I'm in the process of having my rear bumper and step pad painted, but the body shop says they can't paint the bottom gray part because it was textured paint from the factory and the step plate for the rear bumper can't be painted. If they paint it, they say it will flake off. Have you had any problems with the paint on your bumper or step pad? Did your painter have to do anything special to make the paint stick? I just got a new front bumper from an outfit and it came painted all white, so I don't need to have it painted, but I wanted to get my rear bumper to match. Any help you can offer, or anyone else out there have any ideas, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

i have had no problems with it flaking or peeling....
they do come painted from the factory though..

i think they just sanded mine and painted it...
and put 2 coats of clear coat on everything...

i had them use PPG paint as well...i think that is the best auto paint besides DuPont..........as long as they put that clear coat on there it will be fine...

good luck with it.....

still have not heard anything on my truck..

the insurance adjusted was supposed to go to the body shop where i have it parked and look at it today but i dont know if he did or not..

they said if the insurance does not total it that it will be in the shop for 6-8 weeks....

i hope they total it though cause he hit my hard enough to bend the roof...
not sure if i ever posted about that....

i tried putting the sunroof back the other day and it wouldnt go and when i looked at my roof i saw it was bent inward...

how do they fix this?????????????????????????

 

Thanks Steven. I kind of figured the same, and had it confirmed by a couple different body shops today. Did you have your whole bumper painted or did they just mask of the silver and paint the gray part? What was the cost you paid for your painter to do that?

 

i had them strip and repaint the silver part....

it was $250 for the front bumper and the rear bumper and the tow hitch...

 

I sprayed mine with a gloss black and clear coat in the back and it turned out great. As far as the Step PAD on the back goes, I painted it black in the same manner and the first time I took it to the carwash it started to flake off. As for the front, i am having it painted black and it is cosint me 400$, while they fix my bent/broken Side Panel piece. (check photo gallery). Anwyas, they are painting the stone deflector as well, but said that the side Panels wouldn't work cuz they were textured and the paint would flake off...... Although, i have seen tons of nav's with them painted. They said they could do everything but the textured part, including the grey parts at the bottom of the door pannels...

 

Thanks PhatNav,

I got mine done last week and I will tell you it turned out great. I had a minor accident that wiped out my front bumper so it seemed like the best time to do it. I found a place on line called www.Bumpers.com that specializes in blemished bumpers from the factory. I ordered a new front bumper cover form them and it cost $197.00 shipped to my address, and it came painted. You can order it all one color or with the gray panel. I thought mine was going to come with the top part (on 98's and 99's it is also gray) painted the body color, but the bottom would still be gray. To my surprise it was painted all white. Well that took care of the front being monochromed. I needed to get the grill support painted that was also damaged and replaced, so I decided to get the rear bumper painted then. The paint shop, after quoting me about $200.00 to paint those two pieces, then said they coudn't paint the bottom of the rear bumper because it was textured and it would flake off and also jacked the price up to $330.00. I went to a couple different paintshops and found a guy who would do ijust the bumper for under $200.00. After some negotiations with the original body shop, they agreed they could do it and we agreed to a price of $225.00 for the rear bumper and front grill insert. It came out looking great. I didn't have the step pad painted, as I agreed with them that it would be to hard to keep paint on it.

Definitely get a proffesional to paint your bumpers, as it will look awesome when it's done. I'll try and get a camera to post some pictures.

 

i still have had no problem with my top step pad on my rear bumper........................

mine is never parked in a garage and is driven everyday....


i think they look much better with the top painted but obviously most shops wont do it cause i have only seen one other navi that had the top pad painted....