I finally got around to painting my bumper cap a couple of weeks ago and I'm pretty happy with the results. Especially since I did it in one afternoon with rattle cans. Process was simple:

Sand with 320 & 400 grit sand paper.
1 coat Duplicolor Adhesion Promoter.
3 coats Duplicolor filler primer. 10 minutes between coats.
Wait 30 minutes
Sand with 600 grit
3 coats of Duplicolor Victory Red paint. 10 minutes between coats.
3 coats Duplicolor Clear Top Coat. 10 minutes between coats

It turned out pretty well, but had lots of orange peel with made the color look kind of dull. I waited a week then wet sanded it with 2000 grit sand paper, then buffed the sanding marks out using my PC, Megs #83 on an 4" light cutting pad followed by megs #80 on a polishing pad. After this the color match was better and you could actually see reflections in the paint, lol.

Pictures (truck is dirty as hell):

 

looks great in the pics bud... gonna do the airdam??
you should def do your handles & the black plastic on your mirrors

 

Thanks, man. I can't decide about the airdam......I want to paint it but I think that would be begging for rock chips. The door handles are on my list as well, I already painted the tailgate handle and bezel. I also want to paint the grille shell and mirros but the chrome on the mirros looks like crap (lots of scratches). I guess I could sand through the chrome and paint the whole thing.........? Same thing with the grille shell, I either need to get a paintable one or try to sand through the chrome plating in the middle.

Decisions..............

 

that was what i had planned for mine but i found a set of brand new caps with 3M tape already on Ebay for $25 shipped, i looked to see if they have anymore but it seems the seller is outta them. i will keep an eye out for them if they appear again

i plan to take the chrome ones off on there now and paint all the plastic then put the new chrome ones on... i personally think that would look sweet. the gray surround on the grille will def looks sick

i fear that same thing with the airdam.. ill tell you one thing though it would look smokin on your truck lol

looks great dude, try to get some shots farther away if you dont mind, id like to see some overalls of your truck

 

looks pretty damn good to me!

 

Thanks moregrip!

I'm going to hold off on the full truck shots until I take the incredibly ugly spare tire off, if you don't mind.

 

LOL i hear ya there, look forward to seein them in the future though

 

Hey that looks good, how much sanding did you do for the prep? did you use a orbital sander or by hand? how much did that paint, primer, and adhesion promoter cost? Also was one can enough for 3 coats?

and one other dumb question,, did you have to take the whole bumper of or does that cap somehow come off the bumper?

 

Looks excellent...I'd like to do that to my bumper cap and valance eventually. I'd be interested in a future update on how the paint holds up to rocks and the elements

 

Thanks for the compliments!

Didn't do a lot of sanding, I maybe sanded out 30% of the texture by hand. I used filler primer to level it out instead of spending hours sanding it. The bumper cap pulls right off, you should be able to remove it by just peeling it off starting at the corners. I think everything was around 5 bucks a can so maybe $20 in paint plus a few bucks for various other supplies. One can is plenty.

I think the paint will hold up fine to the elements. The clear coat should prevent discoloration and there isn't much paint exposed so I don't think rock chips will be too much of an issue. You should do it, it's pretty cool being able to brag to people that you painted it with rattle cans. Be prepared for finishing work, though. I was a little too heavy handed with the clear which led to orange peel.