Painted bumpers and Grille

On those bumpers (50s Chevs) Ive cleaned them up with a grinder and soft pad and "to me" they looked better in the raw semi polished metal, than painted or peelin chrome.

 

I would paint them silver,would look lots better than the black.Just my opinion.Car looks good that color,I am like you,just drive it and enjoy it,you can change little things later.

 

Great car and color.I would say go with the silver,but the longer I look at it I like it.Wait till spring and think about it.

 

love the car, love the paint! Ain't crazy bout the bumper and grill.

 

I think painted silver would have looked better...but then it might look like one of those ugly ass "pro touring" camaros...

 

silver or take them off. black distracts from a nice looking car.

 

So... what did you do?

 

I'd rather have/see bad chrome than painted chrome, but that's just me!

 

I am going to go against what most of you have said. I think painting bumpers silver in lieu of chrome is a bad idea. It looks cheap, like you wanted chrome but had to settle for silver paint (which is the case but why would you want others to think that). I also think painting bumpers the same color as the car looks terrible, like you wanted a newer car. Though the grille looks a little "heavy" painted black, I actually do like the black bumper with that color car. I think you need to get a front bumper on there painted black and see if you can find some kind of chrome grille bar to break up the black on the front just a little.

Take my thoughts or leave them.

david

 

hey FIFTY2...man i appreciate Ur honesty! i don't think black is all that bad. O. K. that wouldn't be honest on my part. but HONESTLY! i do think silver would be fine. and i'am so glad U intend to chrome later. and anybody who does not see Ur intentions is BLIND! i love your little ride HONESTLY!!! POP.

 

The satin silver looks better than the black, but do what you want...like you said, enjoy driving it...

 

don't paint them sliver it just looks like shit ,i would sand them down with a da sander and spary some satin clear on them for now,thats what i did on my 55

 

I havent done anything yet, just been driving it!

 

Silver paint on bumpers just makes it look like you think your fooling someone...
They don't look terrible in black, but it DOES just darken out the grill area a lot. I think what Mr. Gambino mentioned might be the ticket, but, it doesn't look awful, by any means, for now...

 

The original owner of my '53 Chevy painted the grill and bumpers silver when the chrome peeled.

My '54 Customline has silver painted bumpers.

It looks better than pitted, rusty, peeling, or body colored in my opinion. Sometimes i think the silver accents the paint better than chrome even.

 

That is what is great about our hobby, you can do what you want, and no matter what that is, some people will like it, and some people won't. I do not like painted silver/chrome, or black bumpers. I like your car, though.

 

rattle can silver???? never!!!

 

They make some real nice powder coat finishes that look like aluminum. I panted mine to look like aluminum and they look pretty good in my opinion.
The fact that you are asking, makes me think you are not happy with it so, try the aluminum looking paints maybe or the powder coating.

 

Peaster is NW of Weatherford

 

amen....

 

that's a real nice car but [please lose the black paint. just strip em and go bare metal

 

Stole the bumper off of the desoto i got...
Was acutally a pretty easy fit, had to do some trimming to make it fit, and had to make new bumper brackets, but im lovin the look, will post more pics in the daylight, if it ever warms up.....

 

That's a huge improvement. Now take care of the front end and you'll have a really bitchin' ride.

 

I agree, I like the way this looks, I have the same DeSoto bumpers which I plan to use on my '53 Ford. Get yourself some heavy-cut paint buffing compound and you'll be able to clean the rust stains and whatnot off of those bumpers without scratching them, looks like they'll actually clean up really nice. Don't ruin them with steel wool.

That rear bumper actually matches the contours of the back of the car pretty well.

 

That Desoto bumper looks really damn good. Like it was made to go there.

- Joe

 

Thanks for the info on the compound, any particular brand you have used?
I did go over one of the rust spots with 2000 grit just to see what was under it, and it cleaned up pretty well, I was just about to ask what to use on it.....

 

I'm lookin to do the same on my '49. Bought it all shot in primer, I want to strip the paint and either paint the bumpers silver or tidy 'em up and shoot em in clear. I've seen a few posts about how clear adheres to bare metal, but what would the best clear/procedure be? I just don't want to do hours of prep work for hours of clear before it starts chipping away.

 

my model A bumpers were rattle canned silver. looked cheap. I stripped the paint with chemical stripper and the old chrome (or nickel) that was thin and scratched looked better than the paint.

I like the Desoto bumper!!!!!!

 

take em offfff, sand em down and buff em till you can afford the chrome, great looking rod though

 

i got silver painted grill and both bumpers looks fine,yours wants doing silver,looks ok tho.do em silver