I've had my car for a good 3-4 years now, I'm afraid to say that paint/body maintenance has been the least of my worries for the past couple years. It is odd because nothing annoys me more then chipping or flaking paint, and rust. Luckily I have kept the rust away, but I have found that the upper portion of my bumper takes a lot of abuse from unloading junk out of my trunk, clear-coat started to chip and I knew I had better do something or it will just get worse.

I wanted some tough paint that isn't going to scratch by unloading and loading the trunk, so I decided I was going to go with truck bed liner, with a coat of clear over the top of it (wouldn't look so flat compared to the rest of the car, and will keep it from fading in the sun).



You'll have to forgive how dirty the car is, plan on washing it after I post this thread. Here's a picture of the damage:



The whole section is very scratched, its hard not scratch when leaning up against it to drag something heavy out from way up in the trunk. I sanded the chipping clear until it was even with the rest of the paint, and roughed up the whole section with 400 grit (would have used 220 had it been available).



This is the rear taped off, I followed a line that is already on the bumper so it would look normal instead of just one big rectangle of mismatching paint.



Results:



I plan on getting some new stainless tips BTW.

 

Interesting idea and it looks like it "hides" fairly nice. Good thought!

 

that's pretty nice, should do the job great too!

hows it feel, is it rubbery? I need to undercoat the monte, but i've heard the rubberized stuff traps moisture, not sure about it yet lol

either way well done

 

Great idea! I should do this to my dad's Monte.

 

Good idea, I wouldn't, but good idea, and doesn't look as bad as I was expecting when I clicked the thread title

 

you could always paint it and use the plastidip clear, that'd work similar too

 

This spray bed liner I used really isn't rubbery at all, its hard to explain but it just dries as a wavy thick coat of paint. You can tell its pretty tough stuff too. It isn't nearly as gritty or rubbery as rhino liner or that herculiner stuff.

As for undercoat, I don't know if you have heard of the stuff before but I would highly recommend Fluid Film. They sell an undercoating kit that includes a gallon of the stuff with a spray gun for applying, it is really unlike anything else I have used before. It takes break dust off rims better than anything I have tried, it works great as tire shine, and does a good job at polishing metal and revitalizing plastics.

Here is a couple pictures after the wash:

 

cool idea. i know mine got scratched from putting my golf clubs in and out of the trunk. but this will only look good if black.

 

cool idea. black is probably the only color you would be able to do this too and still look pretty good.

 

That actually looks a lot better than I first imagined while reading the title Looks like it will do the job!