Color-Keyed / Painted Bumper Question - Toyota Tundra Forums : Tundra Solutions Forum

Andy · #1 (**permalink**) 09-23-2002, 06:14 PM

To make a long story short (I got hit), I will be getting two new bumpers this week. I had the chrome bumpers that came with the LTD pkg in 2000. I am going to get the painted bumpers to match my Thunder Grey truck, but had a question.

For those of you with painted or color-keyed (non-IS) bumpers, is the plastic trim piece on the bottom of the front bumper still black, or is that painted to match your truck? The body shop said they could paint it or keep it black, whatever I wanted, since it is a seperate piece than the bumper.

I searched every photo here and on the internet and looked thru every thread and found nothing. Any help would be most appreciated!

I know this is probably supposed to be in the Interior/Exterior forum, I just posted here to get more visibility (I am hoping for a quick answer

)

Thanks,
Andy

darth tundra · #2 (**permalink**) 09-23-2002, 07:02 PM

mine is not painted, it is the flat black plastic color like the mud guards.

Andy · #3 (**permalink**) 09-23-2002, 07:15 PM

Darth, thanks! It looks like your truck is black by looking at your pics? If it were a lighter color (like my Thunder Grey), do you think the plastic trim piece being black would look goofy with a painted bumper?

I've looked for photos of a lighter color truck with a painted bumper with no luck

.

Thanks,
Andy

darth tundra · #4 (**permalink**) 09-23-2002, 08:24 PM

im with hovisimo.....dont paint the bottom trim piece. It will get beat up by road debris. Plus, even though its a flat black color, it tends to be on the gray-ish side, so I think it would look great with your thunder gray truck. I think if you painted it, all the chips in it would show very quickly.

Andy · #5 (**permalink**) 09-23-2002, 08:36 PM

Thanks guys!

Eventhough I haven't seen any pics, I tend to agree. Just thinking about all the chips, etc, makes me want to opt for the normal black/greyish color.

Yellbird · #6 (**permalink**) 09-23-2002, 10:31 PM

I've had mine painted for a couple of years and not a chip yet, thats not to say it can not happen but so far so good.

Simias · #7 (**permalink**) 09-23-2002, 11:32 PM

if your painter puts flex agent in the paint it should withstand all of the rock chips. it'll just get absorbed into the urethane lip. if you were painting over metal then you'd probably have chipping problems, but urethane is very forgiving and if the painter did a good job then you shouldn't have a problem. i had it done on my old ride and it withstood chips for years. just my $0.02.

i agree w/ Hovisimo and Darth about it looking good just the way it is because of the color of your ride. so it's really up to you.

btw, Andy, your ride is sweet already, but painting the bumpers is gonna make it look even better!

see...good kinda came out of a bad situation!

TundraV84Me · #8 (**permalink**) 09-24-2002, 01:23 AM

here is a pic of my front end

Andy · #9 (**permalink**) 09-24-2002, 11:42 AM

Chris, thanks for the heads-up about the flex agent stuff. If I decide to go that route, I'll ask the shop about it. I really am excited to get painted bumpers now. Like you said, a silver lining is shining through!

TundraV84Me, thanks for the pic. I see that it looks like your entire bumper is the same color, trim piece and all. I saw a green Tundra with the same set up this morning and it looks real nice. The only thing I'm gonna be missing is the painted grill!

Thanks for the input,
Andy

TundraV84Me · #10 (**permalink**) 09-24-2002, 11:59 AM

Andy,

Pull that puppy off and get the shop to paint the grill too

I'm sure if you pull it off it will be cheaper...............besides they will already have the paint mixed up for the bumpers. I'm sure it would help too if you masked off everything that you don't want painted too.

Now is your chance to get a little creative with the grill too.

TundraV84Me · #11 (**permalink**) 09-24-2002, 12:01 PM

You can even have all the inserts painted too.

I don't think anyone has it done like that.

Molocue did something like that............don't remember exactly how it looked. I'm sure there is a pic of his truck from one of the events.

His truck is red like mine....................

Andy · #12 (**permalink**) 09-24-2002, 01:08 PM

Maybe I'll leave work a little early today and swing by the shop to take a look at the grill and see what they can do. I'm not sure if they can paint the grill surround and the horizontal center slat because mine has the chrome accents, not the painted kind.

The more you guys talk, the more I'm leaning towards getting that black trim piece painted like the bumper.

I'll check it out!

Simias · #13 (**permalink**) 09-24-2002, 01:12 PM

Andy....not to dig deeper into your wallet, but have you thought about getting the base model grill and painting that. just a thought!

Andy · #14 (**permalink**) 09-24-2002, 01:25 PM

Chris, that's what I currently have and I'm going to see about maybe painting that. My only concern was that it has the chrome surround and center slat and I'm not sure about painting that.

Are you talking about something different, like a flat black one? I've only ever seen the base model chrome grill.

Simias · #15 (**permalink**) 09-24-2002, 01:28 PM

yeah, i was talking about the bone stock, no frills, chromeless flat black grille. i've only seen them on the regular cab tundras though. i think that painted would look sweet!