2012 Ford F-150 Regular Cab XL Upper front bumper

I’ve been looking around for a while online and couldn’t seem to find any pictures, or products for this. I want to color match my upper front number piece that is black plastic. I’m looking to see if anyone has done this before, or if anyone has any suggestions. I’m talking about the little plastic part that goes up a short distance in the side of the lights.

Why not have a body shop do it?

Don’t know how much it’ll cost, and if they can do it or not.

Well , you could ask a body shop that question .

It’s what they do every day, and you won’t know how much they’d charge until you ask.

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True, true

I was just curious if someone had done it then selves or not.

I had a Ford product with a ton of black plastic - a Merkur XR4Ti. I painted the pebbled black plastic lower panels on the car. Took a bit of wet sanding to get smooth. A few coats of primer with sanding in between and then shot with matching black enamel paint with flex additive. These days I’d use 2 part urethane paint with clearcoat to match the rest of the truck. No need for flex additive with urethane paint.

I’d suggest removing the panel and painting it off the truck as will the body shop if you choose that route… It will save time and make a better job.

If you don’t have a compressor, a good spray gun it will give the best finish. Buy the best available charcoal filtered respirator, don’t even think of trying this without one.

You could spray can it with matching paint ad primer from various sources online but you still need the respirator. Buy several cans so you can sand some off and spray again if you don’t spray it smooth.

So would any pneumatic spray gun be sufficient? Obviously not a 5 dollar Walmart piece of junk, but like a decent campbell hausfeld gun?

I have been using a C-H touchup gun on small jobs for years. It lays down a very nice finish. I’d expect the full size gun to be just as good.

The price of materials will make your wallet smoke a bit - be prepared! Painting materials can be expensive. At least it isn’t red! Red is much more expensive.

It sure is! I just helped my neighbor paint his lowboy semi trailer with red oxide paint, mixed with paint thinner. His wallet was about gone once we finished. We were also dumb enough to do the whole thing with out masks🤣

Don’t do that again! It can destroy your lungs. Seriously, especially urethane paints that require a hardener.

We were coughing it up for days. He had two different guns, and I was lucky enough to be using the one that didn’t make a giant cloud of paint when you sprayed it.