Spray paint canister from Auto parts store any good?

Front bumper paint is gone towards the bottom.

Are the Spray paint canister from Auto parts store any good?

Can this paint be used other areas - will they require sanding etc after such spraying - I saw a guy spraying outside a parts store.

I have been thinking of going to the body shop and/or to a detailer - not sure what the detailer can do to paint other than polishing - but polishing will remove a layer of the paint, right? Over the years the paint makes the car looks old -not long ago (5yrs or less) it looked shiny.

Base coat/clear coat is a 2 step process. The clear is there for gloss and appearance. Any attempt to use a “1” step coat will look odd. Or blend poorly. There is a reason shops paint the entire bumper cover to repair scrapes/gouges

rubbing compound and a coat of wax should bring it back to life

not the bumper, but the whole car

The auto store paints are actually pretty good these days. Try polishimg the part first to see if that brimgs it back. You can get basecoat clearcoat paints in spray cans in the correct color over the imternet, too. The single stage paints will match but be hard to polish out afterwards to be an invisible repair unless you paint the wholebumper cover. YouTube it, you should find a vid showing how to get good results.

Lightly scuff with a sanding pad. Then clean with paint prep or alcohol. There is special primer for plastic & rubber. Then paint and clear coat.

If you do the proper prep work, if you get lucky on the color match, and if you’re not too particular about the results, then you might be happy, but otherwise you might regret getting into this.

For touching up scrapes on the bottom of the bumper, I’d try it. Anywhere that’s easily seen, it probably won’t look good.

Most bumper covers are a flexible plastic… painted with an elastomeric additive so the dry paint will flex.
You can choose to use a can of Krylon , but be ready for flaking later.

Not sure whether you are talking about the mixed paint such as available from NAPA put into a spray can or the Dupli-Color type paint available in matching colors? The mixed paint will be better and it needs to have the flex additive added to it for bumpers. You also are going to have to add the clear over it and the tint will change some once the clear is added. Matching will be a problem. The paint film thickness will be very thin with Dupli-color, better with the mixed, but still not anywhere near a professional re-finish job.

Buffing will only be effective if the outer clear coat is still in good shape. If not buffing will do nothing. If the clear is shot, you need to sand, prime, color coat, clear coat, color sand with 2000+ grit paper to blend in the paint, and buff and polish. Might want to just spend the $200 to have it done.

Like Ken said, you need the special flex paint for bumper covers…