After washing, waxing and polishing my '87 dl wagon today, the sad state of my once black rubber bumpers stood out. They were stained, greasy and uv damaged; the various bumper and tire products that I had on hand wouldn't give an even appearance. Decided to do something drastic on the front bumper and used wet sandpaper #400 to attack the surface. It does clog the sandpaper pretty quickly, but a hose cleans it out easily. Tried a tire shine product on the bumper afterwards and aside from the places where there are deep scratches, the bumper looks much better.

Good Idea!, you did "Polished" it...

 

I can´t do that ...Because both my wagons did got heavy scratches (too Deep and even Small Holes) that won´t look good... Instead of that, I did painted them... (but first I used a special softener additive to the Paint) First I filled those scratches and then paint.

 

Do you have Pics of it? I like to see that finish.

Did you try "Forever Black" its made for back bumpers....its a dye that is abosorbed into the bumper and won't wash out.....go to Foreverblack on google...spark

I used "Black Again" on my Loyale last week before the show...the finished off with Advanced Auto Tire Shine....been a week and ALL the black still looks like new..including the tires...working on a new look for my Loyale..might be able to unvail tomorrow if I get them finished.Lets Just say Barracuda had something to do with it;)

 

So where are the pics anyway!!! We want to see!

I had the same problem.....new paint + old trim/bumpers = bummer.

This is what I did. Wet sand with 1000 or with 0000 steel wool. Sandpaper won't clog with wet sanding. When the oxidation is off and bumper is clean, bulldog adhesion promoter was sprayed on. It allows paint to stick much better. Then SEM trim black 39143 was painted on (spraycan). Just a light coat dusted on or two coats. Any more and you start filling in the texture. That picture is how the bumper looked after doing it. This picture is the same bumper next to a brand new from the dealer rear bumper. Blacks are the same. Pretty cool.

Wow..nice job...........spark

I Agree!... That is Exactly what I was Talkin´ About Painting a Bumper.

Good Job!