Painted Rusty Areas - 05/02/05

With all the pushing through mud and bushes and general off road bashing my front bumper had got quite a few chips in the paint that started to rust. I thought I better sort them out before the rust got bad so I gave the whole bumper a rub down and repaint. In future I'll try and keep on top of the knocks and paint them in when they happen but I wouldn't put any bets on me actually doing it!

I stopped short of actually removing the bumper to repaint it because it would have been a bit of a nightmare trying to remove the winch without undoing the wiring and everything. I unbolted the fairlead and spotlights and taped them all up to the bonnet and then pulled a plastic dustsheet down behind the bumper. I rubbed all the existing paint down with wet and dry and cleaned the rusty areas right back to bare metal and then gave it three good coats of white hammerite. I didn't bother with the compressor and just used a spray can but the finish and coverage were good and I'm really happy with the result.

I was so pleased with the way the bumper turned out that I thought I may aswell repaint the axles and springs etc. so I gave them a liberal coating of black. It really makes the truck look a lot nicer and newer again for having fresh black axles instead of slightly rusty ones!

I gave the driveshafts a coat too which looks much better.