Rear Bumper/Valance colour coded

[essoman]

I own a pearl black 06 Gti and I'm keen to colour code the lower part of the rear bumper.I know this has been covered in a few threads but it has not answered my Q's.
I have a friend that runs his own body repair workshop and on previous cars he has done a superb job.However the day I took my car to him he was not confident on getting a good colour match(although he cannot comment on black cars) on the lower valance.At the moment he has quoted me around £70 to spray it which seems a good deal.

He says due to the textured finish he cannot g'tee a perfect colour match.He also says that it is a real pain in the *** to remove and re-assemble the lower valance and that there is a real risk of damaging the fixing points etc.I went back to him today and he has said he will give it a go, building it up with plastic primmer then spraying it still attached to the bumper/car.

I have looked to buy just the lower valance but most seem to be the genuine textured type.The sprayer has said that to sand it down properly will add at least £100 to the bill due to all the extra labour.
I quite like the idea of £70 and dont want to spend a small fortune on this job.What do you guys think on spraying on top of the standard textured finish,or should he take the valance off and rub it down or should I try and get hold of a smooth non OE Gti valnce ????

Help !

[JoeDarKa]

Cant you do the prep work yourself to keep the costs down?

[essoman]

Could do but dont own a orbital sander and just want some good advice as to which way is best .

[vRS_Pagey]

Right firstly, where are you, if you are close to me I will prep the bumper for beer money.  I would say a straight spray over the textured finish is a definate no, it will look pants imo.  Colour matching should not be a problem for a professional sprayer, the paint code is on a label in the boot next to the spare wheel.  

The best way to remove your old valance and fit the new one is to completely remove the entire rear bumper, for this you need to take out the outer rear lights, but from start to finish it took me no more than 40 minutes.  I can give you a detailed 'how to' if you need it. 

[big al]

He is trying to over charge you. My local garage will sand it,prime and paint for £120 at most.
If you want I can buy one and get it sorted as am over there on Friday.

[dodds-gttdi]

Right firstly, where are you, if you are close to me I will prep the bumper for beer money.  I would say a straight spray over the textured finish is a definate no, it will look pants imo.  Colour matching should not be a problem for a professional sprayer, the paint code is on a label in the boot next to the spare wheel.  

The best way to remove your old valance and fit the new one is to completely remove the entire rear bumper, for this you need to take out the outer rear lights, but from start to finish it took me no more than 40 minutes.  I can give you a detailed 'how to' if you need it. 

Sorry to hijack a thread. I put a new rear valance into the paint shop last week, picking it up tomorrow. They said it'd be no problem to match the paint and sand down the textured area, build it up with plastic primer and should be fine. I'm getting the rear valance and a front votex valance done for £90 altho this is mate's rates. Could you post up a detailed 'How-To' remove the rear bumper please vrs_pagey. It'd be much appreciated by a lotta folks i reckon. 

[essoman]

Seems that the best option is to completly remove the entire bumper then split in two and get the lower half smoothed before painting.Will this be harder due to the factory park sensors and am I likely to damage anything that secures the two parts together ?

[vRS_Pagey]

I will get on a 'how to guide' asap.......watch this space.  

Ok, first remove the outer rear lights, these are fixed by 2 x 10mm nuts accessable if you pull back the boot lining as with changing bulbs.  I found it easier to unplug them before removal.  Once out you will see 2 x torx head screws on each side, remove both of these.  Then under the bumper you will see a further 2 of these screws which need removing, on each end of the valance there is 1 x torx screw.  On each side in the wheel arch there are 3 more screws, 1 at the bottom 1 level with where the valance meets the bumper and the final 1 is at an awkward angle right in the corner where the bumper meets the wing.  I found it easier to get to these ones by jacking the car up.

Thats all the screws removed, the entire bumper should now slide away from the car, I would advise that you postion a couple of blocks to sit it on as you need to unplug the number plate lights before it is fully removed (you can do the RPA's at the same time).

Seperating the 2 parts is quite straight forward, pick one end and using a plastic spreader/wedge hold the bumper while pulling the valance toward you, repeat this on the opposite side then simply work your way around.......

Although you can remove the valance with the bumper in situe, it is much easier to refit with the bumper off, as you need to get behind them both the ensure the clips are secure.  To refit the valance I started in the middle to make sure it was lined up, then worked my way round each side.

One thing I did notice, due to the squarer bottom of the GTi valance, the arch liner doesn't quite fit, it doesn't bother me to much, but for a tip top job you will need to replace both liners with ones from a GTI.

When I get a chance I will add a few pictures of screw locations.

HTH, Lee.

[big al]

Top part just unscrew the 2 bolts in the wheel arch, remove the rear light and unscrew the 2 screws in the recess where the lights were.
Make sure you slide the old bumper off slowly as the number plate light wire is attached to the back.

[essoman]

Thanks for all your replies,The car is booked in for Sept 19th for spray job.Vrs Pagey or big Al are you guys anywhere near Wilts.Would love to take up your offer of help on removing entire bumper,prep it prior to prof spraying ?

[vRS_Pagey]

Unfortunately nowhere near you mate, sorry. 

The video big al added is a good guide to removing the lower valance, but while you can remove it with the upper part on the car, refitting will be very awkward especially when you reach the middle.  When you try to push the clips in, the upper part flexis inward unless you can support it from behind.

[big al]

Thanks for all your replies,The car is booked in for Sept 19th for spray job.Vrs Pagey or big Al are you guys anywhere near Wilts.

Not too local mate, Wolverhampton for me, about an hour and a bit drive for you.
Give it a go though, it's only plastic, you can't really damage anything 

[vRS_Pagey]

If you have a Black and Decker mouse or a random orbit sander, stick some 260 grit to knock back the texture then tidy up with 180 - 500 grit wet n dry.  If you feel confident, mask up the area and give it a couple of layers of plastic primer, wet sanding in between coats.  It's very hard to fook up doing this and you will be left with an excellent surface for the final paint/ lacquer.

I should get my GTi skirts in a couple of weeks - I can feel another 'how to guide'....

[Trekmeister]

Right firstly, where are you, if you are close to me I will prep the bumper for beer money.  I would say a straight spray over the textured finish is a definate no, it will look pants imo.  Colour matching should not be a problem for a professional sprayer, the paint code is on a label in the boot next to the spare wheel.  

The best way to remove your old valance and fit the new one is to completely remove the entire rear bumper, for this you need to take out the outer rear lights, but from start to finish it took me no more than 40 minutes.  I can give you a detailed 'how to' if you need it.  

Sorry to hijack a thread. I put a new rear valance into the paint shop last week, picking it up tomorrow. They said it'd be no problem to match the paint and sand down the textured area, build it up with plastic primer and should be fine. I'm getting the rear valance and a front votex valance done for £90 altho this is mate's rates. Could you post up a detailed 'How-To' remove the rear bumper please vrs_pagey. It'd be much appreciated by a lotta folks i reckon.  

Is the lower part of the valance staying the matt textured black or is that painted also? If the lower valance is not painted was there any problems with the paint and the lip (where the paint ends and the texture begins) Mines in the bodyshop and the guy reckons it would have been better to paint the whole rear valance as opposed to just the upper part (cosmetic reasons; build up of primer near lip)