Rusty Option 4WD steel bumper - Ford Ranger

[Smouser]

In June 2020, I bought a V3 Option 4WD steel bumper for my Ford Ranger and installed it.
Option 4WD accessories are 'designed' in Australia and made in Thailand.

I thought it looked smart.

Unfortunately, in 2025, it did not look so smart anymore

I decided to get it off to give it a quick lick of paint.

The included fog lights did not hold up well either.

Off with the bumper!

It looked even worse at the rear.

The powder coating did not hold up well at all.

The initial plan was to use a grinder to remove the rusty bits and then respray. However, the bumper was in much worse condition than I thought, and it would have been a disaster trying to get into all the nooks and crannies with a grinder.

 

[dobbslc]

I don't suppose they have road salt in Australia or Thailand.

 

[Smouser]

I rapidly contacted shot blasters in my area to see if anybody could blast it on a Friday (of a bank holiday weekend).

As expected, I had no luck.

I then turned to FB Marketplace and finally found somebody who said they could do it for me on the Saturday.
I could hardly believe my luck.

I dropped the bumper, brackets and bash plate off at a farm (the shot blaster on fb marketplace is not a company, only somebody who do it on the side).

I was told he would have it ready by the afternoon.

Then I got a dreaded call, he ran out of dry blast material and could not finish the job

Arrgghhh!!!

There was nothing I could do, so I picked up the bumper and accessories as I needed my truck for work the next week and it is not legal driving a vehicle without a bumper.

The bumper was about 90% blasted.

I had to finish it as best I could with grinders.

The blaster did not even start the brackets and bash plate, so all of it had to be done with grinders.

I spent a couple of hours on the grinders until I could not take it anymore and called it 'good enough'.

I then set up for painting.

The plan was to use some Jotun Penguard Express ZP paint as the primer.

It sat for a little while and looked a bit suspicious.

However, after about 10 minutes of mixing, the paint was nice and smooth again.

 

[Smouser]

Painting the primer went okish.

I did get a few runs, but it was fairly difficult to access all the areas of the bumper.

I made this post while I am waiting for the paint to dry.

Next up, a bit of Raptor paint.

I have never sprayed Raptor before. The included Schutz gun looks just like an open pipe to me

Wish me luck!

 

[dave h 2]

A more modern take on the Roo / Bull bar, hopefully E marked, I took my old school one off in 2007 cos it wasn't marked and even 30 years ago when my lad got hit the police moved heaven and earth to to charge the driver with anything at all.

 

[jo1010]

You can thin the raptor down to make it go through a 2mm or 1.8mm tip - the finish will be smoother than through the schutz gun if that would suit you...

 

[Migmac]

The people who covert our work pickups get stuff powder coated, the corners last a year. From then on it just gets worse.
It is a nice looking bumper

 

[Smouser]

You can thin the raptor down to make it go through a 2mm or 1.8mm tip - the finish will be smoother than through the schutz gun if that would suit you...

I have not sprayed Raptor before, so I am not sure how textured it would be out of the schutz gun.

A bit of texture will be good to hide a few runs and some pitting. I do have a 1.9mm and 2mm tip, so I could try that if the texture is excessive.

I was just outside to look at the bumper and see how the primer is drying.

Primer needs a bit longer to dry.

While I was out there, I grabbed an aerosol primer to try to get into the bits that were very hard to reach with the spray gun.

Those areas won't be seen but I did want a protective coating over the steel.

Once I have sprayed the raptor and it is dryish, I might shoot some Bilt Hamber anti-corrosion into the hard to reach, out of sight areas.
I think I have some S50 or Dynax-UB aerosols somewhere.

 

[Smouser]

The first coat is on!

It went ok.

I have used two out of the four cans.

I think I need to spray one more can.

 

[frank horton]

shame they didn't make from st/st......
that bumper wouldn't be legal here.....
u cant even have a sticky out tow ball.....!!!!
how about wax spraying the back side.....?
strange world....
i have an expensive shredder like 6,000 worth and the paint is peeling off in sheets....guess they powder coated it over rust.....

 

[Smouser]

I am not 100% sure about the legality of it all.

However, I believe it is legal because it has got a winch mount with a winch mounted. I think there is a 'loophole' so you can fit steel bumpers if needed to fit a winch.

Anyway, final coat is on.

I hope it is dry enough tomorrow so I can fit it.

In the end I used 3 cans of raptor paint.

 

[finyuk2005]

powder coat is the worst!!

 

[Smouser]

powder coat is the worst!!

Yeah. I was not impressed.

Maybe it is all in the quality of the prep and actual powder coat.

 

[jo1010]

I think the 'loophole' is to do with how long the bumper /bars have been fitted for....in UK any nonstandard items fitted after 2007 has to have the 'e' marking....if it's an older vehicle it could be claimed that the item was fitted before 2007....

 

[Wildefalcon]

Nice work. Satisfying.

 

[Morris]

Winch bumpers are legal (sharp bits etc are not). It's not a loophole, it was a considered and addressed part of the legislation.
I have all the notes about it here somewhere as my Sorento will be getting steel bumpers at some point.

 

[Smouser]

I was working on the bumper again today.

Installed the parking sensors and harnesses.

I also found a can of Bilt Hamber Dynax S50 so I used that to spray into the hard to reach areas where I am not 100% sure paint coated everywhere.

I then installed the bumper again.

I am still waiting for new fog lights.

Once I have installed them, I can refit the bash plate and I will be done with the bumper.

I guess I should start to think about the towbar next

 

[Migmac]

That’s quite a lot of over spray on your number plate !

 

[Smouser]

Hopefully, the final update on the bumper.

Today I installed the bash plate.

The lights also arrived so I installed them tonight.

I did somehow wire one set back to front and had to go back into the connector to swop the pos and neg over.

The lights should look good for 2 years. After that, I suspect they will start to look like the old ones

 

[fizzy]

I rapidly contacted shot blasters in my area to see if anybody could blast it on a Friday (of a bank holiday weekend).

As expected, I had no luck.

I then turned to FB Marketplace and finally found somebody who said they could do it for me on the Saturday.
I could hardly believe my luck.

I dropped the bumper, brackets and bash plate off at a farm (the shot blaster on fb marketplace is not a company, only somebody who do it on the side).

View attachment 495008

I was told he would have it ready by the afternoon.

Then I got a dreaded call, he ran out of dry blast material and could not finish the job

Arrgghhh!!!

There was nothing I could do, so I picked up the bumper and accessories as I needed my truck for work the next week and it is not legal driving a vehicle without a bumper.

The bumper was about 90% blasted.
View attachment 495009

I had to finish it as best I could with grinders.

The blaster did not even start the brackets and bash plate, so all of it had to be done with grinders.

View attachment 495011View attachment 495010

I spent a couple of hours on the grinders until I could not take it anymore and called it 'good enough'.

I then set up for painting.

View attachment 495012

View attachment 495013

The plan was to use some Jotun Penguard Express ZP paint as the primer.

It sat for a little while and looked a bit suspicious.

View attachment 495014

View attachment 495015

However, after about 10 minutes of mixing, the paint was nice and smooth again.

View attachment 495016

B+Q are open on weekends. Plenty of bags of a nice cheap material that does a wonderful job