Rant: That time a body shop owner told me to stop using epoxy primer on plastic bumper covers

I went to a skills seminar in Phoenix back in March, and this guy with 30 years in the business kept insisting epoxy primer is a waste on plastic. He said just scuff and shoot with a self-etching primer like everybody else. I was polite but I disagreed hard. I've been using epoxy on all my bumper jobs for 5 years now, and I almost never get adhesion failures. Last month I had a 2020 Honda CR-V come back after 8 months with the paint lifting on the lower lip. Guess what? The previous shop had used his method. I peeled a chunk off with my fingernail. Has anyone else seen long term results with epoxy on plastics that prove the old timers wrong?

2 comments

2 Comments

barnes.kai4d ago

So did he actually show you any of his own long term work or was it just "30 years of experience" talk? I've seen the same thing you have, old school shops that swear by self-etching on plastic and then wonder why they get more comebacks than you do. On that CR-V you mentioned, was it just the clear lifting or did the whole system separate from the plastic itself?

christophermurray4d ago

Agree completely, self-etching on plastic is asking for trouble down the road. Epoxy gives you a real bite that stays put.