Painted Bumper Durability

[Scgregc]

I just purchased a 2020 Granite Crystal sport Laramie. Picked her up with only 16 miles on it. Had to hit the road right after the purchase and I have to say I am not impressed with the durability of the pained bumpers. 1600 miles in, all interstate driving and already have 8 sizeable rock chips. Anyone else experiencing the same issue. What products are out there to protect against this?? I will be sending Ram photos and comments regarding this. My wife's 2012 Suburban with 145,000 miles looked better than my Ram does now.

 

[2019REBEL]

I just purchased a 2020 Granite Crystal sport Laramie. Picked her up with only 16 miles on it. Had to hit the road right after the purchase and I have to say I am not impressed with the durability of the pained bumpers. 1600 miles in, all interstate driving and already have 8 sizeable rock chips. Anyone else experiencing the same issue. What products are out there to protect against this?? I will be sending Ram photos and comments regarding this. My wife's 2012 Suburban with 145,000 miles looked better than my Ram does now.

After you get it fixed get some PPF on it.

 

[moosem]

It's pathetic.

I just purchased a 2020 Granite Crystal sport Laramie. Picked her up with only 16 miles on it. Had to hit the road right after the purchase and I have to say I am not impressed with the durability of the pained bumpers. 1600 miles in, all interstate driving and already have 8 sizeable rock chips. Anyone else experiencing the same issue. What products are out there to protect against this?? I will be sending Ram photos and comments regarding this. My wife's 2012 Suburban with 145,000 miles looked better than my Ram does now.

I have 16,000+ miles on mine and there are hundreds of paint chips on the front bumper. Literally too many to count. The worst I've ever seen. I expected some chips but it is ridiculous. I have a 2005 Buick that I keep as a spare car when my truck is in the shop (which is a lot) and the front bumper looks way better than my RAM.

 

[CJR28]

I had the same problem on my 17’, there was random spidering on the paint and I had no idea how it got there. I just picked up a 20’ Built to Serve last week and i was happy to see it came with black powder coated metal bumpers(front & rear) Hopefully these hold up a bit better than the painted plastic ones.

 

[saturn298]

I got my 20 last fall, had an appoint my for my ram to get PPF on the bumper hood fender corners etc. Went to take it and they pointed out the "chips" truck only had 200 miles! I don't drive interstate often, the only time it was on it during those 200 miles was my drive home from the dealer. (12) miles Ive spoken with ram and multiple dealers they pretty much said I am **** outta luck because the "chips" aren't covered under the paint warranty. maybe @RamCares or @RAM can give us a had.

 

[Jus Cruisin]

There isn't a painted bumper from anyone that holds up..... Exactly why I don't have a monochromatic truck. Been there, done that.

And yes, the only way to make it last is to stick a bunch of clear plastic on it.

 

[saturn298]

There isn't a painted bumper from anyone that holds up..... Exactly why I don't have a monochromatic truck. Been there, done that.

And yes, the only way to make it last is to stick a bunch of clear plastic on it.

You’re right that paint won’t always hold up but a month and mine has numerous spots to bare metal

 

[WXman]

Are you guys seeing this only on the bumper? Or are the plastics around the grille and on the grille itself chipping also?

 

[go-ram]

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What about spraying the body-color bumpers, grille, etc. with Linex Ultra? https://linex.com/ultra The folks at Linex know a lot about tough coatings, and now they have a "thinned down" version of it for exterior paint.
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I don't know they have it in clear or just colors, and keep in mind that Linex Ultra paint is lightly textured and thus would create a "frosted" look, not glossy like the factory paint. On the other hand, if you can abide by the frosted look, I'm guessing that it would disguise all of the small stone chips due to the frosted effect. I suppose a person could get creative and choose a contrasting color, if clear is not available, or if they just wanted to give their Ram a bit of a custom look.
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Here is a video review over at TFL Truck: https://www.tfltruck.com/2018/10/ca...ra-with-a-line-x-coating-video-demonstration/
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[Firebird]

20,000 miles and all I have is one pin sized mark

 

[moosem]

Are you guys seeing this only on the bumper? Or are the plastics around the grille and on the grille itself chipping also?

I'm only seeing it on the bumper. The front fascia and grill looks fine.

 

[moosem]

There isn't a painted bumper from anyone that holds up..... Exactly why I don't have a monochromatic truck. Been there, done that.

And yes, the only way to make it last is to stick a bunch of clear plastic on it.

I have to disagree to some extent. Of course there is going to be some paint chips, but it is excessive on these trucks, unlike any other vehicle I've ever owned.

Like I said in my previous post, I own a 2005 Buick that has WAY less paint chips than my 2019 RAM does.

I'm guessing that it has something to do with the fact that the bumper is painted metal, not plastic, because the front fascia and grill has held up much better than the bumper.

All of that said, I'd still take the painted bumpers over the chrome ones. They just look way better IMO. However, you either need to get PPF immediately, or you have to touch them up as part of the detailing process.

 

[Biga]

Painted steel has no give, if a rock hits hard steel at 70 MPH something is going to give and it's the paint.

 

[Tred's]

I have to agree with the OP. I have 16K on my 2019 (13 months old) & the bumper looks like a teenage kid with acne. Not sure which direction I'm going to go, but the dealer is aware of it.

 

[Gs72174]

There isn't a painted bumper from anyone that holds up..... Exactly why I don't have a monochromatic truck. Been there, done that.

And yes, the only way to make it last is to stick a bunch of clear plastic on it.

Have to say, I disagree with you on this one. I’m in my 40’s and I’ve never had a vehicle with a painted bumper have this much issues. I had a Tundra with 90K miles before my ‘19 Ram and it had barely any chips on the front bumper compared to my Ram. Even my boss’ 2019 F-150 with about 40K miles has barely any marks on his painted bumper. In my opinion, the paint job on Rams is subpar compared to what other manufacturers are doing. I love my Ram but the paint job sucks.

 

[DarkKnightRT]

.
What about spraying the body-color bumpers, grille, etc. with Linex Ultra? https://linex.com/ultra The folks at Linex know a lot about tough coatings, and now they have a "thinned down" version of it for exterior paint.
.
I don't know they have it in clear or just colors, and keep in mind that Linex Ultra paint is lightly textured and thus would create a "frosted" look, not glossy like the factory paint. On the other hand, if you can abide by the frosted look, I'm guessing that it would disguise all of the small stone chips due to the frosted effect. I suppose a person could get creative and choose a contrasting color, if clear is not available, or if they just wanted to give their Ram a bit of a custom look.
.
Here is a video review over at TFL Truck: https://www.tfltruck.com/2018/10/ca...ra-with-a-line-x-coating-video-demonstration/
.

I did the Ultra. Has around 20K miles on the Ultra, no chips. Has survived Drives from Denver to Camp Pendleton, from there to Phoenix several times, 29 Palms on the ranges (was impressed with the truck in rough terrain on bombing ranges) and up to the San Fran bay area a couple times from Phoenix and back to Colorado.

 

[go-ram]

I did the Ultra. Has around 20K miles on the Ultra, no chips. Has survived Drives from Denver to Camp Pendleton, from there to Phoenix several times, 29 Palms on the ranges (was impressed with the truck in rough terrain on bombing ranges) and up to the San Fran bay area a couple times from Phoenix and back to Colorado.

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Nice! I just wish hey had a clear version of their Ultra product. I know it would be textured and so it would look "frosted", but it would be nice to have a clear Ultra option to let the factory color show through.
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[Baron74]

I have 4300 miles on my truck with very limited highway miles. I had one decent chip and 4 other minor chips. Touched them all up and had PPF add to bumper and the facia pieces below the headlights. Bummer to have to do this but I couldn't imagine what it would look like with another 5-10 on it.