Painting exterior pieces.

I'm always looking for a way to save money for when my car goes into the shop to have some reapir work done to it because of a wreck. One way I can do this is paint certain pieces of the car. My rear bumper is shot so I got a used one off of ebay for $75. It is silver so I need to paint it white. So here is my question, what do I need to paint my a rubber bumper? Do I need primer since the bumper is rubber? Also can this be done outside (a garage is not available to me) and my last question is, how do you paint with a sprayer. :o

I hate to be the one giving the hard love here but if you have to ask how to paint with a sprayer DO NOT DO IT YOURSELF! It will cost you more to have the bumper stripped and resprayed by a pro later.

Don't be discouraged, just be aware of the risks. The risk is in this that you may dump some money into a bunch of supplies, only to have it not turn out that great. You could always keep on trying though until it turns out better...but having a spray booth is always better. Not to say that it's impossible to do it in a garage or outside...there's just more crap that can get into the paint then...

I've personally been looking up and researching this for some time...it's just something that interests me although I've never tried it myself. But as far as getting started, check out some books at your local library...there actually were quiet a few at mine on auto body and painting. And if you do some searches, some people actually have done write ups on this. One in particular to check out is at Brent Frankers site. He has a pretty good write up on painting his front bumper in his driveway. Also Chucky (i haven't really been posting around here in some time, so forgive me if I got that name wrong...I've mostly been entertaining my new interest of getting a motorcycle as of late), he painted his Camaro black in his own garage and from the pics and talking to him once or twice, it turned out pretty well.

So, if this is something that you'd really like to learn, I say give it a try. White is definitely not a bad color to start with and try because it is easier from what I hear to paint in pieces because there it mostly is the same...from what I hear. Give it a try though and let me know how it goes. Like I've said, I've been researching this myself for a long time but haven't done anything as of yet. Considering doing a driveway or garage (although I doubt my dad would ever let me use his garage) on my front and rear bumpers myself...just something interesting to learn. Best of luck.