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View Full Version : Trying my hand at bumper repair (PICS GALORE)

weshole
11-30-2008, 12:01 AM
So I got my sweet ride with one major blemish. The front bumperhas a big tear in it. ?Now being its a sweet ass "aero" bumper, I had to get it fixed. Being the handy (and cheap) fella that I would like to think I am, I figured I'd try to repair it myself. First thing I did is stroll down to my local parts store/body shop supplier to get the skinny on what was used to do such a repair. Less than $80 later, I'm out the door. Here's what I ended up purchasing.

http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1645.jpg
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1649.jpg

The patch panels are pretty much just sound deadening and in this case were pretty much useless. It took me an hour of trying to make that work to realize it.

So anyway on to the repair.

Here's what I started with.... N otice the nice lil frankenstien stich holes that the previous owner made to keep it intact. SWEET!!!
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1641.jpg
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1642.jpg
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1643.jpg
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1646.jpg
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1647.jpg


Here's the actual adhesive/filler in its un mixed form.
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1650.jpg

Remember this pic?
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1649.jpg

See that calking gun? Aint no way in hell thatll work for this stuff. Im a big guy and I struggled to even get it to come out. So, a different plan was in order. I had to take the tip off and squirt a little bit onto a pallet to mix the old fasioned way, with a putty spreader.


O.K. now the hardest part of this repair happens now. Remember the patch panels I posted a pic of earlier? They are supposed to give you some backing and hold the panel together so to speak while the adhesive sets up. Well, that too wasnt going to happen. So I ended up mixing a little bit up, putting it on the front most part of the bumper, and holding it for 15-20 minutes for it to set up solid so It would hold its shape.
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1653.jpg


This was hard because the bumper itself wanted to go every which way but where it was supposed to go.

Next, went to the lower portion of the bumper and applied some more adhesive to the outer part of the bumper. I only went about 2/3 the way back because again, it didnt want to stay flush. So, another 20 minutes gone holding it in place.
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1651.jpg

After that set up, I wanted to give it some structural integrity so I mixed up a good size glob of the stuff and went to the backside of what I just repaired and let the love flow so to speak.
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1654.jpg

Note the zip tie i put back in the bumper. I had to do this while I was doing the job to keep the two pieces in somewhat close proximity to each other to make the bond.

The rest of the filling consists of the same thing. I went to the rear most part of the lower section first and finished both outside and inside filling. then to the upper (opening) area to do the same.

http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1668.jpg
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1670.jpg
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1671.jpg


Here's what it looked like after my initial sanding with the da. Btw, all sanding on this was done with 180 grit sandpaper.
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1660.jpg

So then I added some more to fill in the imperfections and here's the semi finished result. Had to touch it up a lil more after this.

http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1661.jpg

And here's a closeup ready for primer. Notice that you can still see the the actual rip area. It is only visible and unable to be felt so it should caover up fine.
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1664.jpg

Here's some finished product pice taken right after I washed it off. I wanted to take pics of it wet to show the visible repair. It turned out great imho. Tomorrow it get some primer.

http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1673.jpg
http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr124/weshole2/Bumper%20repair/100_1672.jpg
JDMSTYLE
11-30-2008, 12:07 AM
little bit of spot puddy inbetween and you will not be able to see the crack at all! haha
nicely done.
Joshkl
11-30-2008, 12:12 AM
thats really nice. where did you get the platic repair at? i recently broke all my bumper tabs. so i went to harbor freight and picked up a plastic welder and plastic welded it. but it didnt come out that well. and right now im fixing a kouki lip for a friend and i cannot get the plastic weld to bond to it. so i was looking for something to use. i tried a 2 part epoxy. bad idea. very nice job though.
weshole
11-30-2008, 12:16 AM
thats really nice. where did you get the platic repair at? i recently broke all my bumper tabs. so i went to harbor freight and picked up a plastic welder and plastic welded it. but it didnt come out that well. and right now im fixing a kouki lip for a friend and i cannot get the plastic weld to bond to it. so i was looking for something to use. i tried a 2 part epoxy. bad idea. very nice job though.


I got this stuff from a local auto parts store. They have a huge auto body section as they are one of the primary supplier to the local auto body shops. I know there is other brands out there but this was readily available and way less than 3M stuff. It would be great to do the repairs you are talking about.
silpena
11-30-2008, 12:25 AM
good job man. I give u rep if we still could. Finally someone uses a real expoy made for polyurathane bumpers. A little tip for next time is get the fast drying expoxy it has a working time of 1 min and drys in 2 min. Use 2 putty plastic spreaders and sandwich the pieces and you will have nice flat piece with no cracks. Dont use poly ester putty unless u want to spend anout 25 on a flexible poly filller made by evercoat just for one little spot. Keep on doing what your doing. For once someone is doing it right. That stuff by evercoat is expensive but great shit to use.

p.s. never mind i see u got the fast setting adheasive. I guess missed that.
weshole
11-30-2008, 12:30 AM
I shoulda still gotten the "super fast" adhesive though. It's supposed to be faster than this stuff.
forum04pl
11-30-2008, 12:33 AM
Nice little writeup, it should be useful to the OEM aero'd people here.
silpena
11-30-2008, 12:36 AM
I shoulda still gotten the "super fast" adhesive though. It's supposed to be faster than this stuff.

yup alot faster. Drys in 2 minutes. Your hand wont get as tired either. Its great for making new tabs. Use it all the time.
weshole
11-30-2008, 12:41 AM
yup alot faster. Drys in 2 minutes. Your hand wont get as tired either. Its great for making new tabs. Use it all the time.


Thanks for the info. That will be my next purchase. I have a friend that wants me to fix his bumper. So, we will see how it goes.
Joshkl
11-30-2008, 12:27 PM
I got this stuff from a local auto parts store. They have a huge auto body section as they are one of the primary supplier to the local auto body shops. I know there is other brands out there but this was readily available and way less than 3M stuff. It would be great to do the repairs you are talking about.


sweet. thanks for the info.
Jtuned_andy
11-30-2008, 12:53 PM
So how sturdy is this stuff? Did try tugging it apart again?
gotta240
11-30-2008, 01:38 PM
thats what i'm wondering too. how stong is it?

Also, how much of the supplies do you have left? Could you do the job again with the remains or does 80 bucks only cover ONE bumper?

GREAT write-up. Thanks!
RIMTUCK
11-30-2008, 01:41 PM
__________
khilgers
11-30-2008, 01:44 PM
I used a product by permatex called "plastic weld". It comes in a 2 part syringe and worked out great. I was able to repair my broken JDM zenki side skirts and you cannot event tell it was ever broken. If you do a crack like this again, drill out a hole at the end of the crack so it cannot continue to spread and also cut out the affected area into a "V" pattern so you can have more hold onto the bumper. Other than that it looks really good.

Also the plastic weld stuff I used was only $10 per syringe. I used maybe 2.
silpena
11-30-2008, 01:47 PM
the evercoat product has the oem strength and flexiblity too. They use it for production/insurance work in collision shops. Thus, why its not cheap. sands easy, you can just primer over it or paint it.
wow-thats-a-cool-car
11-30-2008, 01:50 PM
ya plastic weld is good stuff I used that to fix my chuki bumper. Lets see the bumper painted and what bumper is that silvia with the smic hole?
ChiSleepyEyes
11-30-2008, 01:51 PM
If you do a crack like this again, drill out a hole at the end of the crack so it cannot continue to spread and also cut out the affected area into a "V" pattern so you can have more hold onto the bumper.

what?
plz explain further
khilgers
11-30-2008, 01:54 PM
what?
plz explain further

let's say you have a crack that only goes a couple inches. If you take a drill and drill a hole at the end of the crack it is less likely to keep spreading if it were to get hit again.

As for the "V" what I meant to say was to notch out part of the plastic on each side of the crack so that you have more surface area for the repair agent to bond to. More surface area to bond = a stronger bond.

word?
weshole
11-30-2008, 02:51 PM
So how sturdy is this stuff? Did try tugging it apart again?

thats what i'm wondering too. how stong is it?

Also, how much of the supplies do you have left? Could you do the job again with the remains or does 80 bucks only cover ONE bumper?

GREAT write-up. Thanks!


I have at least 75% of the adhesive left. And thats after my first mistake. I could do a bunch more bumpers with what I have left. It is as strong as the rest of the bumper too.
mothon
11-30-2008, 06:52 PM
Looks good so far...When is it going to paint?
weshole
11-30-2008, 07:11 PM
Looks good so far...When is it going to paint?


Probably not for a while yet.
punxva
12-01-2008, 10:22 AM
a good tip that we use at the body shop i work at. you can put tape over the crack, and then apply from the back, once its dry take the tape off, and do the little bits around the crack, but we use a totally different product that has a really fast flash time. around 5 minutes.
DaPCWiz
12-01-2008, 10:41 AM
awesome job on the repair.

for the people that mentioned the plastic weld stuff... I tried that once... in my garage. holy $*@#! It smells SO nasty. I couldn't stand it and had to throw it out, lol.
weshole
12-01-2008, 11:39 AM
a good tip that we use at the body shop i work at. you can put tape over the crack, and then apply from the back, once its dry take the tape off, and do the little bits around the crack, but we use a totally different product that has a really fast flash time. around 5 minutes.


Ya, if you noticed on my original post, I tried using the repair panels for the exact same thing. But, since the piece was completely split in two, the panel would not hold the piece in place properly to keep it lined up. So, I ended up just holding the piece in place for the initial application to the front most piece of the bumper along with the second application. Why arms were sore but it was worth it. I will use the super fast stuff next time to expedite the flash time. I am rather pleased with myself for my first attempt though. This stuff works great.