Minor bumper repair

Wife caught a piece of rusty angle iron reversing in a car park and left a nasty V shaped nick in the outer profile of the rear bumper. Damage limited to the extreme edge and about 4mm deep feathering to nothing over about 1cm. The surface skin or glass fibre and whatever resin has breached. It is entirely of plastic resin construction.

The edge profile is something like

\ /

Unfortunately the damage is also highly visible plastic core is a very different colour to the paint :(

What does the team recommend as a flexible tough filler for such a small patch but in a highly exposed position and what should I do to ensure the best physical key of the repair to the substrate.

It is almost small enough that I am tempted to just use epoxy glue as filler but I am sure there must be something better and able to cope with being on a flexible plastic bumper. I had a look online and could find any dent/damage fillers that got decent reviews.

Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

Reply to
Martin Brown
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ISTR seeing repair kits for this sort of plastic. Like most things, probably for sale on Ebay.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Martin Brown put finger to keyboard:

Would an alternative be to paint the plastic core and leave the nick?

Reply to
Scion

Not really it is deep enough that the outline of the rear bumper is visibly affected and if just painted it would catch the light. It needs filling with a filler that will adhere strongly to the base and not fall off or peel when feathered into the existing structure. Because of the "elegant" smooth curves and position it shows up rather badly.

Main dealer says not repairable and wants >£1k to replace entire bumper assembly which I think is extortionate for a minor cosmetic dint.

Reply to
Martin Brown

Look for a used one on someplace like Breakeryard.co.uk? I got a complete headlight assembly using them. £25 instead of several hundred for a new one.

Reply to
Davey

En el artículo , Martin Brown escribió:

You could just live with it.

We in the UK seem rather precious about our cars. Look at cars in other European countries, they've almost all got a scrape or a dent somewhere.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

There was a time when bumpers were to protect expensive bodywork. Not be a part of it. Even a minor scrape on a metallic body coloured one can cost hundreds to fix perfectly.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I'd settle for a repair that is hard to spot. I have over the years done a few but I can see that the position of this and the flexibility of the plastic shell means the choice of resin and filler has to be exactly right if it is to work. I wasn't impressed with reviews of two part repair media I found online in a quick check last night.

Reply to
Martin Brown

Bumper sticker should cover it up:-)

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Reply to
ARW

"How's my Parking? Call 0800-xxxxxxx".

Reply to
Davey

Don't you mean 0871-xxxxxx

;-)

Reply to
Martin Brown

What about asking the "chips away" type companies?

Reply to
Andy Burns

Yes, you're right. I was quoting the American ones, which are:

1-800-xxx-yyyy. They are usually about Driving.
Reply to
Davey

Really the best material is more of the same.

Eposxy doiesn stick to most plastics.

is it 'plasticky' or 'rubbery'? If its plasticky then a solvent and plastic filler works best.

Ty some of yer wife's nail varnish remover on the damaged bit. If it looks like the solvent is actually messing with the plastic you are in luck.

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is worth a try. the styrene in the polyester may be able to 'grab' to the plastic, but don't be surprised if it all falls out.

Then you will have to do the prime/body puttty/undercoat/spray /rub down on the WHOLE bumper to get an even colours

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

"How's my Driving? Call 1-800-EAT-SHIT"

was one I saw while living there. On the back of a pickup, inevitably, which is what American chavs drive.

Reply to
Tim Streater

snip

The one time I did call the 1-800 number was when a van was driving recklessly along a busy road, and then we all got stuck in a traffic jam. The offender was in my view, and I was able to read the number, call it, and report him as a bad driver. Whether it did any good, I don't know, but it made me feel better.

Reply to
Davey

Now you see why I don't have a van with my phone number on it:-)

Reply to
ARW

So the scratch is only 1cm long? Or am I misunderstanding?

If so, I'd use

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fill a bit low. Once dried a few coats of paint from

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(obviously find the correct colour for your car :-))

If done with patience (will take a fair few coats) and with care (don't sand too many times, you'll burn through the laquer) then it'll be near impossible to spot once polished up.

No connection with paints4u.com apart from being a happy customer (and knowing others!). I'm sure there are other companies selling similar.

Cheers,

Darren

Reply to
D.M.Chapman

Thanks. This looks to have done the job OK and was easy to work with. Time will tell if it peels off after a few weeks in strong sunshine.

Internet reviews seem to grumble that there isn't enough catalyst but in warm weather only a tiny amount was needed to get the stuff to go off. My first batch went off a bit quick after following their instructions to the letter. Mixing a small amount of resin into the hardener first and then that into the bulk helps get an even cure.

Peroxide initiators are very temperature sensitive. In mid winter you might well struggle to get it to go off at all.

I won't be. But time will tell. Looks OK now. BTW Those cheap diamond files are excellent for making the base layer rough enough to get a good key and roughing off the high spots after filling.

Nah. There are other minor distortions where the bumper supports were that are beyond realistic repair. The profile is now matched and the colour is close enough that you have to know where to look to find it.

I used cardboard masks to control the feathering of the spray. First colour coat was done with a fine brush as it was blowing a gale. Surprising how once it is all the right colour minor contour errors become newly visible. Time will tell if the styrene sticks to it.

600 grade carborundum paper followed by 1000 feathered it out nicely.

BTW any ideas what the main rear lamp cluster on a BMW is made of?

It certainly isn't acrylic since chloroform didn't touch it at all. Styrene based glue seemed to work OK (as did acrylic glue but it didn't make an invisible mend).

The lower bumper reflector was red arcylic and chloroform based Perpex glue did an invisible mend on it.

Reply to
Martin Brown

The scratch damage is about 1cm wide and runs vertically up and down the bumper doing more damage on the bits that are stuck out furthest. The deepest parts were about 4mm below the correct profile.

I used the peroxide catalysed styrene Isopon mentioned by TNP. It seems fine. Only time will tell if it has really stuck to the bumper properly.

Reply to
Martin Brown

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