How To Repair A Plastic Bumper

How to repair plastic bumper covers.
Larn tips on how to repair and bail plastic bumpers.

I have been asked many times how to repair a plastic bumper cover. So I made this brusque article and kept it uncomplicated without all the fancy long plastic names that manufacturers similar to use.

I had the opportunity to meet Dick Jacobs, he was the founder of Duramix, the plastic agglutinative repair company which was bought out by 3M a few years back.

Dick was one of us, a very simple focused man, constantly thinking about what innovation he could come up with for the Duramix production line and spoke in very simple terms just extremely thorough.

One day we picked him upward at the aerodrome, nosotros got in the motorcar and I asked him a technical question. We drove in heavy traffic for nigh 45 minutes, had dinner for about 2 hours then drove him to the hotel which was he was staying at. He got off the machine and wrapped upwards the answer to my question well-nigh micro-spheres in SMC panels.

Everyone in the car that day got a very educational crash course about polymers, plastics, micro-spheres and SMC limerick. The other lesson is never ask a technical question to an engineer unless you have a lot of time and notation pads.

I am going to show you lot a simple method of repairing plastic panels and TPO bumpers.

one. In that location are only four types of plastic y'all should know about in the automotive manufacture.

1. TPO - Sands in chunks, melts similar butter with high speed grinders, feels like wax and gets stringy when hot.
2. Thermo-Set - Flexible or Rigid, sands powdery, does not melt with loftier speed grinders and easy to repair.
3. SMC- Sail molded Compound - New Corvettes have information technology and looks similar fiberglass with white powder. We will comprehend SMC in another commodity.
4. Poly propylene - RV Water Tanks, Dirt Cycle Fenders - Non recommended for repairing or painting.

ii. Any Plastic Repair organization y'all choose will contain these components.

1. A cleaning agent
2. Adhesion Promoter
3. A mixing gun applicator
4. Adhesive/Textile for the structure repair
5. Mixing Tips
6. Flexible contouring plastic and backing re-enforcement material
7. Finishing By/Putty

3. Lets talk about TPO Plastic. This is the most difficult plastic in the market to repair. It contains iii% to 5% wax based mold release inside the textile. So that's the problem, how do nosotros get adhesive or paint to stick to mold release? Many shop owners and technicians today will just rather not touch on it and throw the bumper abroad. TPO is repairable, only y'all have to have two precautions without exception. If you can prepare TPO bumpers, you tin can ready the thermo set the same manner, if you are not certain which of the two you lot have on hand, treat it like TPO. If you don't know what TPO stands for, it does non matter because with my arrangement you don't accept to know. Repair it similar this and you will be fine.

1. Afterward yous sand the repair area follow these cleaning steps, they are the cardinal in repairing plastic bumpers successfully. Employ a gray or white scuff pad and scrub the repair surface area of the bumper or plastic panel with the cleaning agent first, a uncomplicated wipe is not going to work. Information technology may work sometimes only may fail in others. Neon Bumpers may require 2 or three cleaning steps. The main reason bumper repairs fail is by non doing this stride thoroughly. How exercise you lot know the plastic is clean? I utilize the water test. If the water beads up like a freshly waxed automobile or just disappears off the plastic, clean it once again, then endeavor the process again until the water stays there wet for a while.

   Practise not use sanding paste on raw plastic. Sanding paste is not role of the plastic repair arrangement mentioned higher up nor solvent based wax and grease removers. These products will contaminate the plastic. You lot will accept mold release freshly activated by wax and grease remover solvents. That's not good. Always utilize the cleaning agent the manufacturer recommends.

   

2. For this instance I am going to utilize a bumper that has a 9" 10 1/four" ripped pigsty shaped similar a letter " L "  right in the middle of the  corner. This seems to be a very mutual repair in the auto trunk industry.
   1. I use a modest angle air grinder with a 2" 36 grit disc to sand off the rugged edges of the damage until it is all smooth and shaped like a bowl or a river. This way the structure agglutinative has more surface area to catch. The edges menstruation downwardly at an angle for 1/2". Some people refer to it equally  "bevel sand the edges" . Practice non employ the V groove method considering this is too narrow for the adhesive to grab. Picture the Five groove simply spread out over a skilful area like a bowl.
   2. Optional Stride. Drill one/8" holes in the surface area grooves about one" apart, This volition allow structural material to flow through the holes and make an H re-enforced repair with the holes acting as rebar fillings.
   3. Back sand the front and back with eighty grit sand newspaper.
3. Clean the repair again, once the panel is clean, yous have xxx minutes to apply your materials. Practice non wait longer than that because the mold release will start to emerge to the surface of the bumper. The faster you get on it after the cleaning the better your repair will be.
4. Apply Adhesion Promoter on both sides and look at least x minutes or what ever the manufacturer recommends.
5. Purge the two role cartridge before placing the mixing tip on. After placing the tip, purge about 2 inches of textile on a cardboard and brand sure the material looks all one colour.

6. Apply structural repair fabric to a bankroll re-enforcement piece, enough to cover at to the lowest degree i inch around the back side of the repair. Utilise the backing material slice to the back side of the bumper and the let the material ooze out through the holes and groove, and then gun some more cloth while it is still wet and place a contouring plastic on the top and spread it out using a spreader or your hand to friction match the profile of the bumper edges.

7. Expect one hour, and so sand with low RPM speed.

8. Finish off with a Plastic Finishing Putty or filler.

This guide is generic in content and we recommend you follow the manufacturers instructions. Each manufacturer may contain different recommendations in order for their product to perform the all-time.

Product Lines we carry for Plastic Repair

Source: https://www.autobodysupply.net/articles.asp?id=135

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