In addition to the fact that the bumper performs a protective function, it also serves decorative element decorations. It is not surprising that it is so important for us to maintain him in proper condition and provide him decent care. Even if damaged, it can be repaired, and this alone can save you several thousand rubles instead of purchasing a new product. The presentable appearance of the front bumper is lost over time, because today they are made of flexible but fragile plastic. Experts classify several types of damage to this element:
Each type of damage requires an individual repair technique and algorithm for its implementation. However, before this, the product should be prepared at home. First, the bumper is removed from the car - this is done to make working with it more convenient. After this, it must be thoroughly cleaned of dirt, dust, oil residues, bitumen and other things.
The damaged area of the product plus an additional couple of centimeters is cleaned of primer, paint and varnish residues. It is necessary to carry out this work both from the outside and from the inside. Now you should install the bumper material (front or building). It is believed that they are all made of plastic, but each has its own marking, which can be seen on the reverse side. These are propylene, polyurethane foam, various styrene and others. If there is no marking, then the product is made of fiberglass or fiberglass. In any case, you can find relevant information on the Internet. 
One of the most reliable repair methods is surfacing bumpers using electrodes. As you guessed, we will need construction hair dryer and special flat electrodes, which can be purchased in departments of auto stores. Let's get started with the work:
You can resort to a simpler method in terms of equipment and execution. For this we need to stock up on an electric soldering iron, a grinder, an electric drill and metal staples that are used in staplers. This option is less reliable, but you should weld the brackets with an assistant. We adhere to the following procedure:
And here’s another one, by the way, the most a budget option.
As you can see, dear friends, welding a bumper at home is not something outstanding. If you approach the issue carefully, you can do it yourself and use the saved money on fuel for your car. In the future I will try to please you with new practical materials on the topic of car repair and care. I recommend subscribing to blog updates. I was with you
Today I will tell you how to repair a bumper yourself. This article will save you money. Many people know that bumpers come in different shapes and material composition.
My personal opinion is that the bumper does not particularly serve the function of protecting the car. It makes the car more attractive.
There are many ways on the Internet. I will explain to you a method that is proven, reliable and simple. And suitable for any new bodybuilder.
Bumpers come from different types material:
- Made of plastic.
- Made of fiberglass.
We will need the following tool:
Soldering iron (I saw many on the Internet that you need either a 60-watt or 80-watt one). We will need 100 watt. I won't tell you where to buy it.
Iron backing for the bumper shape.
Usually I take a small spherical shape. Why, you ask? In order to protect yourself and not injure your hands. What if the bumper accidentally melts or slips off? And so that when heated with a soldering iron, part of the bumper does not lose its shape. I have highlighted the main tool in the photo with red circles.
Iron mesh for reinforcement (Small mesh).
It can be purchased in the store. Or you can take a simpler route and disassemble the old air filter from the carburetor fret. How I did it.
Air filter, from a carburetor car.
Epoxy resin.
I take a set like the one in the picture. There are different companies. There is a more budget option. It includes a hardener, fiberglass and the resin itself. Compared to regular epoxy. This material hardens faster.
Maybe someone has some old epoxy resin lying around. Then you can just buy glass fabric. I'll show you what it looks like.
Bumper with a crack.
Bumper without original parts.
Bumper with a dent.
And so all of the above is ready for you. We decided on the complexity of the work. Found a suitable one workplace. Let's get started...
We clean and wash it from dirt to make it more pleasant to work with. We remove parts from the bumper if necessary, for more easy access from the inside of the bumper, to the problem area.
Warm up the soldering iron. We cut the mesh into small squares about 1 cm by 1 cm. You can do more.
1.1 Compressing the crack together as much as possible, we begin to solder pieces of mesh using a soldering iron, in increments of 1.5 - 2 cm. There is no point in reinforcing the entire problem area.
Soldering the mesh occurs in this way. That when deepening through the tanks and through the mesh cells, molten plastic comes out. It needs to be smoothed along the entire perimeter of the piece of mesh. It turns out that our mesh is inside the plastic and becomes invisible. Well, maybe small parts.
Important! When working with plastic, you need to consider its thickness. You can overdo it and burn through the bumper. If the bumper is thin, then it is better not to take risks and not to upset the mesh too much.
It is also necessary to solder pieces of mesh at the beginning and end of the crack. To prevent it from further spreading.
Never solder bumpers with outside. This is possible if it is not possible to solder on the inside of the bumper.
After high-quality soldering, you should get a thin line on the outside, in which there is no paint. In practice, I don't paint this part. If I do it for myself. The crack becomes like a small scratch. I don't see the point in wasting money and time on painting such a scratch. Well, that's everyone's business.
1.2 Let's move on. After the plastic has cooled. I take a piece of sandpaper, grit number 60 or 80. And I begin to clean in random order the entire place where the soldering was done. From the inside of the bumper. This is done in order to apply later epoxy resin with glass fiber. And so that everything holds as tightly as possible. If this step is not followed, the epoxy will fall off.
Next, we cut the fiberglass fabric into different pieces of about 2 cm by 2 cm, you can do more, it won’t make it any worse.
Apply the first layer of epoxy resin. We lay the glass cloth on the damaged area of the bumper, overlapping in different order. And we begin to saturate it. If more layers are required, then we do the same with other layers.
We can say that the repair of the crack in the plastic bumper is complete. After drying, you can assemble and install the bumper on the car.
Attention! You also need to take into account the location of the damage. If this is a part, for example, in the middle of the bumper, then 1-2 layers of fiberglass are enough.
If this place is at the bottom of the bumper on the “Skirt”, then it is better to put 2-4 layers of glass fabric. Gives strength to the damaged area.
Carefully clean the part where there is no piece. We put cardboard or thick paper on the outside of the bumper, then outline it. Cut out the outlined shape.
Attention! You need to find or ask your friends an old, unnecessary bumper or part of it. Preferably the same thickness as yours. It's not critical if it's different. There will simply be excess consumption of material when painting if you find a thinner one. And it's more of a waste of time if it's thicker than yours.
We apply the finished shape and trace it on the unnecessary part of the bumper you found. Carefully cut out. I personally do this with a grinder and a small cutting wheel.
We insert the finished part into the original bumper and do the work point by point as with the crack.
Compared to previous stages. This is the fastest and easiest way. But you need to understand how the plastic will behave when heated. You need to try not to spoil the paint and varnish.
For this method you will need:
– Bucket of cold clean water and a big sponge.
- Industrial dryer. If not. Then you can take a regular hairdryer from your wife or friend.
From the inside, we begin to heat the dent evenly. New faces were also formed. If the defect is not significant, then the dent should straighten out on its own. If everything is more complicated, after moderate heating you need to carefully squeeze out the dent. And then with a sponge cold water Cool the work area. Notice any small bumps? You can do the procedure again. Here you need to look at it by eye.
Well, that's all. Good luck to everyone. I look forward to your comments and questions.
Almost every car owner has been involved in an accident at least once and suffered damage to his car. Most vulnerable to external influences is the bumper, which in most modern cars is made of plastic. Sometimes scratches, cracks, chips and other damage simply occur due to unsuccessful parking. Repairing a plastic bumper yourself is not that difficult. Let's get started!
Refurbished plastic bumper
Of course, you can simply replace it, but this will be quite expensive. If you're on a budget, it's worth trying to repair the bumper yourself.
Some car owners do not consider it necessary to produce minor repairs bumpers, ignoring cracks and chips. But this not only looks unaesthetic, but also reduces safety, since the protective functions of the bumper are impaired.
In order to restore a plastic bumper, it is best to purchase a special kit, which includes the following materials:
In addition, it is worth having the following tools and materials available:
So, you decided to repair the plastic bumper yourself. Where to begin?
First of all, you must first determine the need to prime the plastic. There are several ways to do this:
Setting fire to plastic. For this they take small piece bumper, clean it of paint and dirt residues and set it on fire. In this case, you need to carefully monitor the combustion behavior of the material. If the material burns and produces black smoke, there is no need for a primer. If the material burns like a candle, then before the main priming you need to apply primer for plastic.
Buoyancy check. The plastic is dipped into water. If it sinks or goes completely under water, the part does not need to be primed first. When the plastic remains afloat, it means that before applying acrylic primer, there is a need to use a special primer for plastic.
Small dents on the bumper can usually be repaired using a hair dryer. The concave surface of the plastic is heated until it softens, after which the dent is leveled until it returns original form details.
But there are also more complex cases, when the dent is significant in depth, and the plastic not only bent, but also stretched. Sometimes these dents are called dents, as is the process of fixing them. Extracting a bumper usually requires more complex manipulations, which are discussed in a separate detailed video:
If there are minor scratches, repairing the bumper is as follows:
An important point when carrying out such an operation as repairing scratches on a bumper with your own hands is polishing the scratches. This is done using products for painted surfaces and plastic:
This operation takes about 20 minutes. The result will be the removal of irregularities and various roughnesses.
Carrying out more serious repairs plastic bumper with your own hands, you must first dismantle this component of the car and carefully treat the entire surface with a degreaser for plastic.
After this, you can see the actual extent of the damage, because sometimes small cracks are not immediately noticeable due to dirt. Then the sequence of actions is as follows:
Thus, the issue is resolved , how to repair a crack in a bumper.
Repair of plastic bumpers can be done by heat welding. This is convenient when eliminating torn parts and large cracks. The algorithm of actions will be as follows:
If you need to restore a surface with a destroyed piece of plastic, take a fragment of the same material and solder it together with a reinforcing mesh. Next, primer, putty and paint the bumper.
Bumpers are made from all kinds of plastic. Polyurethane, for example, has a fairly low melting point, so it should be welded carefully, without overheating.
gluing the bumper at the crack site You can also use a heat gun as a welding tool, which has a special operating mode regulator and is therefore more convenient to use. In general, you must always remember that heating should not cause deformation. When too high temperature the plastic softens and returns to its previous position. The heated deformed surface is given its original shape, fixed and cooled.
It is better to start restoring the bumper from the inside, while simultaneously studying the properties of the material, and then weld from the outside.
Sometimes it is easier to fasten the fallen pieces with glue or tape with wire, drilling holes and installing brackets.
This video clearly shows the welding of a plastic bumper using additional strips of plastic.
If professional tool and equipment are not available, repair of plastic car parts can be done in another way.
To join the edges of the cracks, a clamp or clamp is usually used on the removed bumper. It happens that one clamp cannot achieve the desired result, then two or three are used.
The seam is closed from the inside with staples. They are soldered at a distance of several millimeters from each other, and the seam is melted.
The outside paint is cleaned with a sanding machine. Then, along the cleaned surface, the outer seam is sealed. After cleaning, it is advisable to blow the seam with compressed air.
When applying putty, you must use a special compound for plastic and a rubber spatula. Then the seam is blown again, dried and primed in two layers. Before applying the next layer, the previous one should be allowed to dry for 15 minutes. Minor defects can be eliminated by applying nitro putty. The surface is sanded again with P1000 sandpaper and degreased before applying paints and varnishes.
Repairing a plastic bumper can be done using epoxy resin and fiberglass. This option is carried out if the plastic is split into several small parts and some of them are missing. The broken parts are glued together with superglue. Epoxy resin is applied to the inside, fiberglass is glued onto it and coated with epoxy resin again.
With this method, the surface can easily be puttied and painted. However, drying takes a long time after treatment with epoxy resin.
Getting on a steep descent or climb can seriously damage the bumper. Protecting the bumper yourself will reduce the likelihood of defects in this part of the car.
Such protection can be made industrially or with your own hands. With some skill and the availability of tools, it is possible to make yourself a so-called power bumper, which perfectly protects the car from all possible consequences of road accidents.
Before starting to manufacture the protection, you need to think about what the new part will look like: establish where the attachment points will be, whether arches are needed. It is worth constructing a protection drawing and calculating everything in such a way that changes are not considered a serious structural modification of the car. Attention is also paid to analyzing the weight of the bumper and its maximum load.
It is better to have a specialist weld the bumper frame and do the installation yourself. Reinforced bumpers are attached to the frame or side members. To protect the power bumper, a guard is used.
Making bumper protection with your own hands can have unexpected and not very pleasant consequences, because it is not known how such a part will cope with its task in the event of a car accident.
There is always a risk of causing damage to the bumper by suddenly running into something. In such cases, a rupture of the lower shelf occurs with the loss of part of it. The first thing you need to do when starting to repair a fiberglass bumper yourself is to measure the gap between the corners. The measurements taken will definitely be needed towards the end of the repair in order to maintain the distance.
First we dismantle the bumper. The part will sag a little at the break point. It is impossible to connect the damaged edges of the bumper, because part of the shelf is missing altogether. We need to glue in this missing link.
To process the destroyed part of the part, an angle grinder is usually used. Having finished sanding the edges, the edges of the gaps are combined, and the bumper is placed on a flat surface to adjust the dimensions.
After cleaning the surface, polyester resin is applied, which is covered with fragments of grade 300 glass material.
Cracks are repaired by outer surface car. To do this, clean the area towards the formed defect, at a distance of five centimeters from it. Sand until the inner layer appears.
When the plastic has hardened, it must be sanded and polyester putty applied. Before this, the part is sanded with P80 sandpaper, but no coarser, otherwise the scratches will appear through the putty on the paint.
It is also necessary to repair corner breaks from the outside. The crack is cleaned and the fiberglass that has undergone delamination is removed. Then a patch of glass material is applied. The larger grade of material is much thicker and bubbles may form when applied. The corners are reinforced from the inside by laying glass material grade 300 in four layers.
The patch is sanded flush with the surface using a coarse P40 abrasive. Then another layer of fiberglass is applied if it is necessary to close the cracks.
Then the bumper is painted and installed in place.
Painting a plastic bumper with your own hands is a simple procedure that almost any car owner can perform. To do this, you should purchase tools and materials:
To prepare for painting the bumper, perform the following steps:
The painting procedure itself is preceded by degreasing. The paint is applied in two or three layers and dried for 10-15 minutes. Then several layers of varnish are applied, also with intermediate drying.
No driver is insured against road accidents. And if the bumper is damaged in an accident, you should not rush to the auto repair shop or rush to buy a new part. It is better to collect the fragments and try to repair the car bumper yourself.
Damage to the body kit may be caused by careless driving, a traffic accident or hitting an obstacle. A damaged part spoils appearance car. Therefore, it is important to know what to do when the bumper is cracked and how to repair it yourself.
Depending on the degree of damage, methods for restoring a damaged car body element vary. Crack repair is performed using:
Small chips, scratches and microcracks must be covered with putty.
Allows you to repair small cracks.
Makes it possible to restore the body kit after receiving severe damage and the appearance of large cracks.
A plastic patch is applied. The method is applicable when the bumper is seriously split and holes appear.
To carry out the work, you will need the following tools and materials:
Damaged bumper, it is better to dismantle it. This will allow for a more efficient and reliable repair. Overall, the list preparatory work before restoring the body kit, it looks like this:
After being carried out preparatory activities, you can proceed directly to the repair.
It is necessary to wash the bumper thoroughly. To do this, use a soap solution. In some cases, automobile detergents. For drying, use a tool such as a hair dryer.
If the bumper bursts badly, then it is sealed. The operation allows you to give a damaged part a second life. However, you need to know how to solder a crack in the body kit. The operation is carried out in stages:
For soldering, it is recommended to use a powerful soldering iron (at least 100 W). The tool must be held in such a way that it does not burn through the plastic. It is also worth purchasing a device with a wooden handle (the plastic handle will melt after using the tool for a long time). For more precise soldering, the tip can be sharpened and cleaned.
After soldering is completed, the body kit is ready for further use. All that remains is to give the restored part an attractive appearance.
When repairing severe damage, use a hair dryer. With its help, the edges of cracks are melted, as a result, a strong and reliable weld appears in place of the burst part of the body kit. To make the structure more durable, use plastic strips 1cm thick. They can be purchased separately, or cut from an old donor body kit.
When soldering, use the same type of plastic from which the bumper is made. Otherwise, the seam will turn out to be non-monolithic, which will lead to rapid destruction of the structure.
The method is effective in the absence of some parts of the body kit, serious cracks and holes.
Small cracks can be sealed. This method of do-it-yourself bumper repair is most popular among motorists, as it is technologically simple and effective. As an adhesive, special glue for plastic, acetone, and liquid plastic are used. To obtain a polymer seam, a two-component 3M composition is used.
When gluing, you need to fix the bumper tightly, otherwise the halves may shift and the symmetry of the part will be disrupted. You will need to wait until the adhesive has completely dried.
Gluing with acetone is performed as follows: a substance is applied to the crack, as a result of which part of the plastic dissolves, forming a strong seam. Later, it is treated with 3M adhesive. Allow to dry and mask the traces of body kit restoration.
Alternative! Medium damage can be sealed with a mixture of glue and soda. To do this, you need to tightly connect the cracked parts, pour soda along the entire length of the crack, and apply glue to it. As a result chemical reaction a strong seam is formed.
Many car enthusiasts have repeatedly had to deal with the problem of bumper damage, but only a few have tried to fix the defect on their own. But, as practice shows, do-it-yourself repair bumpers are much cheaper than purchasing a new one. Besides, there is nothing complicated about it. More on this later in the article.
If you use your vehicle virtually every day, then in any case you have to drive through puddles, potholes, and also stand in constant traffic jams that endlessly arise in big cities. In general, one way or another, car owners constantly find themselves in situations in which there is a high probability of damaging the plastic bumper. Although this element of the car is designed to take the first blow in a collision.
In addition, defects constantly appear on the bumper due to stones falling from under the wheels of cars driving ahead. In other words, no matter how careful the driver is when driving, he will have to deal with bumper repairs in any case.
There are many possible bumper defects - scratches, chips, dents, cracks, and breaks.
Scratches are the easiest defect to fix. If they are small and only affect the paint, use a set of special markers and the problem will be eliminated. If there are deep scratches affecting the plastic itself, you will have to first work with putty.
If there are dents on the bumper, alignment must be done. Cracks are eliminated by gluing or soldering. If the chips are shallow, you can treat the problem area with a color-enriching polish, after which a layer of protective polish is applied.
If the bumper is cracked, it is very difficult to repair it yourself. In this case, you need to collect all the pieces of the bumper. Then they are glued or soldered.
To complete the procedure you will need:
Before the beginning repair work It is advisable to dismantle the damaged bumper. In this case, it will be much more convenient to work. In addition, this will make it possible to avoid tension in materials at the defect site. Then the bumper needs to be thoroughly cleaned of accumulated dirt and dust by washing it in warm water using special car shampoo.
After drying, the broken pieces need to be connected with tape and glued together. Next, arm yourself with a soldering iron and carry out all the operations to restore the integrity of the car bumper. To return the element to its original shape, it is necessary to solder all the fragments from the inside.
Because the inner side The bumper is hidden from the human eye, so when doing work you don’t have to worry about the aesthetic appearance. It is necessary to solder the pieces as carefully as possible, so that the seam is uniform along the entire length.
To make the repair last a long time, additionally solder staples from a furniture stapler into the seam. Choose them in such a way that they fit in length and do not pierce the part through. During the work, it is better to use tweezers to avoid possible burns.
The staples must be placed perpendicular to the seam, the distance between them should be small. All cracks that have just begun to appear should also be sealed so that during the operation of the car they do not turn into cracks due to vibrations. Be sure to cover the staples with heated plastic, thus protecting them from corrosion.
After completing work to restore the integrity of the element, carefully sand the resulting seam. To do this, you can use a special grinding machine or do all the work using sandpaper.
Remove the old paintwork, remove the primer and level the surface. After soldering, it is necessary to carefully polish the seam, smoothing out any existing irregularities. Do not try to get a perfect surface without a single defect, as there is a risk of thinning the bumper and further deforming it.
Upon completion of work, remove any dust accumulated on the surface by treating the bumper with a special cloth or blowing it with compressed air.
Give each layer enough time to dry (according to the instructions) and only then apply the next layer. When the putty has completely hardened, begin leveling it using a sander.
The work can also be done with sandpaper, but this will require much more effort and time. Next, use sandpaper to process hard to reach places bumper Then we prime the bumper with a two-component acrylic primer.
It must be applied in a thin, even layer to avoid smudges. Be sure to carefully treat problem areas and do not forget to let the previous layer dry. The soil must be dried for at least a day; you can speed up the process by using a special infrared heater.
The grinding procedure should only begin after the drying process is completed. It is carried out similarly to the previous stages. Before the procedure, be sure to use developing powder to detect possible flaws that could remain after the previous stage of repair.
After processing with an orbital sander, the development will be removed from smooth surfaces, but will remain in the depressions and will be very noticeable. Having processed the element before the soil appears, you will immediately discover all the shortcomings. Defects must be eliminated using special mixtures such as nitro putty. The product is applied to problem areas only after cleaning and priming. After allowing the nitro putty to harden, we polish. Next, a base is applied to the primer so that the auto enamel adheres better to the surface.
The base is designed to bind the base and paint at the molecular level. Then we apply enamel, varnish and polish. After all the measures, the damaged bumper will look like new. Please note that the product was restoration work, only professional painters can do it, and even then only after a thorough inspection.
When carrying out local repairs to the bumper, it is not necessary to dismantle it. All preparatory operations can be performed without compromising the integrity of the car. Before painting, protect all elements from paint getting on them using masking tape and a roll of polyethylene.
Next, apply to the dried paint acrylic lacquer in several layers. When working, be sure to follow the instructions for it, and also do not neglect personal protective equipment when working with toxic paints and varnishes.
In most cases, painting a bumper yourself is much cheaper than contacting specialists, but there is a risk of various defects arising as a result of non-compliance with the technology or lack of the required practical skills.
