Can Plastic Bumpers Be Repaired

broken car bumper — broken bumper credits: Chris

Fixing the plastic bumper on your Motorcar or Pickup

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Fixing the plastic bumper on your Car or Pickup

Repair or Replace?
How to Prepare Dents on Plastic Car Bumper
- Yous will need:
- Step One – Button the Dent Out
- Step Two – Hot Water Method
- Step Three – Dry Ice Method
Decision

Mike with Scanner Answers here to discuss car and truck bumpers. These are unlike than OBD2 scanners but notwithstanding an important part of your car.

Most new cars and SUV'due south utilize plastic bumpers for lightness and rigidity. Most of you might non retrieve the time when mass-produced vehicles were equipped with steel bumpers from the mill (anyone remembers the Ford Crown Victoria from the 1990s?).

While plastic may not provide much protection in the outcome of a collision, information technology is important to know that plastic car bumpers serve an aesthetic purpose above anything else. This material is relatively lighter and easily repaired in the unlikely effect of an accident.

Plastic car bumpers are designed to be flexible. With that being said, plastic bumpers should become back to their original shape when outside pressure is practical. But excessive forcefulness may cause dents, cracks, and scratches.

While minor dents tin can exist easily repaired on any given weekend, cracks and deep scratches may require aftermarket repair products (sanding, priming, and painting) to restore the area to like-new condition.

The following provides the steps you lot'll need on how to prepare a plastic machine bumper. Only commencement, you will need to determine if it is worth your time to repair the plastic bumper rather than supercede it with a new i.

Repair or Replace?

If the plastic bumper was deformed beyond recognition, and then the best remedy would be to supplant information technology. The aforementioned goes for major cracks and tears to the plastic surface. Pocket-sized scratches (forth with small-scale cracks and tears) can exist repaired with the utilize of plastic repair products that can exist easily bought at the nearest hardware or auto parts store. Just not all plastic bumpers are the same.

Auto manufacturers utilize different kinds of plastics that are only compatible with specific repair products sold on the market.

And so, how do you determine the blazon of plastic bumper utilized in your particular vehicle? Remove the plastic automobile bumper and await for specific markings within the bumper. The kind of plastic utilized should be stamped on the backside. This could either be PP (polypropylene), TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) or PPO (polyphenylene oxide). These plastics can smear hands when machine sanded. Plastics that produce powdery residue when sanded or grounded can exist classified every bit PUR (polyurethane plastic rigid) and TPUR (thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer). dent from hail

If you are looking to repair severe damage to your plastic bumper, you should purchase a repair product that is uniform with the blazon of plastic used in your vehicle. This lone can save you a lot of time and money.

How to Fix Dents on Plastic Machine Bumper

There are a diversity of ways on how to remove dents on a plastic car bumper. Keep in listen that it would be best to remove the whole bumper comprehend to easily facilitate the repair process. This process might bear witness tricky every bit plastic bumpers are held on to the body by the utilize of screws, nuts, bolts, and fasteners. Accept your time to thoroughly map the location of these fasteners to hands remove the bumper comprehend from the body.

Yous will need:

Hair dryer or hot air gun
Hand gloves
Slice of terry cloth
Modest wooden block (optional)
Pot of boiling h2o

Step One – Push the Paring Out

Attempt to push button the paring out with your bare hands by accessing the opposite side of the dent. Some dents volition pop out this way. Just don't button too difficult, either. Give information technology a slight nudge. You might be able to remove modest dents using only your bare hands.

If not, attempt to use a hair dryer or hot air gun and point information technology straight at the dented surface. Maintain a reasonable amount of distance between the pilus dryer and the plastic surface. Information technology will usually accept less than 5 minutes of heating for the bumper to be pliable enough to get rid of the nasty dent.

Utilise a moisture terry fabric towel (or a small wooden cake) to push the paring out when the surface is thoroughly heated. Do this sparingly. Try to view the bumper from diverse angles to encounter if the dent has been removed. Yous may likewise employ a hot-air gun for stubborn dents but be wary of the painted surface equally excessive oestrus may fire the paint.

Footstep Two – Hot Water Method

This method has been proven effective to remove minor dents or "waves" from the plastic surface. With the plastic bumper removed from the body, cascade a nominal corporeality of boiling hot water to the within office of the bumper.

Move the bumper from side to side to dissipate the hot h2o over the unabridged surface of the bumper. Place the bumper on a table and use a folded terry cloth towel to push the dent out. Information technology would exist best to use a massaging motion while doing this process. Do the same process as if removing wax or smoothen from the surface. Remember to use gloves while doing this. Be careful not to fire or scald yourself in the procedure. Do non pour hot water directly to whatever painted surface.

Remove the hot water and let the bumper absurd. View the plastic bumper from an angle to check if the dent is removed. Repeat the process when necessary. Think to let the bumper cool before repeating the entire process.

Pace 3 – Dry out Water ice Method

Y'all might have heard of this method before. The principle is quite elementary, really. Rapid heating and cooling of the plastic surface will cause nearly dents to pop back into shape.

All you need are hand gloves, a hair dryer, some dry water ice, and a slice of aluminum foil. The first pace is to heat the damaged expanse using a hair dryer. Side by side, put on your safety gloves and take hold of a modest block of dry water ice and place information technology on top of the dent. You tin can use a thin canvas of aluminum foil to insulate the paint from frost harm.

It shouldn't take also long for the dent to pop back into its original shape. If the paring was only partially repaired, but reheat the bumper and repeat the steps mentioned above. This method will piece of work dandy on shallow and minor dents, and there is no need to remove the entire bumper from the frame.

Equally an added tip, the dry ice method will too work on dented metal surfaces.

Conclusion

When money is tight, it is best to gear up your ain plastic car bumper. You volition not only salvage money, but yous will brand yourself proud for solving a nasty problem that y'all previously thought was only possible by hiring the services of a professional.