repairing a bumper

[Josh@Renparts]

Bought a 172 rear bumper from scrappers today for £20 Reason being its got a bad crack Its not a clean crack there is sort of a section ripped out. (ill post pis later) but what am i going to need to fix it? some fibreglass, resin, and some filler? is it a job i could do myself before i take it to get sprayed?
thanks
josh

 

[Final Maxim]

first off you want a solid backing for the bumper so it wont crack again.

scuff the back of the bumper up around the damaged area and either use a few strips of metal bonded to the bumper, or plastic filler spreaders bonded to the back of it. anything really to give it some strength and so it wont crack while being painted in the booth (heat)

i dont really recommend using the fibre glass sheets and resin, ide just get a tin of fibreglass from halfords (smallest poss).

scuff the outside of the bumper with P180 to give the fibreglass something to key to, also run your hand and fingers over the crack, if anythings sticking up proud, cut it off, dont be shy with it.

fibre glass all the crack and drag it over onto the good paintwork.

let it dry, rub it down with p80's til it dips and the bumpers like its dented.

apply your filler (easy sand i recommend), rub that down with P80, finish with P180 then a P320.

if you have any wetordry flatting paper (P600/800/1000 or 1200) it pays to give plastic a quick wet flat before primering, this ensures it dont "fur up".

give it a good pre clean then primer the section. you can either rub the primer down yourself or get it wet flatted while its in the bodyshop.

 

[Final Maxim]

list of things you need

- few filler spreaders or pieces of metal
- rubber block
- filler
- fibreglass
- P80, P180, P320 and any wetordry
- aerosol primer (or celly/2k if you have compressor)

 

[Josh@Renparts]

Will this hold then? im just thinking when i carry the bumper how much it twists etc.. won't it crack?
thanks
josh

 

[Final Maxim]

nah, carry it carefully with 2 hands inside it and itll be fine, obviously wont be as flexible as a new bumper but it certainly wont crack if you have a solid backing on it

 

[Josh@Renparts]

Thanks for your help mate... Ill post pics up later so you can look closer. Im also interested in getting it plastic welded if i can get someone to do it cheap enough...
thanks
josh

 

[Final Maxim]

you can plastic weld it yourself if you want, although usually they dont hold very well. nowhere near as good as a solid backing with sikaflex or something

use a hot airgun and heat up a screwdriver, melt the 2 sides back together (if theyre close enough)

for 20 quid though whatever way you choose your gonna save a shed load, any idea on the price of a new bumper from renault?