Repairing body plastic (bumper crack)

My mom nailed a snowbank in the Impala and damaged her bumper (now ya know why I'm so accident prone, haha) and it had a dent that folder a bend backwards and cracked it pretty bad. I got the dent to pop straight no problem basically, but now I'm not sure how to fix the crack.
Are there any products out there for filling/fixing cracks in plastic?

Here's what I gotta fix:


Obviously if it don't work I'll just bumper cover it, then paint it (I want to try my hand at painting really bad, so I figure that'll be good practice. However, I figure I'll at least try filling then sanding and smoothing first to see what I get.

So yea, all you body people, throw some suggestions at this newb

bumper cover it? you mean buy a whole new cover?

Yea, either that or a fiberglass bodykit bumper.
The shop quoted her $1000 to fix it, which was $420 for a bumper cover and then paint and labor, so we were like, screw that, it may not be as professional, but I'll fix it.

i would try removing the bumper cover, and sand and jb weld it from the backside. theres not much paint missing, so if you line it up right you could have it looking halfway decent for a $5 bill plus your time...

It is taken off in that pic, lol.

I messed around with the crack quite a bit, and it's warped enough that that's the closest I can get to making the crack line up.

Is that what I should use for the repair/ filler, though? JB weld?

i used it on my beretta bumper seemed to hold up just fine.

i dont know how youre going to get it to look right if the crack wont line up. id be searching jy's for a bumper cover in the same color maybe.

Well I was planning on filling in the parts of the crack the weren't lined up, and then sanding everything down so there weren't sharp edges of anything. It might not end up perfect, but if I gat it smoothe enough it should turn out OK, or so I figure.

If I screw up too badly there's always this:

JB Weld FTW

JB weld will crack when it flexes


goto a autobody supply shop

they sell a kit for fixin those

has a epoxy that u spead over the crack on the inside then a little mesh screen then fiberglass

then bondo the crack and sand it down

will it really not flex?

i guess the spot i repaired on the beretta bumper was on a corner that didnt need to flex.

This stuff called "Fuser" works for plastic bumpers. It won't crack when it flexes. After you put the fuser on you put this red **** over that hardens so you can smooth it out

banned from SG wrote:

JB Weld FTW

SUPER GLUE AND DUCK TAPE FTW

go to a junk yard or ebay find a car just like it and buy a used bumper for like 40-60 bucks.
and that imp is definately overdone and putting a ground effects front bumper and not having it matched with skirts and tail end just turns out worse than having a cracked bumper

Sad part is that's the most conservative front (besides the razzi lip) I could find.

Buying a new bumper is the lame way of doing it, and I've got a week off from school and want something to so.
I'll go buy some sandpaper and that stuff today and maybe have some progress to show in a day or two!

good luck and all, but if all else fails, i see alot of impalas in the junk yard.

rry. i need a set of headlights....

Fusor FTW

Well, went to the hardware store a few blocks from me today and found.. only JB Weld. So that's what I got.

So I lined it up as good as I could, sanded it a bunch to rough it up and get rid of the paint, washed it, then filled the crack with as much as I could and ran some along the top.
Once it's hardened tomorrow I'm gonna sand it as smoothe as I can, starting with rough paper, then getting to like a 150 - 200 grit for paint.

Hopefully that sanding works good, because obviously that's a pretty ghetto looking fix at the moment.

how did that bumper change from blue to silver?

Scratches are going to show through 150-200 grit. I would start sanding that plastic with 180 or 220 how it is (not positive, but an estimate) and work my way up to 400-600 sandpaper. Use a red scotch brite pad to scuff the areas that are going to be painted so paint will stick.

GlowinPontiac wrote:

how did that bumper change from blue to silver?

My camera-phone for some reason makes everything look blue when lit with ambient sun-light (1st pic), but when lit with lightbulbs of other man-made lighting it shows the true color.


Thanks for the sanding tip! Once I get it to a manageable state I'll use finer stuff than I was planning on.
I've got some 600 grit stuff, but wasn't sure if I needed that, well it'll be used for sure now.

This is a little early, but does anyone know a decent site online that kind of walks you through painting? Like what grits to use to sand after primer, between color coats, for the clear coat, to finish before polish, etc.

Between color coats wetsand with 1500 or 2000 (same applies for clear and before polish)

sand the **** down with 240 prime it sand it with 240 again

dont color sand wtf u painting a show car?

lay sealer lay color lay clear....


im gessing your spotting it in and not painting the whole cover if u are when ur done your going to have to wet sand teh clear and rub it

if your doing the entire cover

u jsut gray scuff the entire cover lay the sealer and silver base were u need annd then clear the entire cover


got any qestions ask me on aim i do this **** for a living...........

Why didn't you do the repair from the rear? Your ghetto spray can paint job is gonna look alot worse then a repaired crack would have looked.

FatManDan wrote:

sand the **** down with 240 prime it sand it with 240 again dont color sand wtf u painting a show car? lay sealer lay color lay clear....

..True, might have to sand some after color if he gets too much orange peel in the paint though....not sure about rattle can and orange peel though.

its ok to get orange peel in color when u lay the clear it will level out

and if hes using a rattle can to do the cover its gonna look like ass no matter what

A bunch of sanding yesterday now leaves me with a nice smoothe bumper ready for primer and paint! Most of the JB weld that was on there got sanded off, and a little's left that evens out the crack and such. I think I ended up with a pretty decent job for it being my first time messing with this kind of thing at all.

Thanks for some tips guys, I always just though you had to sand between coats no matter what.
Also, yes, I'm hoping to just do the spot, not the whole cover.
I've looked around a bit and found some websites that sell pain to GM spec with the color code in spray cans. So from what I've heard am I to understand that a sraycan spray isn't anything compared to an spraygun spray when you're painting?

My buddy's got a spraygun and I could use it.. should I get some primer, color, and clear and shoot it with that then?

Dan, I'll probably take you up on that and catch you on AIM sometime, too. Thanks man, it's always nice to be able to talk to someone who knows his **** one on one.

Please dont shoot your primer and color out of the same gun. Some guns can shoot color and clear (after a thorough cleaning of course) but I wouldn't shoot primer and color with the same gun. We have a dedicated primer gun at the shop, and a few other guns to choose from for color and clear.

FatManDan wrote:

its ok to get orange peel in color when u lay the clear it will level out and if hes using a rattle can to do the cover its gonna look like ass no matter what

Hahahahahahaha, WTF? No, clearcoat will NOT even out orange peel. Look at different body parts of any car you see on the road up close. You will see that many of them are painted like ****, and have massive orange peel on them. The clear coat does NOT level out the orange peel.

You need to sand each and ever layer of paint after the spray. Sand the primer, sand each layer of color, and sand the clear. It's the only way if you want to end up with a close mirror finish.

steven_mckenz wrote:

FatManDan wrote: its ok to get orange peel in color when u lay the clear it will level out and if hes using a rattle can to do the cover its gonna look like ass no matter what Hahahahahahaha, WTF? No, clearcoat will NOT even out orange peel. Look at different body parts of any car you see on the road up close. You will see that many of them are painted like ****, and have massive orange peel on them. The clear coat does NOT level out the orange peel. You need to sand each and ever layer of paint after the spray. Sand the primer, sand each layer of color, and sand the clear. It's the only way if you want to end up with a close mirror finish.

Sanding after each layer creates a showcar shine. I've never heard of clear leveling out orange peel either, but I haven't been doing bodywork for that long, so I'm not going to say anything on that. I was just talking about trying to match the orange peel the paint has when it comes from the factory.

Hey man, before you paint it have you reinforce the back side of the repair? Might be a good idea to hit it with 36 grit from the back side, lay down some resin and drop a piece of fiberglass matte on top of that, then resin over so it wont re-crack again.

pOrk wrote:

Hey man, before you paint it have you reinforce the back side of the repair? Might be a good idea to hit it with 36 grit from the back side, lay down some resin and drop a piece of fiberglass matte on top of that, then resin over so it wont re-crack again.

Great idea. Add some strength to the weak point. I would sure hate to see that crack instantly reappear after going over a few bumps on the road!

Well I loaded the back up with JB weld and let it cure. It's on the car now until I get a chance to paint it (gonna reclean and sand a bit before paint of course), so I'll see how it does throughout the next few days.
I'll go with some fiberglass if I have any issues at all

I want to see sanded pictures, to see how smooth you got it to look!

ok steve what are you there at your "shop" a porter? you dont actually paint do ?

this is how it goes in any real shop

primer - sand with 240 untill flat
sealer - 1 or 2 coats to cover
base - 3 or more coats to covered
clear - 2 coats wet sand flat and rub

orange peel in the base lay clear over it and sand it flat....

thats how its done in a collision shop....

no **** color sanding.... maybe if your working with chip foose but not in the real world

FatManDan wrote:

ok steve what are you there at your "shop" a porter? you dont actually paint do ? this is how it goes in any real shop primer - sand with 240 untill flat sealer - 1 or 2 coats to cover base - 3 or more coats to covered clear - 2 coats wet sand flat and rub orange peel in the base lay clear over it and sand it flat.... thats how its done in a collision shop.... no **** color sanding.... maybe if your working with chip foose but not in the real world

I don't care how your shop does it. If you have read my post, I STATED that factory paint has massive orange peel in it, because they don't do that at the factory. Hence why some paint jobs, FACTORY, look like ****.

But, if you're doing such a small part like the front bumper, and you're doing it yourself, and want it to look the best you can do, then WHY NOT COLOR SAND? It takes a very short amount of time to sand, and it will make it look a lot better. especially on the front of the vehicle, why not make it look as as good as possible? If you want to be lazy and allow it to have massive orange peel, then go ahead.

But the other point of my post was that clear coat does NOT flatten out orange peel. Yes, the paint may be smooth, but the orage peel shows through the clear. The clear will not flatten out the reflection and remove the orange peel.

Don't be so goddamn defensive. Sheesh.

Part way through sanding. It's smoother now, and I have paint (Gasp! rattle cans! oh no!) and I'm just waiting for a day when the car's here long enough for me to paint it.
Probably this weekend.

Finished pretty much. Gonna put a little more clear on when it gets warmer out and polish it better, but it's good enough to drive around for now while it's super cold..

piccy:


Well that's about it for this thread finally, lol.

better pic?

Can do, I'll get one on my digital camera (instead of phone) tomorrow or something, it's dark out right now.