pp000830

I recently damaged my rear bumper pulling up a driveway where the rear lip grounded and tore the lower valance section back between the exhaust exit holes. It created three small all the way through the plastic cracks around the exhaust exit holes and one long one that extended up past the horizontal molded line across the center of the cover. A new or repaired bumper cover would be very expensive so I tried my hand at fixing and repainting the existing cover.

When I started this I had no previous experience with plastic repair or using a compressor and paint gun to paint something.

• I purchased one of those soldering iron plastic welders and the proper plastic rods for the bumper material. I also purchase and used the reinforcing screen and applied it to the back of the melt repair to add strength.
• I watched the instructional videos on the distributor’s web site and several “How-To” paint your car videos on YouTube.
• I purchased a $25 paint gun and used my existing compressor I purchase previously for another DIY project.
• I used Bulldog prep to improve primer adherence to the exposed plastic areas and spray can consumer automotive primer over the repaired areas. The repair areas were very small. As only small sections of the bumper needed to be primed I did not go the extra step of using two part primer over the repairs.

The bumper was previously painted with single stage paint so I used two-part single stage paint. I took special care in color matching. The paint supplier used a spectrometer to come up with a paint formula. I made a test panel and found the paint to be too dark. The paint supplier provided me with a small amount of white tint. I added 7,5ml of white to the quart of color and did a test spray out. The match was a lot better.
My experience as a newbie was that by using single stage paint it allowed me to do spot sanding fixes for any small ridges or drips that formed during painting. The down side is I may need do a little rubbing out of the paint to get a good finish once the bumper is on the car. The bumper removal is not too difficult.

I had nothing to lose as if I could not get the repair to work I would just buy a new cover and if my paint work did not work out I could take the bumper to a paint shop and have it painted for $300. The bumper looks good and is drying out in the driveway right now I will put it on the car this afternoon. If you have finesse with spray paint in cans you will find painting with a gun easier as it can push out more paint. It takes a little time to understand how to adjust the gun. I played with shooting some solvent with it to get the feel of the thing and then fine tuned it with live paint to get a nice spray going. A quart of paint gave me plenty of paint to work with including any rework. Paint and supplies about $120, plastic welding kit including melt rods and reinforcing screen $70. Paint gun $25 at Harbor Freight and about eight hours time.

Andy

LimeyBoy

I applaud your DIY, made sense money-wise and sounds like you learned a couple of things. Now we just need photos...

993/907

[ Now we just need photos...[/QUOTE]

Pix would indeed be helpful.
I tore the @#*& out of mine this winter and have it temporarily screwed together.
Have yet to take the valance off and see how much the supporting structure is tweaked.

pp000830

Images attached

993/907

Thanks for the pix, looks doable to me.
Winter Project Number One.

Toto111

That is a great effort. A very good freind of mine has a mobile business in this type of repair work so I'm quite familiar with the finished results achievable. You should be very pleased with what you have done.

windydog

How is the repair holding up? I currently have this on my car too. I purchased the off the shelf bumper repair and it failed due to the heat from the exhaust. Just currious how this is holding up.

I was thinking of cutting out the section and making a graphite one.

DanL993

Mine needs fix up and repaint too. Got an estimate of $250 from a very well-regarded shop here that does a lot of Porsches. Will remove it next spring to have the work done.

Not counting your 8 hours of time, you're up to $215. Job well done....but the numbers don't add up for me.

pp000830

7/2013 update. The repair has held up fine, however I damaged the cover again and this time I went for a new cover. Also if you attempt to paint you bumper and have sanded to the bare plastic would now suggest you use the two part automotive primer made to work with paint system you are using. I would also strongly recommend that any paint mixing be done in metal cups and metal containers as using plastic containers, other than those made for automotive paint, will contaminate the paint and cause adhesion issues. Do not use medical syringes to measure out paint as they are loaded with silicone additives that will ruin you paint. Stick with metal and wooden paddles to mix.

pp000830

I ..