Quick and easy ghetto fabulous fix- go to home depot/Lowe's or wherever, in the paint section they have these "wall repair" patches, which are essentially a small square of sheet metal with adhesive and fiberglass mesh. Sand or file crack to the best of your ability, one of those on the rear of the bumper, Jb weld or best choice SEM plastic bumper adhesive in crack. The wall repair patch will add some rigidity to the repair. Fiberglass is better, but this will do in a pinch and save time

 

Hello!

Yes, I have fixed several pieces of plastics with very good results. Actually, you can weld the plastic. Each plastic type must be welded only with the same plastic type (for better results), there are some different types of plastic which will bond very well to other types but this is not the same with all types of plastic. You have to try first.


You need a soldering gun (will be better if you can get a dimmer to adjust the temperature) or a plastic welding gun. You need also to find another piece of the same plastic type of your bumper to make the reinforcements. Take the piece out of the car and look in the back. Usually, the plastic pieces have the identification of the plastic. You will find some initials like "ABS", "PP" (polypropilene), etc.

A popular tool for this is the airless plastic welder. you can buy one in amazon.

Take a look:
https://www.amazon.com/Polyvance-570...plastic+welder

If you do not have available the same type of plastic of your part, you can purchase the welding rods. Remember to buy the same type of plastic.

There are some technique you will need to use to weld the part. A very popular one is to use a patch of stainless steel mesh to put in the back of your piece, then merge it in the plastic and then apply a cover of plastic. This will guarantee that the piece will not break again.

The most important thing is that you need to be careful to not overheat the piece because you will cause a deformation. It will be very difficult to make a job without any sign of welding or warping, but for sure, you can restore the functionality of your piece. I have saved a lot of money by fixing fan cowls, air intake boxes, bumpers and several other things. I was even able to weld the bumper of a 2013 Ford Fusion purchased a couple of years ago. I saved the price of the new bumper plus the shipping to my country which may be between 2 or 3 k in total.

Search for videos and how tos in youtube. There is a lot of information there.

Hope it helps!

 

wow, thanks for all of the great ideas! I'm going to tackle it this weekend when it dries up a bit but will probably do a combination of most suggestions. I have areas that are cracked and also areas where there are bits missing so I'm going to have to get creative. I do like the idea of a 'kick plate' riveted to it but the wall patch idea sounds pretty snazzy too and seems like a fairly good fix. And JB weld it will definitely be part of the job

thanks again - I'll report back and show off my 'handy' or 'not so handy' work

 

Hi!

Be careful before chopping or heating anything. Try first the adherence of the materials. Fiberglass does not stick to plastic, it will peel after some time. The rivets in the plastic may lead to future cracks also in case you put pressure in your bumper, if you do not chose the location properly.

Here is a bunch of videos about welding plastic.

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...astic+heat+gun

Good luck!

 

in case anyone is looking for a inexspensive steel bumper try AtlanticBritish.com. They have a wench mount for about $450 and a non wench for about $400. Good Luck