I bought my NA about 3 months ago. One of the known defects was a cracked front bumper, just below the big opening. The PO has attempted a fix using some kind of 2 part epoxy but the crack had opened up again. I decided to make the fix with the bumper in place. I poked around on the back side and found they had used a popsicle stick as a kind of rebar, embedded in the plastic goop they applied. I pried off the mess and cleaned up the surface. Then used a Dremmel with small drum sander to clean out a V shape channel on the front.
After some research, I decided to try a backing product call Rubb'n Repair to stabalize the crack. This stuff apparently is used in racing to apply a quick fix to cracked plastic panels. You heat it to about 200 degrees, peel off the backing and slap in on the offending damage. At that temp it becomes pliable and cutable. I heated it in my oven in an aluminum tray. When it was ready I would run out to the car to apply it. It cools very quickly, so it took some experimenting to get the right technique. I finally ended up making three 1quot; wide strips like band aids that I applied in parallel to cover the entire crack. This stuff is extremely sticky when hot. Once cooled the bumper was pretty rigid at the crack.
On the front side I used SEM Plastic Bumper repair. This is a two part epoxy like stuff that is supposed to be good on just about any kind of plastic bumper. It comes in a two barrel plunger. The instruction sheet cautions that the material may not want to plunge. I ended up cutting open one of the tubes to get the stuff out. I mixed equal amounts of hardener and activant, stirred it up and applied it to the crack. This stuff hardens VERY fast. You get maybe 30 seconds to work with it. After about 20 minutes, it's sandable. It took me two attempts to get the crack filled.
The resulting repair is smooth and fairly rigid. Once painted, there should be no sign of the damage. Total cost of repair, including a can of Chaste White spray paint, about $45. |