I was in a collision a few months ago which left me with a cracked front bumper. After getting a recommendation to buy a plastic welder I took the dive and gave it a go and I am extremely happy with the results. I still have yet to fill and paint it.
This is on a 2008 Fiat 500 1.2 sport. It will work on any plastic bodywork.
This is what I started with:
First thing to do is remove the bumper. There are various tutorials on YouTube for this step. If your car is a bit older like mine, I recommend getting some bolt release spray and spraying every bolt and screw first, it does help.
With the bumper off, start by getting the crack closed as much as possible. The black grill on mine had come loose and putting this back on pulled things back into shape. You may need to get a knife and cut some plastic away from the crack to get it sitting nicely:
With the plastic welder, start by putting a few staples in to get the join closed as much as possible. Don't cut any legs off until you're finished. If any of the staples are not in far enough, you can go back and push them in a little more. You want to push them in about half way through the plastic. You don't really need to push, the weight of the welder will be enough to push them in. Just don't push them through to the far side. There are a few good videos on YouTube showing how to use a plastic welder which can be a good start. Maybe practise on some scrap plastic:
After this you can start to fill in the gaps and staple the whole length of the crack:
I had a small hole which I covered with some spare plastic I had laying around. This is so that when I fill the bumper from the front, it gives me something to fill against. Once you are happy, cut all of the legs off the staples:
Bumper back on and this is the final result:
I've never used a plastic welder before. Putting the staples in took less time then getting the bumper off, though nearly every bolt and screw was seized, hense the release spray. Overall I am very happy with this as a base to fill and paint. Whether I fill and spray it myself or get that done elsewhere, this alone has definitely saved me some money and only took about 4 hours. The welders can be had for about £25, the one I used can be found here.
This is on a 2008 Fiat 500 1.2 sport. It will work on any plastic bodywork.
This is what I started with:
First thing to do is remove the bumper. There are various tutorials on YouTube for this step. If your car is a bit older like mine, I recommend getting some bolt release spray and spraying every bolt and screw first, it does help.
With the bumper off, start by getting the crack closed as much as possible. The black grill on mine had come loose and putting this back on pulled things back into shape. You may need to get a knife and cut some plastic away from the crack to get it sitting nicely:
With the plastic welder, start by putting a few staples in to get the join closed as much as possible. Don't cut any legs off until you're finished. If any of the staples are not in far enough, you can go back and push them in a little more. You want to push them in about half way through the plastic. You don't really need to push, the weight of the welder will be enough to push them in. Just don't push them through to the far side. There are a few good videos on YouTube showing how to use a plastic welder which can be a good start. Maybe practise on some scrap plastic:
After this you can start to fill in the gaps and staple the whole length of the crack:
I had a small hole which I covered with some spare plastic I had laying around. This is so that when I fill the bumper from the front, it gives me something to fill against. Once you are happy, cut all of the legs off the staples:
Bumper back on and this is the final result:
I've never used a plastic welder before. Putting the staples in took less time then getting the bumper off, though nearly every bolt and screw was seized, hense the release spray. Overall I am very happy with this as a base to fill and paint. Whether I fill and spray it myself or get that done elsewhere, this alone has definitely saved me some money and only took about 4 hours. The welders can be had for about £25, the one I used can be found here.
