2004 Chevrolet SSR Rear Bumper Restoration

How it happened.

This 2004 Chevrolet SSR was sitting at the Chevrolet dealership. A customer who was leaving the dealership backed into this rare 2004 Cheverolet SSR. The bumper cover is discontinued and is no longer available. Even when the bumper cover WAS available, it cost over $1,000! The dealership was unable to find a salvage or used bumper cover, either. Fortunately for them, we were close by. The image below shows the damage.

Assessing the damage.

We inspected the bumper cover and discovered that it had been previously hit and poorly repaired. It had filler on it in areas as thick as 1/4 inch. This made the work tougher because we had to remove all of the old filler. Not only that, but the flange at the top had broken away from the bumper.

Removing filler and working out the dent.

The filler from the previous repair was sanded away. The dent was worked out with a heat gun and Polyvance's Bumper Dent Removal Rollers.

To see a video on how to work out dents, click here.

Welding on the flange.

The flange was welded back on using a Nitrogen Plastic Welder.

Apply 1st coat of primer and sand.

The bumper was sprayed with a high-build primer to fill in sand scratches then sanded with 400 grit sandpaper to find any remaining imperfections.

Final coat of Primer.

A final coat of primer was applied before delivering the bumper back to the body shop. All the body shop needs to do is scuff the bumper and apply a top coat... just like what they would have to do with a new bumper (if one existed).

SSR bumper