Recreate Missing Pieces on a Bumper Cover

Using Polyvance's Nitrogen Plastic Welding System, you can recreate missing pieces on bumper covers.

Occasionally, you may have a bumper cover that has a missing piece. A new, aftermarket, or reconditioned bumper cover may not be available, leaving you with no other option but to recreate the missing piece.

Always wear proper safety gear while working!

Products Used:

Note: This is a list of the Polyvance products that can be used to make this repair. This list does not include sanders, grinders, or other common tools you will need. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call technical support at 800-633-3047.

• 1000 Super Prep Plastic Cleaner (several options available) OR 1001-4 EcoPrep Plastic Cleaner
• 6125 Tapered Burr (several options available)
• Aluminum Body Tape (several options available)
• Nitrogen Plastic Welder (several options available)
• Welding Rod
  Choose the appropriate welding rod to match the plastic by looking at the identification symbol.
• 2000 Flex Filler (several options available)
• Waterborne Primer Surfacer (several options available)

Video Notes:

• Super Clean Plastic Cleaner has been renamed Super Prep Plastic Cleaner
• English Closed Captions have been provided for this video. Click on the CC button to turn them on or off.
• The length of this video is in no way representative of the actual time required to perform a complete repair and therefore should not be used for estimating purposes.

English Transcript:

Occasionally you may have a bumper cover that has a missing piece. A new, aftermarket, or reconditioned bumper cover may not be available, leaving you with no other option but to recreate the missing piece.

Clean the plastic with plastic cleaner. Taper into the void with a die grinder. Create a temporary backing with aluminum tape. With the nitrogen welding system, fill the void with plastic. Make multiple passes to get the thickness close to the thickness of the bumper. Smooth out the plastic with the airless plastic welder.

This bumper also had a crack in the plastic that needed to be welded. Allow the plastic to cool before you peel off the aluminum tape. Use sanders to get the profile correct. Add more plastic and smooth it out with the airless plastic welder. Shape the plastic with sanders, grinders, knives, files, and other tools that you have, to get the profile the way you want it.

Apply Flex Filler flexible epoxy filler to fill in low spots. After it cures, sand it smooth. Apply a high-build primer to fill in sand scratches and to reveal any other areas that may need to be touched up. Apply a final coat of primer, and the bumper is ready for a topcoat.

Compare the before and after.