HAC

Does anyone know how to repair a dent on my rear bumper. It's not major damage, just like a indentation on the bumper face(imagine a big door ding about 6 inches). I've tried paintless dent repair but they can only pull dents from metal. Any ideas? I'm wondering if I can just push it out somehow.

fsttyms1

it depends how bad the damage is. if the bumper has been stretched (damage area) no. if its just like a dimple ,yea you could "possibly" pop it out if you can get to the area effected. because there has been some kind of damage you may be able to see the area if you pop it out but it may not be any where near as bad. good luck

2007AcuraRL

About the only thing you can do short of replacing it would be to try and work the dent out with a heat gun. You will have to take the bumper off the car and begin heating it from the rear. Wear leather gloves to protect your hands from the heat (It will get VERY hot if you are not careful and by the way you are not trying to melt the bumper, just trying the heat it enough so it will return to its original shape). Keep the heat gun moving the whole time otherwise you will overheat the area you are trying to fix. when its gotten warm, use your fingers (with the glove on) to massage the plastic back into its original shape and then hold it in that position until its cools down and sets. I did this once for a friend who got mildly rear ended in his '92 honda. The bumper got pushed in a bit but fortunately no so far that it caused damage to the metal fenders. We replaced the bumper brackets (which are designed to crush first on impact) with a set from the junk yard, along with the foam blocks that are located just behind the eurothane bumper cover, and because he could not locate an outer bumper cover from the junk yard that was the same color as his car, we tried the heat gun method to restore the shape of the damaged one. I must say it came out almost perfect. Because the paint used on the bumper cover has a flex-additive added to it to make the paint flex instead of just flaking off, the bumper did not need to be repainted and we buffed out just about all the marks on it with 3M swirl remover. I still have the before/after pictures we took and let me just tell you he got $2400 in insurance money from the driver that rear ended him, and it cost under $150 to repair it, including the cost of the heat gun! Plus factor in about 3 hours total time for the removal, repair, reinstall. One final note: This repair all assumes that the bumper cover is not torn, but rather only dented/crushed a bit.

Strannik

My front bumper is torn An Expedition backed up into it with a trailer hitch, so now I have a rectangular deprecion in it... Will be looking for a junk yard bumper in Monterey Blue Pearl this spring...

songoku

Just like 2002acuraTL mentioined, you can you heat-gun(or hair dryer) method only if there's no damage on paint.

HAC

Thanks. I think I'm going to try the heat gun method. I've tried a hair dryer but don't think it was hot enough. I have a hot ironing shoe I'll try pressing the dent out with if that doesn't work.

songoku

Do not use ironing shoe. You're not suppose to touch surface with ironing shoe because it'll melt either bumper or paint.



Even with heatgun, you should not use it too much longer. It'll melt it, too.

2007AcuraRL

DO NOT use an iron or anything that comes into direct contact with the plastic, it will melt it and thats not what you are trying to do. Most plastics have a "memory" effect and will try to return to their original position. The heat gun will soften the plastic and allow it to return to its original shape. A hair dryer will not get hot enough. Just go to a place like a Walmart and pick up a wagner heat gun. It will be under $25 bucks. And remember to keep the heat moving at all times. When the plastic gets hot enough that its even a little too painful to touch it for more than a few seconds while wearing a leather work glove then you know you've got it hot enough without overdoing it.
:devil:

Here is a picture of the repair (taken after the repair but before we touched up a few scratches and buffered it out).