Articles
How to Remove Scratches from Plastic Bumpers
When you possess a car you always want it to appear shiny and dazzling. But scratches and cracks on plastic bumpers makes it look ugly. A plastic bumper repair is an easy body repair task to make your car beautiful. There are few options available to get rid of cracks and deep scratches like fiberglass body repair compound such as bond-O and plastic bumper repair kits available in the market. The tools and materials used to remove scratches from plastic bumpers are includes grit sandpapers, aluminum tape, touch up paint kit, drill with wire cleaning brush, rubber sanding block etc.
Steps for removing scratches from plastic bumpers are mentioned below:
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Sponge Down the Affected Area
The first step in this method is to rinse the affected area of your car bumper completely, remove dust and other dirty material from the bumper to start the process of scratch removal. Use cleaning solvents made especially made for cleaning purposes to clear the bumper. One the affected area is cleansed properly then you can proceed with further methods efficiently.
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Hold Bumper Carefully
Examine the bumper carefully and if there is a crack then hold it from both sides of the crack in proper alignment. Use an aluminum tape on the outside of the bumper to hold both edges of the crack in a proper way. This helps you to apply the remaining procedure flawlessly.
- Apply 60 Grit Sandpaper
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Strengthen the Repair
In this step, you have to make sure to give strength to the repair. Weld a wire mesh into the plastic underside of the bumper using a plastic bumper repair kit. You can use fiberglass, adhesive wire or plastic mesh with bond-O type kit. Use soldering iron type tool to heat up the plastic and wire mesh which will embed mesh in the plastic. This step is very important for fixing cracks in the bumper.
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Spread Plastic Filler Underside
Apply filler material into the cracks by pressing it and wiping across. Proper application of material properly will smoothen the bumper. Now allow it to dry.
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Spread Plastic Filler on Topside
This step involves applying filler on the top side of bumper. Initialize with removing the aluminum tape that was applied in step-2 and clean the top side of the bumper with any solvent. Apply the 60 grit sandpaper to surface of the bumper to entirely cover the crack. Now apply the filler material generously to the top side and wait until it dries.
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Sand-off
Now sand everything to a level after the surface dries. You will need to use an 80-grit then 120- grit followed by a 200-grit sandpaper and sanding the whole affected area until it merges with rest of the bumper.
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Paint
It is the final step of
Now, take a 60 grit sandpaper to surface the bumper. Use a cut off tool with grinding wheel installed to clean the one or two inch area on the sides of crack or scratch. You should follow this step so that it makes the surface smooth enough to go for the next step.