How to Weld Plastic Bumpers...
...if you have a Split you need to know How to weld plastic Fast to Avoid the Split Growing
The Plastic Might Have A Split or Hole
But that no longer means a total replacement part.
the plastic weld explained
How to weld plastic? Easy just follow the following instructions. Welding Plastic is now the repair of choice for the S.M.A.R.T. repairer in this situation.
You see luckily the modern plastic bumper is made of a type of plastic called thermoplastic as opposed to a thermosetting plastic (the latter type goes all crispy and brittle under heat). Rather like the toast I enjoy each morning.
This is the type of pursuit that will have you welding your bumpers.
The advantage for your bumper is that this type of plastic softens with the application of heat. A welding iron is used to 'melt' the area together. The first stage is to clean the body panel exactly as in the sratch repair instructions.
Here's a neat trick I found when my welding iron decided not to work about 2 weeks after the guarantee expired! If you do not have a welding iron use a small blowtorch to heat a metal object enough to start melting the plastic - It certainly shouldn't be glowing red!
Do not make the repair larger than it already is, just imagine you are stitching the plastic.
I use a flambé torch which doubles for caramelizing my Crème Catalan! This tool is perfect for the next Top Tip (do not try this with a plumbers blowtorch or similar)
You will need to be very cautious with this next bit of advice, and I would advise removing the bumper from the car in order to do this. I find using this tiny torch flame directly onto the cracked areas will give a deeper and stronger weld
Please do NOT do this if the bumper is on the car as the risk of fire inside the bumper would mean you would not have access to put out the flames!!!
Even if you have a small hole you will be able to melt in a fine metal gauze to 'bridge' the missing area.
After this the gauze is filled by melting in a soft thermoplastic rod to give a base for a standard car body filler.
If you need to act fast to stop the crack from spreading, I would suggest drilling a small hole at the very end of the crack. This technique is used in all engineering , even aircraft manufacture and acts a a stress relief the crack will now go no further. If the weather is cold I would recommend you do this sooner rather than later.
In fact a blow to a bumper in the winter is far more likely to cause a crack than when the weather is warm. For instance, such as the couple of weeks of summer we enjoy here every year in the UK! The plastic weld repair, from now on is treated as a normal paint body repair. The industry leading S.M.A.R.T. paint repair systems have lead the way in fast repair techniques such as how to weld plastic
However reclaimed plastic used on vehicles such as the new Mini will not weld as I found out to my horror one day, and I had already sanded and prepared the panel. you just cannot weld plastic made from this material.
What was even worse, the car was my dentists - I am still in fear of my next visit! Well I hope I have explained how to weld plastic. If you have any questions please feel free to email me
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