Front bumper repair

[Traindriver69]

Hi all
Took off my front bumper today the top of the plastic is cracked and Broken but I have found the bits so I am going to attempt to fix the plastic and respray the bumper.
Can anyone recommend an adhesive to fix the plastic together and what sort of paint should I use to make it look as original.
Many thanks in advance

[saabfast]

Plastic adhesives are very dependent on the type of plastic as they generally 'melt' the parts together. I have no idea what sort was used in the '70s. Have you tried 'welding' with heat. I have fixed some with careful use of a soldering iron to melt edges together but have not tried it on TR plastic.

[Traindriver69]

Heat is an idea but don't want to totally knacker it up.

[sonscar]

Could it possibly be a fibreglass replacement?Normal fibreglass repair and paint techniques would then apply.Just a thought as mine is.Steve

[supercass]

There used to be a flexible filler marketed for plastic bumper repairs. As you have the bumper off you may be able to get a specialist to repair it at a reasonable price.
supercass

[FI Spyder]

Once (if) you get it , I would use a bumper paint especially formulated for bumper repainting. I got a can of Honda Bumper Paint for my Integra's rubber(?) bumper strip on rear bumper but haven't got around to doing it yet so can't give first hand knowledge on it. You have to clean the bumper of any silicone or other bumper treatments it may have had over the years so the paint will properly stick to the bumper.

[Traindriver69]

It is definitely a plastic bumper thing is the car needs a bit of money spending on it so If I can repair it myself it means it's money I can spend on something else on the car

[supercass]

Have a look on ebay. There are a number of kits available from about a fiver. Get one that has a flexible filler / bonder. Trim paint is also available there. Getting the slightly textured finish might be tricky. Probably worth reinforcing the back of the repair as well.
supercass

[UKPhilTR7]

I have a crack in my front corner bumper too, which I will be looking to fix myself. With this I am also looking to adding reversing sensors into the bumper too. I was thinking of making small circular holes in the bumpers for the sensors and then securing them with fibreglass. I was also looking to fill the splits with fibreglass strips at the back and then filling with a flexible filler and then painting. I too am not sure of which filler or paint to use. I would not be keen on melting the plastic together as that would distort the look at the front and it would be so hard to try and get the correct shape back

[Traindriver69]

as you can see I have a job and a half to try and repair it but i have all the missing bits

[supercass]

Depends on your skill I suppose but tbh if that was my bumper I would be looking for a decent s/h item. It just looks like one of those jobs you could spend a lot of time on and some money and end up being unhappy with the end result and because of that then replace it anyway! Problem is decent s/h ones seem to be getting more difficult to find, but that might just be a temporary thing. Again depends on how quickly you want it. As the bumper is off anyway a professional repairer might fix it for less than the cost of a second hand one. Such repairers used to be fairly common when most plastic bumpers were black but less so since colour coding became the trend. supercass

[UKPhilTR7]

Oh yes that is going to be a job and a half to fix that. Good that you have all the bits though. If you did try and heat then together, doing it from the back would be the best option and then fill the front to a nice smooth finish for painting. I would still favour fibreglass strips though at the back to hold it all together. That way you will have a short time to move all the bits to make sure that all is perfectly aligned before it sets.

The only thing is that once you have repaired and painted the front, you will have to do the back too. So that they both match.

[smoking joe]

I had to the repair the front n/s, obtained replacement corner section but needed to form the
overlap and repair a few splits.

Using section strips at the same profile recovered from the damaged corner, stuck to the underside using
a mix of industrial strength superglue as tacks and JB weld epoxy for the main work, having previously keyed the surfaces.

Used profile again as the over lap, shaped as required to sides, stuck as above, but because it receives the corner section just needed to carefully cut out/trim
slightly, with Dremil, quick and clean and no strain on new joint.

Vee'd out the splits and filled with plastic bumper filler ( plastic padding i expect) rubbed down whole bumper. plastic primed and 3 coats matt black
Plasicote, still looks great, been on 3 years.

Sprayed rear bumper to match.

Hope this helps.

[FI Spyder]

Was going to suggest much the same as Joe. I would epoxy in a backing piece of plastic, then glue/epoxy in broken bits. Fill cracks with bumper filler (it's flexible), sand down, clean surface with some cleaner that will take off old bumper treatment, lightly sand again, clean and paint with bumper paint. Fortunately our bumper on this side of pond are rubber (or some reasonable facsimile).

[Hasbeen]

Some glues will do an OK job. but it is not worth pinching the few pennies you will save.

Plastic welding is as good, or even better than steel welding. The motorcycle fairing repair people can weld your bumper back together & have it as good as new.

I had a truck smash one corner of my rear bumper on the 7, when he cut his exit from a petrol stop too tight. He got my bumper with his fuel tank.

I picked up all 6 bits of it, & took it to a plastic welder, who I knew did motorcycle fairings. He was doing one at the time, for the 3Rd time. The bloke crashed a lot evidently. When he finished it looked like new.

He put mine back together, & from the outside it was almost good enough to fit without painting.

Hasbeen