Wow. I'm amazed.
Shout out to James for the pneumatic straight line sander advice and paint recommendations......I bought the sander at Northern Tool and it was a no-brainer for tackling the major sanding! Hopefully, future owners can see that tired damaged bumpers can be repaired! Since all the "rubber" was basically there on my tired bumper, I felt more comfortable that the bumper could be saved. I did not want to Bondo a bumper back together! Just extra patience is really needed to let the adhesives dry very well.
Mike Tuason, here in FC, has a "guy" in the LA area who can make the fiberglass repro's - maybe reach out to Mike he's a fantastic resource
Has anyone tried injecting rust reformer from rustoleum - it is supposed to “convert the rust” and prevent it from spreading. I know there are a bunch of marine paints for stabilizing rust developed by the Navy
Nice job on bringing your bumper back from the dead! You inspired me to tackle the splits in my bumper. After grinding/sanding out somebodies poor repair I ended up with a mess. What did you use to fill the cracks and smooth out the bumper. I'm looking at Devcon Flexane Putty, I think it will work at bonding the rubber back to the metal plus fill in the voids. Don't know if its sandable though. Looked like the previous owner used a urethane filler and put some kind of bondo on top. They failed to address the rust and caused the repair to fail. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hey Glenn - I am tickled to inspire anyone! I was fairly confident that I could be successful in repairing my bumper because most of the rubber was still on the bumper and I could stitch it back together. You have a challenge with that bumper. My metal inner frame was heavily pitted after removing the rust... Image Unavailable, Please Login I needed a lot of adhesive to bond the rubber back to the metal frame. I chose this liquid nails(let cure a long time) to bond the big pieces back together and I used Bob's black rubber super glue to bond the rubber-to-rubber remaining cracks. Bumper Bite glaze and the 3m flexible bumper repair 2-part adhesive to fill the nicks and smooth the surface. I thought if I needed to replace large chunks of rubber, I would slice off pieces of a Grainger rubber dock bumper that I bought (https://www.grainger.com/product/GRAINGER-APPROVED-D-Shape-Extruded-Rubber-Dock-3VUV8) and superglue/build-up the rubber back on to the bumper.....then sand rubber to shape and size. But I never had to replace large chunks of missing rubber. So this idea is unproven. I am not worried about the end of your bumper (after rust is addressed)....the 2 areas in the bumper center worry me with the Bondo. I am not sure what could be used that is flexible, sandable, and fill that large of a shape! I'm interested - keep us posted on what might work! Don't get in a hurry - patience will be needed. I spent about $150 on supplies - so you will have to determine if that could go towards a better replacement.
I've had the bumper in the electrolysis tank for two day's (one day per side). When I pulled the right side out the larger chunks of rubber pretty much fell off which didn't really surprise me. I've use electrolysis before and anywhere there's corrosion paint or other coatings will fail. I removed the rubber off the end and cleaned up the metal. The plan is to treat the metal then reattach the rubber using the liquid nails and super glue. As for the center the remnants of the bumper are brittle and crumble under pressure. My thought is instead of chunks of rubber using Devcon Flexane 80 putty as a substrate. This is an industrial product used for repairing conveyors and other commercial applications. After reading up on it and watching some video's it think it will make a durable base. It's designed to stick to both rubber and metal. I figure if it doesn't give me an acceptable finish I can grind it back and top coat with urethane bumper filler. I'm actually more concerned about the LH side where the two splits are in the bumper. I got a ton of corrosion out of them and I'm wondering if I should open them up and treat the metal. Another option is to use Eastwood Rust Encapsulator to spray into the splits in the bumper and seal the corrosion. I've used it before and it is very good stuff. I agree it may be better to cut my loses and look for a new bumper but I figure I'll see how this works and if I don't like the results I'll go to plan B. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
You may be on to something with the Devcon. I'm going to read up on it. It looks like you really attacked the rust! I think the Rust encapsulator will do a great job of sealing the metal for good! Keep going!
Derek, Wanted to update you on my progress, finally got the rust encapsulator from Eastwood and sealed up the bare metal. Reattached the rubber I removed to clean up the metal using the liquid nails and Bob's super glue (Great products by the way thanks for the tip). Not knowing how thick the Devcon is I decided to make a mold of sorts out of cardboard to keep the urethane in place until it set up. I coated the card board with plastic tape and put a coat of wax on the tape to help it release from the urethane after it was dry. I used duct tape and some wood to keep the cardboard in place (looks crude but it worked). I then mixed up the Devcon and troweled it onto the bumper. I put more on than necessary so I wouldn't have to come back and fill as many voids. It took about 12-15 minutes and the urethane started to set up. After about 3 hours I removed the cardboard and using a razer blade started trimming back the excess urethane while it was still pliable figuring this would save me some sanding. After another hour or so I was able to rough shape it with 80 grit on a DA. Over-all I'm pretty happy with the results so far. I ended up with some air pockets that I'll fill with 3m bumper repair. I obviously have more filling to do around the right turn signal but its coming along. Once I get everything filled and leveled I'll use the Bumper bite to refine it and then paint. As for the Devcon I'm very happy with it in this application. The material is similar in hardness as the bumper and is definitely strong. Had I worked it into the bumper a little better I think I could have eliminated most of the bubbles but I was worried about it setting up before I was finished. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Look at you, Glenn! You're making me a believer. I know you agree with me...it just sometimes takes time and patience. ......and a Straight-Line Sander (a great suggestion from James). I bought one and fell in love with the tool.
Absolutely agree! I spent half a day stripping old paint and Bondo off this thing, it was ugly! Kept telling myself I had nothing to lose. It's starting to really take shape now. I ran out of 3m bumper repair and had to order more so I'm on hold until then. I've been using a DA sander with 180 grit. Tried my angle grinder for shaping but it runs too high of rpm and is burning/smearing the urethane. I'll have to check into the straight line sander for leveling the top and front of the bumper. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Finally finished! after filling and shaping went over surface with "Bumper Bit" and sanded with straight line sander and a DA. Then I primed and block sanded multiple times until it was smooth. Applied the SEM bumper coat today. I totally get the Jed Clampett analogy Derek, seemed like all I did for the last couple of weeks was sand and fill on this thing. Thanks for the suggestions and encouragement by all. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The results are not believable! You made my day! When I said I was a believer....I couldn't help but think of your bumper and this old David Cross skit!
Man, this is incredible, I had no idea you could do this. I replaced the rear bumper on my old car because of a poor installation of an exhaust. It melted part of the underside of the bumper. It pissed me off because the bumper was in excellent shape before that mishap. I had to have the exhaust redone correctly and then I bought a replacement bumper and put it on. I still have the old bumper sitting in my garage. Have no idea what to do with it because I don't have the 308 any more. Wish I had have known about this process.
