Hi all,

Is anyone any good at smoothing out bump strips on a 6n2? Looking to get my front and rear done.

Or if not, any detailed tutorials on doing it.

I've attempted it myself and the fibreglass paste seperated and popped out. Any tips to getting it to stay in place?

Thanks.

Edited 1 July, 201511 yr by apertures

Well fibreglass doesn't bond to plastic so that's no suprise....

Use plastic instead, the inside of the bumper should indicate the type of plastic it's made of.

I've got two spare bumpers so not short on using them for spare plastic

Just wondering how I would go about using the plastic, do you recommend fully plastic welding the gap completely then a skim of filler?

My next plan would be to try and drill 100s of small holes in the gap and then fibreglass front and back to keep it secure. How does that sound?

You can do it by drilling small holes but the best would be to plastic weld as much as possible to fill gaps number plate light holes or clip holes. Cut out a piece of plastic to the size needed then add plastic weld around it instead of just try to melt plastic into the hole. Create a bung so to speak. Then once it's all filled rub down with a 120 grit and just smooth over with bondo.

Take the bump strip out then grind the backing off, so your left with just a flat piece the same shape as the bumper. Save bits you cut off, ideally not painted but it doesn't matter really.

Place the bump strip over the gap, should fit and stay but glue it down if not.

If you don't have a proper plastic solder, then a cheap electrical solder iron will do, but don't expect to use it again after.

What I do is hold the welder over the two pieces until they go soft then bring in another stick of plastic then mix them together in a circle and keep moving along. So when it cools it should look like a swirl. If the bump is higher that's fine as you can grind or file it down later.

After you go all the way around and its cooled. Give the bumper a twist and feel over the bump strip, if it feels like the backing is moving then fit the bumper back to the car fully so lower clips etc so it's in its normal position, then drill a few small holes all the way across the bump strip. The aim here is to weld the outer face to the backing to reduce the chance of it cracking when you bump something (not that it should but stronger is better) then heat the holes and fill with plastic. 6 holes should do it.

An important part of doing this funny smoothing thing to bumpers is the metal reinforcer behind it. What I have done on my 6n is chop off the passengers towing eye blank. This is a huge stub like on the drivers side but without the treading bung on the end. This is totally useless and just by looking at any damaged 6n bumper you can see it looks like that stupid piece of metal has tried to escape at speed, this is because when you bumper something the plastic would flex and smash into that thing. This means that if you have any filler in that area a soft bump that would otherwise leave no damage has not just reminded your bumper.

Not sure exactly what's behind the 6n2 bumper but just take a while to make sure there isn't something there to destroy your hard work.