popping-out dents in plastic bumper?

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specialgreen

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 26, 2017
Messages
246
Location
Minnesota
I got a dent in my bumper. It looks like the plastic has "popped" inwards:
***UPDATE: it popped back out fine (see later post) ***

dent.png


I tried whacking the back of that dent with a nylon mallet, but it didn't pop-out. I don't want to whack too hard, because it was 10F outside this morning. Temps should reach freezing tomorrow, so maybe I will have better luck.

Anybody else have to do this? Maybe it would help to take it to a friend's heated garage, or heat it gently with a hair dryer or heat gun (I use a heat gun on skis a lot, so... yes, very gentle).
 
Our RF bumper corner received a perfectly round, deep dent, that popped back out when I worked it (in 75f temp)

Your dent looks asymmetrical enough, and twisted, that I doubt it will pop out all the way. You are wise to wait until warmer temps, MUCH warmer, IMO.

Good LUCK!
 
I'll second that "warmer" thing...as in you need to use a hair dryer in the summer.
Even so, the results won't be "showroom ready" (not to mention the paint).
YMMV.
 
Stanton said:
I'll second that "warmer" thing...as in you need to use a hair dryer in the summer.

Thanks for the advice; I guess I just need to wait, then. I guess I'll try to touch-up with a paint pen now (in a friend's garage), and then wait for Easter to sand and paint it right.
 
It warmed up to freezing, so I warmed the bumper from the back side with a heat gun. I warmed an area about 8 inches wide, but especially where the dent was. I warmed until it felt almost uncomfortably hot to hold your hand against on the outside. Then the plastic pushed outwards easily with just a bare hand pushing from inside. I'd say that the plastic felt about as pliable as a shampoo bottle at that point.
 
I pushed a dent mostly out on my Isuzu Trooper with a heat gun.It was noticeable but I lived with it.There was metal around it and it made it hard, It would be easier with raw plastic.
 
LeftieBiker said:
Heat guns with plastic are tricky even on Low. Hopefully it turned out ok.

Yes. I use a heat gun on the polyethylene base of skis almost daily, which requires a light touch. I guess I used a propane torch with flame spreader back in the 1980s, which needed an even finer touch!

To Glenn's point, there is nothing but air behind the Leaf bumper, so access was easy (once you removed the five bolts and 6 plastic clips on the splash guard).
 
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