Bondo/resin bumper body work questions...

[turboweege]

i bought a 93 front bumper to go on my 90 and it has the nissan symbol on it which i plan on removing. they only problem is where the symbol is at is a circular depression it sits in that will be left when i take it off to repaint it. i want to "shave" it if possiible. i dont think bondo would be smart if any riocks hit it or i bump something. i was told i could use an epoxy resin stuff made for bumpers, fill it in, sand and paint. anyone else have any suggestions or past experience with work on polyurethane bumpers??thanksluigi

[Antjaw]

Bondo should work fine as long as you mix it properly so that it is very hard. You could also use fiberglass, although it it harder to work with and sand. I recomend this stuff called Marine Tex http://www.marinetex.com/ This is the mother of all filler.. It dries as hard as steel. and a matter of fact it actually has metal shavings in it. Be carefull when using this stuff.. when you open the jar of resin, It actually smokes!! But anyway...it will deflect a rock as wall as the old emblem did.

[turboweege]

Are you sure this is the stuff? it sounds good but here is what the website says:

What does Marine-Tex NOT adhere to?

Plastics like Polyethylene and Polypropylene. Also, any surface that is not prepared properly (greasy, oily, or waxy surfaces.)

Are there metal fillers in Gray Marine-Tex?

No, Gray Marine-Tex contains no metal fillers.

[quiksilvia]

i bondo-ed my bumber and it worked fine it if u do it right

[C-Kwik]

The problem with bondo is that it is not flexible. If the bumper gets hit, it will crack. The bumper by itself is designed to take a light impact and with flex agent in the paint, it may not even crack the paint. Use a plastic repair material that is designed to work with the material your bumper is made of. There are also expansion issues from heat if you use a material that expands at a different rate when heated.

[240Kuminachu]

use the epoxy, its made for it. I filled the entire line of my bumpers with it. Works great.

[nismofan14]

Metal glaze works well to fill in. It is like bondo but lighter and for minor indentations also i think its easier to work with. Epoxy is your other choice but just make sure that you know what the bumper is made of so you dont put the wrong kind on it.

[turboweege]

well the stock bumpers are polyurethane right? they have this stuff at my work that is an epoxy mixure and says its flexible for bumpers, so i think im gonna try that. thanks guys.luigi

[trpower7]

Epoxy fix is a good idea for bumpers. They are made of polyurethane and meant to flex, most epoxys are meant to flex a bit as well.

[Phantom]

Personally I would use microballoons.

You all probobly never heard of this but if you work with fiberglass you have. You can take a small amount of apoxy resin and microballoons and it will make it harder than bondo by about 3x. It applys the same way too. Micrballoons are very small glass beads. This works perfecly.

[C-Kwik]

Why would you want to harden it more? A bumper is flexible. Any material added to a bumper should have similar traits to the bumper otherwise you may see expansion differences from heat or cracking.