Car Forum World

Can a Mustang bumper fascia with a one inch tear be repaired?
I have a '97 Mustang with a small one inch tear in the bottom lip it snagged on a part of re bar sticking out the top of a parking lot concrete block.then tore when I backed off of it . Can the tear be repaired...vs the high $$ cost of replacing it? Any and all ideas are welcome, the humorous ones.

Is it repairable, yes. But not by the techniques that are spoken here. I do these repairs daily for a living. you may be able to purchase the merchandise online if you do body work/painting yourself.

The product is a band of plastic as the bumper is and it has fiberglass hairs in it. You cut the tear area by 1/8" just to create a clean surface that isn't torn. You then score the edges with a knife. Then using a soldering iron or a modelers heating tool, you really melt the band into the bumper as if your welded or soldering. Heaping extra on of course.

Then once dry, matter of minutes, you DA sand the area down and remold it as best as you may be able to. Now the plastic is sealed and healed and as if new. Just putting bondo or filler over a tear will result in it breaking once bumped. A plastic weld will hold as if new.

Then from this point its just a matter of a skim coat of bondo/filler to get the exact form, primer, paint, clearcoat, done.

If the tear is large enough, I have cut out the complete damaged area, then cut off scrapes from junk bumpers and welded it all into place then finished it like a normal job.

Most body shops are not into the plastic welding as they're old school taught. Call up used car dealers and find the local touch up paint cosmetic businesses in town, some of them I'm sure can offer the service. As we vehicle cosmetologists is who invented this procedure to start with years ago.

edit: some pics of a tiburon I did last wk

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vehicle Cosmetics & Paint Expert
20 yrs and over 20,000 vehicles


edit: the mechanic above me speaks of what I speak of. He see's the procedure out back of dealerships by the touch up paint guys. It amazes many when they see the procedure for the 1st time.

yes, If the tear will line properly there's a puddy that you may use to fill in the missing chips then you'll have to buff it out.

Yeah you may be able to fix it with Bondo.but if it's underneath where it's hard to see I really wouldnt worry much about it..My husband is a paint and body man and he fixes stuff like that all the time.

Your best fix choice depends on where the damage is. I have carefully cut away material around tears in bumper covers, just re contouring the edge so the damage is not obvious. A good body shop can use a specific heat gun and plastic filler to 'weld' up cracks if there is not a big gap. You may want to check the salvage yards and see if you may be able to get a deal on a used one, though for some weird reasons junked Mustangs tend to all have their front ends smashed. And of course there is channel tape.

Yes it may be repaired, many really good bodymen do this with a special procedure when done properly the repaired area is undectable as having been damaged

as for the cost or what they charge to do this I don't know. I have never had one done for me personally

I've just seen vehicles personally before and after fix was done as well as the area having been repainted

Walt