Hey guys, late last night, I was backing my civic out of our parking space, and forgot that I had parked our SUV in the opposite spot behind, and being a RETARDEDLY small parking lot, having the steering wheel fully turned, I just backed into the SUV. The SUV (11' mitsubishi outlander GT) as far as I could see in the dark is fine (I pray) but the civic suffered a nice large split down the side (I couldn't had nicked it in a worse spot, could I). Usually I back the car out the opposite way, but I thought there wasn't anything in the spot. I wasn't hauling ass out of the spot either, but I guess I hit a weak spot or something. Here are some pics:
[IMG]http://i46.tinypic.com/2ur7dxh.jpg[/IMG]
As you can see, there is some crackage in the taillight (I know a new taillight cover will be around $35-40 new, unless I can find a used/junkyard one), the major crack in the bumper, and the separation of the bumper on the side. Thats probably just broken clips. Or they just separated, in either case thats no problem.
The question, here, is, would it be reasonable to fiberglass this over? I'm plenty experienced with fiberglass having made fiberglass door panels for 6 8" woofers in that civic, my problem is, will that gap show through the fiberglass? Like would there be a slight 'bump' there? Nothing a little filler and sanding would fix, its just a quite large gap. As for the taillight, I know I just gotta get a new one, thats not of concern. I can also spray and install the new bumper, if I need to get a new one (but I'm 16 so I'd rather just DIY it, since I'm the stupid one who broke it).
Anyways, is this revivable? Also, the traded paint in the corner was from another incident. Before this car was mine, it was used as a "city car" for nyc, hence the reason its a DX, and why it has such blemishes. This weekend, in fact, I was going to detail the car, but due to the impending 'dusting' we are gonna get, I was planning to detail it next weekend, but then I goof'd. I have a feeling I can fiberglass. Now, being a black car, I did want to slightly smoke the taillights, and this calls for sanding down the taillight. Say I were to smoke the taillights and not replace the cracked one, would the crack still show after a good sanding and tinting? Or will it only show when the light is on? Or not at all? Just curious. I was always weary about tinting the taillights, since everyone has their "expert [del]opinions[/del] ridicule" on modified honda's, but this'd atleast give me a $12 dollar fix, 12+ hp, and mad jdm, yo.
Anyways, thanks for your help, and whats a reasonable price for a new bumper if worst comes to worst. Thanks!
[QUOTE=masterwolf;38593956]Hey guys, late last night, I was backing my civic out of our parking space, and forgot that I had parked our SUV in the opposite spot behind, and being a RETARDEDLY small parking lot, having the steering wheel fully turned, I just backed into the SUV. The SUV (11' mitsubishi outlander GT) as far as I could see in the dark is fine (I pray) but the civic suffered a nice large split down the side (I couldn't had nicked it in a worse spot, could I). Usually I back the car out the opposite way, but I thought there wasn't anything in the spot. I wasn't hauling ass out of the spot either, but I guess I hit a weak spot or something. Here are some pics:
[IMG]http://i46.tinypic.com/2ur7dxh.jpg[/IMG]
As you can see, there is some crackage in the taillight (I know a new taillight cover will be around $35-40 new, unless I can find a used/junkyard one), the major crack in the bumper, and the separation of the bumper on the side. Thats probably just broken clips. Or they just separated, in either case thats no problem.
The question, here, is, would it be reasonable to fiberglass this over? I'm plenty experienced with fiberglass having made fiberglass door panels for 6 8" woofers in that civic, my problem is, will that gap show through the fiberglass? Like would there be a slight 'bump' there? Nothing a little filler and sanding would fix, its just a quite large gap. As for the taillight, I know I just gotta get a new one, thats not of concern. I can also spray and install the new bumper, if I need to get a new one (but I'm 16 so I'd rather just DIY it, since I'm the stupid one who broke it).
Anyways, is this revivable? Also, the traded paint in the corner was from another incident. Before this car was mine, it was used as a "city car" for nyc, hence the reason its a DX, and why it has such blemishes. This weekend, in fact, I was going to detail the car, but due to the impending 'dusting' we are gonna get, I was planning to detail it next weekend, but then I goof'd. I have a feeling I can fiberglass. Now, being a black car, I did want to slightly smoke the taillights, and this calls for sanding down the taillight. Say I were to smoke the taillights and not replace the cracked one, would the crack still show after a good sanding and tinting? Or will it only show when the light is on? Or not at all? Just curious. I was always weary about tinting the taillights, since everyone has their "expert [del]opinions[/del] ridicule" on modified honda's, but this'd atleast give me a $12 dollar fix, 12+ hp, and mad jdm, yo.
Anyways, thanks for your help, and whats a reasonable price for a new bumper if worst comes to worst. Thanks![/QUOTE]
Nvm, you can lock this thread, I went ahead and fiberglassed it and fixed it. I guess nobody here has ever touched fiberglass. Its okay though. If you're wondering, though, a crack this big can be safely fiberglassed over.
Don't go all saying nobody touched fiberglass here, I've got a whole class of it and done a fuckton of it in my life. Oh and if you just patched the rear with fiberglass & bondoed the crack outside + painted and you get cold winters, it can peel off and crack again. If you fiberglassed over, chances are it'll peel off.
Oh and here you probably could have gotten a whole bumper cover for like, 30 more or less.
Now good for you.
[QUOTE=WolvesSoulZ;38655037]Don't go all saying nobody touched fiberglass here, I've got a whole class of it and done a fuckton of it in my life. Oh and if you just patched the rear with fiberglass & bondoed the crack outside + painted and you get cold winters, it can peel off and crack again. If you fiberglassed over, chances are it'll peel off.
Oh and here you probably could have gotten a whole bumper cover for like, 30 more or less.
Now good for you.[/QUOTE]
Its all good, I mean absolutely nothing by it, I didn't mean to spark anything. I used 3m epoxy glue meant for plastic repair to keep it together, and seal the gap. It'll stand up to rocks and crap hitting it. I definitely too could had gotton a bumper cover, but it was easier to patch it up, and I wouldn't have to paint a whole bumper either.
Either way I didn't mean any hostility towards anyone, I hope you didn't get any bad impressions. I'm sorry bout any confusion.
For plastic bumpers I just weld the crack. you can even buy bumper repair kits for like $15 to $20 that have peices of plastic for backing, and chemical welding agents etc. Then you just sand and paint as usual.
[QUOTE=FoxDonuT;38656829]For plastic bumpers I just weld the crack. you can even buy bumper repair kits for like $15 to $20 that have peices of plastic for backing, and chemical welding agents etc. Then you just sand and paint as usual.[/QUOTE]
I totally agree. Hell, I coulda gotten another civic bumper, same color at the junkyard, but since I had HEAPS of fiberglass, resin... etc from making my door panels/speaker pods left over all I needed was a cheap bottle of plastic repair epoxy and I was set. And it took me no time. Probably had I not had all the equiptment here, I'da looked into the kit. But since I'm quick with fiberglass and had all the stuff, it wasn't a biggie doing some quick fixing. I was just concerned about the large crack causing the fiberglass not to form too good to the original shape of the bumper causing bumps. But either way, I'll look into a kit for the future, it'd probably be even easier. Err... not saying I'm planning to back into anything in the future. But what do I know, I'm a stupid 16 year old kid :P
Just a suggestion for others, try a plastic welding kit. It includes a gun that's like a soldering iron, but less watts. It's made to melt the plastic back together rather than try to hold it together.
I think it was $20-40
[QUOTE=FordLord;38659654]Just a suggestion for others, try a plastic welding kit. It includes a gun that's like a soldering iron, but less watts. It's made to melt the plastic back together rather than try to hold it together.
I think it was $20-40[/QUOTE]
I might go pick something like that up, just because it would be super useful to have.
You can also weld plastic together using more plastic, make a acetone + plastic solution, apply, and the acetone while evaporating will melt both plastic together and make a solid "weld".
[QUOTE=FordLord;38659654]Just a suggestion for others, try a plastic welding kit. It includes a gun that's like a soldering iron, but less watts. It's made to melt the plastic back together rather than try to hold it together.
I think it was $20-40[/QUOTE]
2n'd that, plastic welding is the best way to go. Well, atleast that's how most experienced shops'd do it. I'll probably use that if a crack ever occurs again, it's much easier than a whole fiberglass job, but like I said, I had all the fiberglass here so it was almost free to do, minus the plastic epoxy glue.
Just buy a whole new bumper assembly + tail light.
Look around auto yards and you can find what you need. Aftermarket/OEM panels are also an option. The stress and fatigue these panels are subjected to will just break them apart again later on. imo
[QUOTE=sHiBaN;38677009]Just buy a whole new bumper assembly + tail light.
Look around auto yards and you can find what you need. Aftermarket/OEM panels are also an option. The stress and fatigue these panels are subjected to will just break them apart again later on. imo[/QUOTE]
Nnot how I did it... Just by replacing the clips on the side bumper and popping it back in did it tightly close the gap, which could not, on its own, be persuaded to budge under some pretty hard knocks. But obviously over time that'd wear. So I used plastic repair expoxy glue in the crack to bond the two together. Its not affected by the heat and cold either. I fiberglassed and bondo'd it over for a pretty strong and good looking finish. This crack isn't coming apart. Possibly on another impact would it be a weak spot, and if that is to happen I'll consider another bumper.
And I'm pretty sure a plastic wielding kit would do it even better, an option I'll take in the future, as well. I'll probably fix some little rivets in my front bumper with it and see how it compares. Like I said, I just had the fiberglass laying around for free, extra from when I did my custom door panels and speaker pods. Yes, a used bumper would be cheap, no doubt, but no garuntee I'll find one in black, although its probable, and its more a hastle to install a new bumper than use a plastic wielding. Its cheaper too than a new bumper. As for the taillight, though, I'm just going to locally get a locally used taillight cover, that'll only be a few bucks.
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