Front Bumper Dent

[B-Dog98]

Ever since I bought my car there has been a pretty good sized dent to the right of the Mitsubishi symbol on the front bumper. Now knowing that the bumper is made out of basically plastic I was wondering what the best way to remove it was. But since its been there for quite a while im beginning to think that no matter what I do it will just sink back down if I pop it back out. Any ideas or suggestions.

 

[copper_gst]

The frount bumper is made out of polyurethane. It is a plastic that once it is molded it has a "memory" of the shape it is. When it is dented of folded it will tend to go back to is old shape. The problem is if it has been dented for a long time it loses it's "memory". There isn't much you can do. You might be able to very very slowly heat it and work it back in closer to original but I would count on it. Sorry about the bad news, but I hope it helps.

 

[Nighthawk01]

Take it off, find some way to hold it in the correct postion and heat it with a heat gun from behind, as to not heat the paint to much. should be able to mold it where ya want.

 

[kenamond]

Take it off, find some way to hold it in the correct postion and heat it with a heat gun from behind, as to not heat the paint to much. should be able to mold it where ya want.

That was a good trick back in the day to remove creases in my plastic dirt bike fenders when they'd get bent down and caught in the tire and folded. Just be careful of your paint or it might end up looking worse. A large hair dryer did the trick on the fenders. Don't know if having the dent there for a long time makes it permanent or not.

 

[eklypse]

sry, i dont mean to hijack but can you use the same technique on the bottom of the front bumper..?

 

[B-Dog98]

Thanks guys for the ideas. Yeah its about the size of a small fist and its not really that deep its just that when light hits off of it, its really noticeable. I was hoping that maybe with a suction cup and a strong jerk may pop it back into place but now the hair dryer trick will probably be the way to go.

 

[1g_tsi_awd]

Do it from behind though, less chance of screwing the paint up, and heat it very gradually...

 

[B-Dog98]

Can this be acheieved without taking the whole front bumper off. Could i just remove the hood latch and all that crap and do it that way because its right there. I just cant reach it with all that stuff in the way.

 

[kenamond]

Thanks guys for the ideas. Yeah its about the size of a small fist and its not really that deep its just that when light hits off of it, its really noticeable. I was hoping that maybe with a suction cup and a strong jerk may pop it back into place but now the hair dryer trick will probably be the way to go.

It might be that the cover was installed such that it was binding a bit and that caused it to pucker in. Maybe the dent will come out, but then make sure you get it aligned properly before you torque down the bolts that hold it on.