Hey guys, When I bought my truck it was in great shape, but one thing that bugged me was that there was a dent in the middle of the rear bumper in line with the hitch ball (I will add a pic later if it helps). I figured it would be no big deal to either have it fixed or bang it out myself, but it turns out the steel is really thick right there and it would be a b**ch of a job. Found this stuff and was thinking of just filling it and painting over it. Think this stuff would work or do you know of anything better?


Only costs like $5

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i would try it. but your going to paint over it right? if so then go for it.

 

first is it paint or chromed if its painted i would use actually a body filler such as bondo which is made for being painted over were cold weld is not paint wont adheare over it right you can get a small thing of bondo for like 5 bucks which is about what you would spend on that if nothing else have somebody fill it with a welder

 

The bumper is painted and yes I would be painting over to match it. Obviously, I would like it to look as good a possible, but being where this dent is, and how bad it looks now (and I lived with it) it doesn't have to be perfect. We are talking about filling in a dent that is more of a crease that is about 1.5 inches long, 1/2 inch wide, and maybe 3/8 inch deep. Never worked with bondo or any kind of filler before. I would hope that I could get or have some kind of grinding, sanding, and polishing mandrels for my dremel to do most of the shaping work and finish it off dry and wet sanding by hand.

Where do you guys go to get color match paint?

Do you paint it on by hand or use spray paint?

Does it matter what kind of clear coat I use?

About how many coats of each?

My truck is a 2005 and it is the Charcoal Metallic Grey

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Bondo, or any filler material isn't designed to fill 3/8" deep areas. Fillers are to even out minor areas, 1/4" or less in depth. You could remove the bumper and then heat it and pound it out, then use filler. Unfortunately, there's a reason why good bodywork is pricey. I checked car-parts.com, a take-off replacement is in the $200-$300 range. If you can find one near you, in your color, in good condition for $200-$250, you would be money ahead (figuring time and painting costs).

 

ok bondo yes its for 1/4 or less but fiberstrand is made to be thicker but also it is a bumper not a fender so could you push the bondo to 3/8 ya you could if you could get proper adheasion and what not

 

I think what you said might be best. Clean the area up and just have a welder fill it in with bead material. Then I can just take a grinder and my dremel to smooth it out as much as possible. Like I said it don't have to be perfect. First of all its a bumper, it bumps things, Second there are other minor body imperfections anyway, Third, being so low to the ground in the back, if I got it close it would probably go unnoticed anyway. I think all your suggestions are valid though, could I get bondo to adhere good enough, I dont know. For $5 its worth a shot.

Here's an idea for Bondo: You guys are saying the big issue is the bondo adhering to the metal. Well what if I drilled a few very small holes, forced the bondo all the way through, and then added some on the other side, so it would hold itself like a backer? I don't know, never used the stuff, just brainstorming.

 

I had a camaro once that I bashed in the rear quarter panel pretty good. I filled that sucker with bondo about 3" deep. Drilled holes so it would hold better. Sanded, painted and drove that car for another 50k miles before selling it. Never had an issue, other than hauling around and extra 10 lbs of bondo on that side of the car...lol...as for paint, I rattle can all my stuff. You can search for it online or I auto parts stores can probably get it. If you do it right and take your time, rattle can paint jobs are almost as good as air sprayers. The key is the wet sanding, which i'm not that good at yet. I seem to scuff it up more than smooth it out. I get mine from here, just have to know your paint code.

http://www.autobarn.net/metallic-pat...-pb7--pbt.html

 

I thought blown287 just had a thread about fixing a bumper?? Maybe look for that