Hi, does anyone have any experience repairing cracks in their front bumper? I have a long vertical crack on the right side of the front bumper on my 2G tsi awd

http://www.pbase.com/image/32997721

Should I try to do something myself or go to a body shop? Any recommendations as to which body shop to go to? ... maybe replace the whole bumper?

Also does anyone know the exact name of this blue colour? It's a factory talon colour, but rare.

Thanks !

Finding a bumper would be cheaper thats saying you can get it the exact color of your car.
If you bring it to the body shop they are going to have to sand the whole thing down bondo it up and spray it. If you have ANY mettalic in your paint they will have to paint your fenders as well.

Doing it yourself in my opninion unless you done it before would not be the best idea. Especially with a nice crack like that. Need some good fiberglass on that.

So like i said if you can find a bumper the exact color thats your cheapest bet, but may take time.
Hope that puts some of it into perspective.

If you decide to take it to a shop, i have one you can go to here in Burlington.

I'm not sure if theres any metallic in the paint.
I've never repaired cracks like that, so I agree that its my last option.

Give me the shop info for the one in Burlington.
Do you know any DSM-friendly body shops in the GTA?

I have trouble finding any 2G bumper, I have a post in the Want to buy forum looking for a bumper

I actually repaired a bumper with the following repair tecnique...
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99912
It actually wasn't that hard, I ended up with a very good looking and strong repair, then I ended up going with the Eclipse front end swap, but if I hadn't been in the situation I was in I would have installed the bumper on my car.
A little time, patience, and about 30 in materials was all it took.
With the location of the crack on your cover I think yo could do the repair and then have a paint match blended in, then you wont end up wanting to repaint your hood and fenders.

hey Tim, thanks for the link.
it seems doable... are all these items available at Canadian Tire?

Yep, I've seen all that stuff at CT one time or another.

Yep, but we have boat builders in the family so there are 45gal drums of resin and rolls of fiberglass cloth.
But yea, all are avalible at CT.
I ended un painting resin over the crack on the front to be able to sand smooth as well.

Tim, how did you paint over where the crack used to be? Did you repaint the whole bumper or spray paint only the area you fixed?

I got a plastic welder and it works good.
I could do that repair at my shop I work at for about 600 bucks. But i am in Norwich ( by woodstock)

Why would you pay $600 to fix a bumber that can be replaced for $400?

400$??????
If you can buy a new bumper ,prep,prime.paint to match and install for 400 bucks well........I need a paint job you can do it cheeper than I.

I was quoted $350 to repair a similar crack in my bumper, at 400 I was being generous. most of the time you can get a front cover done for about $300, these are quotes from very well repected shops done properly, not a fly by night job's
It should not be more than an hour's labour to fix the crack, so $75-100 for crack repair, $300 to prep and paint,
Or pick up a used bumper ~$100-$150, 300 to prep and paint, either or comes to about $400
If you were just going tp fix the area, you should be able to just blend the area and it should be even cheaper, how did you come up with this $600 quote.

Off the top of my head. 600 tax inc. is not out of the way.1 hour body work
1.5 hours mask 2 times (prime & paint)
1 hour block and prep + matt.
Do the math.

I've done my DSM and Xtreme bumper both the same way using fiberglass.
However on the DSM in stead of just using fiberglass matting on the back side I used heavy sheet aluminum and pop rivets because it was right on the corner. To do a clean job with pop rivets you must counter sink each one.Then glass over the front.

When you go to paint wet sand the bumper 1' on either side of the repair. mask off about 6" from the repair, prime it and paint it. Remove the tape, wet sand the edges around the tape until smooth and move the tape back anothee 1-2 inches or so then very lightly re-paint and clear. The buff the carp out of it.
Or let a shop do the painting for you.