2006 Civic Coupe Rear bumper repair

[Beckerson1]

A week ago or so my brother decided to see if his Civic is stronger then a dump trucks front turn wheel. Well here is the result:





As you can see the dump truck won.


Anyway he has decided that I would be a good candidate to fix this issue. While I'm up for the job I want to make it known this will be a drawn out repair as currently its just to cold for paint and atm he is finding out your better off getting OEM trim vs aftermarket as the bumper he got ended up being damaged during shipment. I was able to fit it and its fairly close but its very tight and some of the holes are off slightly (typical non OEM type trim) I won't name names here as it was just a poor shipping job all around.


Anyway we will be grabbing a new OEM bumper from our local Honda parts department (was able to talk prices down to a VERY reasonable price OTD).




Once I got things off the car I noticed some rust forming and decided to do some preventative maintenance:













As you can see here the rust had eaten through some. I made sure to really clean this area with the wire wheel.









Basically once I stripped the area of primer I cleaned the surface really good and applied a few coats of some duplicolor rust converter and once that had time to dry I applied 3 coats of SEM Self Etching Primer and then applied 3 coats of Black 2 in 1 paint/primer. I will then hit this area with a few coats of Plasti dip to help seal any seams and surrounding area from any moisture.


There wasn't any structural damage to the car other then a slight bend in the seams where the internal skit meets together on the back. The tire just missed the crush bar.






I will post here with updates throughout the process. It's going to be a learning experience for me and I'm sure I will have some questions come up and I know some here would be able to help.

[Beckerson1]

Update:


My brother and his fiancee purchased a house recently so things will be kinda slow as far as paint goes but I did get around to doing the repair to the aftermarket bumper itself. He doesn't have the cash right now to get another OEM bumper. Which they never did come get the bumper so basically he got this bumper free.


Anyway I drilled holes where the cracks ended to prevent any expansion after the repair has been done and also bore out the cracks to help the repair to stick (this is a learning experience and I don't think I did enough on this part. I should've opened up the crack from front to back and allowed the repair to seep from rear to front). I still have a fair bit of sanding left to do and the repair kit was fairly cheap as well.


Anyway onto the pictures:


BTW used Bondo 280 Epoxy repair kit


Rear side of the bumper. Used the mesh for added strength:








Here you can see the two holes I drilled:





Epoxy applied:





Here was the first round. Ended up redoing this with fair less excess:





Onto sanding, once again this was first round. Most of this was sanded off:







Shaping the repair:







I didn't have anymore high build primer so I ordered some and that should be here tomorrow. As well as some more repair material just in case I should need to get back in and open up the cracks to allow a better repair.


I'll be using SEM high build primer and SEM Self etch primer to get a smooth finish. At which point I will use some flat black bumper/trim paint and get the bumper onto the car temporarily so he can drive it. His 7.3 diesel isn't exactly a fuel saver lol

[Beckerson1]

Quick Update:


High build primer came today. Here is his bumper with three medium coats applied. Once dry I will give this a good sand and go from there. Adding more layers until you can't tell it was ever damaged.


Excuse the finger print to the right on the picture. It will sand out.

[Beckerson1]

Update:


Finally got to the point I feel comfortable putting temporary paint on this thing. The repair came out really great. Absolutely love SEM high build primer. Sands really nice and the buildup (when done correctly) is awesome.


I had to change up the paint as the stuff I had must be old as it would just splot. Even though it wasn't a used can. Ended up going with some Rustoleum Matte Black. Went on much better. Had only a couple runs but that was mostly due to low light conditions and not being able to see the progression of the wet edge. Also some dust spots. No biggy as its a simple fix. What can one expect out of a spray can and none paint booth.


Only have one coat on the bumper. Please keep in mind this isn't the final color. When I go do the final job I will smooth out this layer and prime over this to get ride of the dark background.


Touched up a couple areas:










I had to do this in two stages that's why the upper portion is wet and the bottom portion is drier.












I will let this dry overnight and go from there.

[Beckerson1]

Well after all that work the bumper just won't work. It's to short and the lines just look like crap. Practice makes perfect I guess. Brothers just going to have to fork up the cash for a OEM Honda bumper.

[Beckerson1]

We knew the bumper was repaired before but we though it was on the other side. Clearly not:





Once I got the paint and primer/bondo removed I used a dremel to get most of the old repair material out and open up the crack to accept the new epoxy. Did this to both front and back of bumper. Then I taped off the front with some masking tape and then applied the epoxy onto the rear part of the bumper (making sure before hand to drill out ends of cracks so they wouldn't continue to spread). I let that cure then removed the tape from the front and applied the repair material onto the front.










I used my palm sander with some 180 grit sand paper being careful to keep the sander as flat as possible, when possible, and to feather out the repair area.


Here is the rear. Sanded the area before hand:





After sanding down the area I did find another small crack.





Here is a picture of the seam. Not 100% sure how I will tackle this one but I will figure it out.