A few weeks ago I was stopped at a red light and a young girl hit me in the rear. The rear bumber sustained a liitle damage. I went to 2 body shops. One says i should replace the bumber skin. The other body shop says that he can repair the plastic and repaint it and claims that it will look good as new. Now my question for all you body shop experts. Which way should I go- new bumber skin or repair.
Thanx all.

 

NEW BUMPER COVER! The repair can be done with epoxy or be plastic welded (I doubt they have this setup) but either way the cover has probably been deformed and will show in the paint.

 

Get a new bumper since I assume your not paying for it...heh...but yea....replace it since you won't have to deal with any problems because it is a new bumper. Good Luck!

 

I say new bumper cover. I friend of mine was hit recently in a parking garage and the person that hit him offered to pay out of her own pocket the cost for a new bumper plus installation. He took that money and got another shop to repair and paint it for less than the amount he got for the bumper and labor. It's didn't come out looking quite right and ended up having the bumper replaced. Maybe it was the quality of the shop in this case. But I think that the new bumper is the way to go.

 

I don't quite get how you can "fix" plastic. It doesn't really seem possible since you can't hammer it back into shape, you can't really re-melt it (if you would, wouldn't that lead to uneven paint even after repainting?)... so I say just get it replaced. You didn't have park distance, did you?

 

no i didn't have park assist

 

Yes there is a plastic welding tool that does work ,I've seen it done.
I would get a new cover anyway.

 

Yeah you are right about that tool.

If you just need a new cover, then go for it.

 

I just went through this a couple weeks ago--a young lady rolled into my back bumper while was stopped at a toll plaza, she was going maybe going 1 mph. The hex bolt head on her license plate bracket imprinted about 1/8" into the cover skin--sort of gashed. Went to a collision shop, and whether they patched it or replaced the entire skin was almost the same price--$1000 total. I also went to a local "dent and scratch" repair place, but not much better--$500. Rediculous!!

I asked them what they use to fill, and they said Bondo-Glass with fiberglasss fill. So I bought a can for $10, filled and sanded, then smoothed with Bondo glazing putty, sanded and painted. Since the car is black I didn't have to worry about matching a metallic paint.