Rear Bumper MK IV

[jamieca]

Hi guys had a meeting with a wall which clipped the back of my bumper. At the bit where the bumper sticks out on one side there is a 5inch crack which has went right through. Went to a body shop today and was told I'll need a new bumper as the heat from the oven will bugger it up. Correct?

So I'm now looking for a new rear bumper as I don't fancy paying VW prices. There's one on ebay, genuine for 400 quid. Before I ruin all plans of a milltek does anyone have one lying around? Or know of one cheaper I could source? Whats the aftermarket like, toss? My car is reflex silver but if you have another colour it's not a problem to get it sprayed (quoted £150, good?).

I want get the car mint so looking to get this fixed soon. Any help appreciated!

My car is also pulling to the left a little would a wheel allignment sort this or is it something else? Known fault?

Cheers

[dogbucket]

People on other forums have bought the R32 replica front bumpers off ebay and they basically dont fit.

I had a new rear bumper fitted under insurance when I was rear ended, I regret not asking to keep the old one as other than paint damage it looked ok to me, but the guy at the body shop said they are never the same again after an impact which is why it was changed. So if buying one off ebay make sure it has not been in an accident as they can be damaged on the inside but you would never know until the paint falls off months later.

Awesome GTI sell a genuine rear bumper for £500 +vat

EDIT - the one on ebay looks good, boxed and primed. probably your best bet

[jamieca]

ok cheers. I'll hold out over the weekend see if anyone can save me, if not I'll have to dig deep!

[Calm Chris]

Google "plastic welding" for a local repair service, plastic welding has been around for a few years for motorcycle fairings.

There's no reason why such a repair wouldn't be perfect.

[Dan32]

That's what I was going to suggest Chri5 but not sure if that technique would work on our bumpers. Would need to do some research but think the bumpers are made from PU RIM (PolyUrethane Reaction Injection Moulding) and think the plastic weld is different i.e it will only work on certain plastics - polycarbonate.

It could possibly be fibreglassed. Surely a decent repair isn't going to cost as much as a new one, and once painted wouldn't notice. Not sure what your painter meant by putting a repaired one in the oven will damage it further. Whats he going to do with the new one then as they are made from the same material!

Would shop around a couple of bodyshops, like Chri5 said trying motorcycle specialists might be good idea, and save the money for the Millteks!!

[gkyle]

I hit a deer a while ago now and had a small crack in the front bumper gav it to a friend who got it plastic welded and sprayed for £350 but that was with trade discount my car was a cop car for the day!

[MajorH]

Would disagree Dan,PU RIM is way old technology and far too dense and brittle, would have thought for the limited volume mk4 vw tooled up in alumininium instead of steel, and I would guess at the material being something like 20% talc filled polypropolyene or another mineral filler, would be very suprised if it was PU though. In my experience welding is very much dependant on size and position of the crack (oo er missus).

[Dan32]

I was only going on what a few of the top German bodykit manufacturers were using so I to your superior knowledge! If it is talc filled poly as you say, would that be possible to plastic weld then?

[MajorH]

That might have come across wrong Dan, didnt mean to sound an arse. Reason for the bodykit lot using rim is its cheap, the tooling is relatively easy to produce and low cost and as its a chemical reaction instead of a thermoplastic you dont need big expensive injection mould machines. Downsides are the weight and depending on shape and thickness you can have problems with porosity. PP should weld but how long it lasts depends on how big and where the crack is.