Sunday fun with my new heat gun

[Thunderbox]

Got a new heat gun for a project around the house and had some time to try it on the bumpers on my 850 wagon.

Before



After



Not bad. took about 20 minutes total. some suggestion would be to wait for warmer less windy weather. It was high 50's here in Ohio. I did the front as well. Took out some spots and evened out some worn areas. I will hit it again when it warms up. Well worth the 31 dollars for the heat gun. Also used it to take some left over sealer after pulling the side moulding off of my Audi 5000 Turbo Quattro. Get ready to send the old girl to the paint shop.

[fazool]

I had the same thought today. I picked up a super cheap heat gun at Harbor Freight and tested it last Fall with good (but limited) results.

I've been waiting for warm weather. I almost pulled it out today but it was a little cool still.....so I detailed the cars instead

[rmmagow]

Not to be a complete doofus, but what did you do? I can see the improved black but how all does a heat gun come into play here? Just curious as I bought a Harbor Freight heat gun today too but mainly so I can use those Gates readiator hose clamps on my cars.
Thanks and excuse my lack of knowledge about this.

[fazool]

The bumpers and some of the side trim pieces are made of this durable plastic. Over time the plastic breaks down on the surface. I think its a combination of UV light, temperature, age and contaminants.

So, the bumpers get this hazy white filmy look to them, on the surface.

There are tons of ideas on how to fix this - mostly polishes or dyes. They work like shoe polish and claim to soak in to truly color the plastic. They really don't work all that well, however and some of them wash off or wear off looking worse than when you started.

Plastic bumper paint is the best way to go but it would require total removal of parts.

Someone came up with the heat gun idea and there have been several threads about it. Basically you use a heat gun to heat the plastic bumper and, essentially, slightly re-melting just the most outer surface of the plastic.

You have to be really careful to not damage your car's paint (rig up some type of shield) and you don't really want to MELT anything you just want to heat it up slightly.

[Thunderbox]

Check youtube lots of video and how to's - the only thing I would add to fazool's comments is to wash and dry the bumpers with soap and water. You don't want to embed anything into the plastic. BTW my front bumper really turned out nice now that Ihad a good look in full sunshine. I did not have to shield the paint just don't linger on it too much.

[Matty Moo]

I've seen a lot of people do that with the big plastic fender flares on Jeeps. It basically makes them look like new again. It's easier and less costly in the long term than buying products that are only temporary or just stain the plastic.

[fazool]

Last season I read about this method. I posted a brief discussion but it was too cold outside to get even results.

Warm weather has arrived so today I pulled out my $9.99 heat gun (on sale at Harbor Freight) and went to work.

The side trim pieces are adjacent to metal on the door panels, so basic care is sufficient. The bumper trim, however, is adjacent to plastic so I used a thin metal bracket as a heat shield. In the photos below I am holding the heat shield along the bottom edge, then holding the heat shield to guard the top edge.

I used a small circular pattern to even out the effect, instead of going left to right (like power waxing your paint goes in an orbital pattern).

I had a couple of these metal brackets. When one got too hot to hold I picked up a new one and let the other cool down.

The third photos shows the change close up. It's not a perfect effect but its a huge improvement over very weather-beaten and faded 12 year old plastic trim. The fourth photo shows what it looks like from a normal viewing distance.

I did the side panels and the front and rear bumper trim. I didn't do the lower trim and I stayed away from the side marker lenses.

That whole job took me about 45 minutes.

[erikv11]

I'm going to have to try this.

Had to laugh about the choice of heat shields sorry ... something that insulates rather than conducts heat, and that doesn't have large holes in it, would presumably make a far better heat shield. Like a piece of wood. Just don't catch it on fire!

[fazool]

Actually I wanted something thin and something that dissipates heat over a large surface area. its like clipping an alligator clip as a heat sink when you are soldering so excess heat goes in to the metal then radiates away.

[regent]

Reynolds Kitchen Aluminum Foil will work just fine, fold it double for stiffness and off you go