Bumper bolstering

[BMcCann]

Hi all,

Aaron and I have cracked a couple bumpers hitting cones. A guy we met at Nats said he added some rigidity by gorilla taping chicken wire to the inside area of his bumper. I'm thinking about doing this as well but I was curious if anyone else had any better suggestions.

[tailchaser]

Yup. Miss the cones. That'll be $2.50.

[ken o]

Add a couple of coats of epoxy on the inside with some reinforcing cloth.

Or...I think I can, I think I can.....

[POS Racing]

Yup. Miss the cones. That'll be $2.50.

[Rogue]

That would be like explosion proof bumpers.

why not fiberglass bumpers, my RB2 sure took a 100k beating and its going on my next build.

also maybe a sprayable flexible/rubberized product.
maybe Rhinoliner or Lizardskin.

Depends on the bumper composition but this is used to repair some of them.

[Davidss]

3m actually makes a self adhesive bumper patch. I have used it before to repair a split on a plastic bumper and was impressed. It would work well to repair your existing damage and add protection to other areas.

If the 3m patches are to cost prohibitive I would consider reproducing them yourself. They are just a sheet of semi-rigid semi-flexible plastic with a good adhesive backing. So finding the right plastic sheet and some epoxy and you would be good to go.

I would not reccomend chicken wire as after a good deflection it would not want to return to its original shape. Also it is easier to keep a good bond between materials with similar deflection properties.

[BMcCann]

Thats great info, David. Thanks!

[onething]

Buy a Lotus and let IP drive it

I can't believe nobody else did this.

[altiain]

Suck it, Hal.

[OZMDD]

Suck it, Hal.

I'm not sure this is an effective technique for fixing bumpers, though I am heartily in-favor of watching Hal try.