Olorin2

iTrader: (6)

Hey everyone...

After getting smacked in the fender a little while back and getting it to the bodyshop, I found out the tab on my MS front bumper that bolts into the fender was broken. The piece was still there with the bolt through it, but it's completely separated from the rest of the bumper.

So initially the shop told me the bumper was not repairable and wanted to find a new one. Of course, there are none to be had anywhere. I love this bumper and do not want a different one installed on the car. Has anyone had any success repairing this portion of the MS bumper? The problem is that side tab is so thin and fairly brittle. I realize that no repair is going to make it like new, but I was hoping it could be shored up enough so that the bumper can be bolted to the fender properly.

Anyone with some experience and advice with this? And as a side-note, I'd be very, very interested in anyone selling their MS bumper.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

My extra MS bumper has a broken tab. All that really is needed is a Metton (material the MS is made of) repair kit and they should be able to reattach it. I have not done this on the extra one yet.

Olorin2

iTrader: (6)

Very cool... did not know there was special epoxy for the Metton resin. I think I'll send this video to the shop and see what they can do. Unfortunately, that little piece will need a slightly different treatment than a large piece of flat Metton.

Thanks!

Olorin2

iTrader: (6)

It's surprising how many body shops will not even attempt to fix this bumper. Actually, any of the MS parts in general. They all say how "weird" the material is and they don't even want to touch it. These are reputable shops, too.

I have to admit, the piece that broke is probably in the worse spot as far as how thin the material is and the fact that it's the only mounting point for the fender. I'm going to try and fix it myself, although whatever I use will basically result in "gluing" the pieces together and hoping it doesn't break again the first time I hit a bump.

I think I'm going to also try and reinforce it with some kind of thin metal strap, on both sides of the tab. Another problem is there's practically no room to build up the material with epoxy. Such a shame Mazda didn't make more of these bumpers.