Reinforcing Tape used for Plastic Bumper Repair

R

ricobob

Hello,

Quick question, the reinforcing tape they show being used to repair a plastic bumper cover SURE LOOKS LIKE the same stuff I have used to tape drywall joints. Is it the same stuff?

;)
 
Well, fiberglass mesh is fiberglass mesh as far as I know. There are some kinds of drywall tape that are not fiberglass mesh, but the ones that are should be roughly equivalent, imo.
 
Only difference I can think of is the drywall mesh I've seen has adhesive on it to stick it to the joints. Not sure that adhesive would be a problem or not in the bumper glue.
 
Well I used it today it it did the job nicely

metalman;36721 said:
Only difference I can think of is the drywall mesh I've seen has adhesive on it to stick it to the joints. Not sure that adhesive would be a problem or not in the bumper glue.


Today I repaired the damaged front bumper cover. Used SEM bumper repair epoxy and used the plastic (or fiberglass?) drywall tape as a reinforcing mesh. I sprayed on some SEM Adhesion Helper and then spread a layer of the goop over the cracks and then put on the tape and mashed it into the goop! Ha ha.

Once it was set up the repair was solid as could be. I mixed up some Bondo body filler and spread it over the exposed side of the cover to begin the refinishing and painting steps.

While it may not be the tape sold by the bumper adhesive groups, it seems to do the trick and saved me waiting for a roll of the more expensive tape to get to me as I would have had to order it from someplace as my parts store does not carry this reinforcing mesh.

;)
 
It helps a lot to widen the crack on front and use the Problem plastic on the front. That stuff sands great. If you drill a few holes around the damage (called pinning) it will hold a lot better too.
 
The finishing work on the bumper should be done with plastic repair material instead of bondo especially if any flexing is going to happen in this area. I agree on the above^ SEM's plastic repair material for problem plastics does sand well. Pinning is also a great idea. I've also done grooves with a very low speed cut-off wheel to increase the amount of surface area in the root of the bond area with great results. If the bond is great the durability will then only be subject to the strength of the material and that's what the mesh is for.
 
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