Awesome idea for tuning: creating a bumper from ordinary polyurethane foam

The bumper of the car is an important detail that gives it a special appearance and emphasizes its contours. A unique bumper, made by hand, also makes the car special, emphasizing the individuality of its owner. Making this part is quite difficult. However, a little patience and polyurethane foam - and your car will be unique.

Alternative bumper options

Many motorists do not pay attention to bumpers and other body parts, leaving them as they are. But tuning lovers are in constant search for new and original solutions. They are tormented by the same question: how to make a car original, stylish and stand out from the crowd?

There are few options for the bumper. You can buy a ready-made body kit for your car model and enjoy a new look. And you can make a bumper with your own hands. This is where fantasy, the talent of a sculptor, patience, a standard bumper and video from the Internet come to the rescue. One of the best and proven materials for making a bumper with your own hands is polyurethane foam.

Benefits of a foam bumper

The use of polyurethane foam for the manufacture of a unique bumper has its advantages:

• Mounting foam is a relatively inexpensive material
• It fills all the cavities and exactly follows the contours of the original bumper.
• Foam hardens quickly and is easy to process
• Also, the foam is quite easy to remove at the final stage of making the bumper with your own hands.

In addition to mounting foam, for making a bumper with your own hands, you will need some tools and other materials.

Necessary set of tools and consumables

So, what do you need to make a unique bumper with your own hands? The list of tools and materials is approximately the following:

• 3-5 cylinders of polyurethane foam;
• special gun for foam;
• masking tape;
• epoxy resin;
• fiberglass;
• culinary foil;
• sharp clerical knife with replaceable blades;
• sandpaper of different grain sizes;
• automotive putty.

In addition, you should prepare the workplace. It can be a regular table, which has access from all sides for more convenient work. Good lighting will not hurt, as the work is artistic, and requires attention to detail.

Preparation of the base and sketch

Making a part with your own hands begins with the dismantling of the bumper. It will serve as the basis for the new. You can make this part without a template, however, experience is required for such an operation. With the use of the old original bumper, it will be easier to shape, guess with symmetry and not miss important details that relate to fastening.

The removed bumper is pasted over with masking tape from the inside in several layers. This will facilitate the easy separation of the cured foam from the template. It is also quite convenient to mark future bumper parts on masking tape. After gluing, the foam is applied in an even layer. In this, a foam gun will be indispensable. At this stage, care should be taken not to apply too much material, as a thick layer of unnecessary foam will take a long time to dry.

After applying the foam, it is necessary to more accurately determine the details of the future bumper. You can draw on a piece of paper all the details in the form of a radiator grille, holes for daytime running lights and other little things.

After everything is ready, and the foam has hardened, you can proceed to the next step. It usually takes at least 24 hours for the foam to cure. It all depends on the thickness of the layer and the ambient temperature.

Shaping a part

At this stage, it is necessary to carefully separate the resulting blank from the old bumper, which served as a template. This is easy enough to do, however, caution does not hurt, since the hardened foam is quite fragile.

After separation, a clerical knife is used, with its help you need to give the workpiece the desired shape. This is where the talent of the artist is needed. It is quite difficult to work out small details, since in addition to the correct shape, symmetry must be observed. If at this stage the hand trembled, and the knife dug out the excess material, then the situation can be corrected with the help of putty.

After cutting with a knife, it is necessary to process the part with sandpaper. The more precisely this process is done, the less work will be in the future. After grinding and removing the desired shape, the newly made bumper is sealed with putty. At this stage, all the flaws that were made when cutting with a knife are eliminated. The putty layer is also sanded with sandpaper, gradually reducing the size of its grain.

Fiberglass overlay

When the shape of the future product is brought to perfection, you can begin to apply the main material - fiberglass. This material, in combination with the resin, hardens, and the product is quite hard and durable.

Before applying fiberglass, the bumper is pasted over with cooking foil. This will facilitate the excavation of the hardened foam and prevent its destruction by aggressive material. If there is no foil, then you can even use plain paper. In extreme cases, you can apply resin to bare foam with some caution.

After the preparatory work, resin is applied to the workpiece. A first layer of pre-cut fiberglass is placed on top of the resin. Fiberglass is smoothed with a rubber or plastic scraper. At this stage, it is important to achieve a uniform fit of the fiberglass. Air bubbles and wrinkles should be avoided as much as possible.

After applying the first layer, the procedure is repeated 4-5 times. When all layers of fiberglass have been applied, the product must again be given time to dry and harden. After the resin has hardened, it remains only to remove the foam, modify the bumper with putty (if necessary) and carefully process everything with sandpaper. The finished bumper is primed and painted like a regular body part.