My boss in Cleveland told me to use a heat gun on that plastic bumper before pulling

I was working on a 2018 Civic with a deep crease in the rear bumper cover. He said to get it warm, not hot, for about 90 seconds with the gun set on low. I tried it and the plastic came back so much easier without cracking. Has anyone else found a sweet spot for heat times on different types of bumper material?

4 comments

4 Comments

kevin_williams2mo ago

That low heat for 90 seconds is a good start, but calling it a sweet spot is risky. The real key is watching the plastic, not the clock. Different plastics and paint colors heat up at totally different rates. A black bumper on a sunny day versus a white one in a cold shop will need completely different times. You gotta keep the gun moving and test the flexibility with your glove every few seconds.

caseya742mo ago

Hey @kevin_williams, but isn't having a solid starting point better than just guessing? You still watch the plastic, you just start from a known good place.

wadejenkins2mo ago

Man, this whole debate takes me back. I once watched a buddy melt a perfect fender because he followed a "proven" time chart to the letter. Thing is, his heat gun was older and weaker than the one used to make the chart. You can have the best starting point in the world, but if you're not looking at the actual plastic changing in front of you, you're gonna have a bad time. It's all about that feel, you know? What's the worst damage you've seen from trusting the clock too much?

the_rose1d ago

Got a buddy named @wadejenkins who actually did this exact thing, tried to follow a set time on a chart and ended up with a wavy mess. We were in my garage working on a dark blue Honda bumper and he had this timer going, told me to just trust the process. I kept saying man look at the plastic it's starting to wrinkle but he was glued to the phone counting down. By the time he stopped the heat honestly that fender looked like a road map. We had to scrap the whole thing and start over with a fresh one. Wade still jokes about it but he never trusts a clock since then, always watches for that shiny look and checks the flex with his glove.