Wanted to stop my R front lower bumper lip from cracking and breaking any more than it alread has and finally took the time to brace it. I think a solid brace/strip would work better but I was to lazy to go get a longer clamp. LOL

Volvo 850 R Front Lower Bumper Repair.

 

I appreciate the video, but for ruining a beautiful R bumper.

Your options are endless for using invisible repairs, such as epoxying the back, etc etc.

Best thing to have done would have been to plastic weld the back back together. Then you can fill it with plastic filler (which is similar to metal filler in that it covers up and re-adheres the plastic to itself). Then on the front, all you had to do was lightly plastic weld the cracks back togehter, lightly sand everything down. put a few light coats of plastic filler in there. lightly sand it all down and then just softly respray the area with OEM paint in a spray can. You would have hardly been able to sell it was ever fixed.

Too bad, if you lived closer I would have loved to help you plastic weld that back together, I love me some body work.

 

rspi you are doing a great job at getting these videos done and I dont want to take away from anything you are doing. I am just going to throw out an alternative way to repair the bumper. Some may not mind having rivets showing but some do. If you do not want to have anything showing from the front you should be doing all the repair work from the back. You can plastic weld the rear as suggested by klaas but I find that plastic welding a crack is a weak joint. In your case you were dealing with a major portion that needs to bear a load. To do this you could plastic weld but you should also reinforce the area from the back. Adding material is really the best method to reinforcing the crack. Instead of using metal brackets there are specifically designed professional bumper adhesives. You can add material to strengthen joints, cracks, holes, etc.
When I got my R bumper it had a hole in the front lip. Below are progressive pictures of the repair and painting. I used a Plastic Bumper Repair products from the local paint store. Its similar to epoxy but flexible and paintable. After the repair I skimmed a coat of this material over the entire surface to fill imperfections.

 

John, I remember when you did that repair. Sad thing about all this (lip repair) is that I use to work at a body shop for one of the best guys in the business (long ago when I lived in Pittsburgh PA). I know my method is quick and dirty but hopefully after I touch it up, it will look a lot better than the cracked up ones running around the country (probably 80% of them) and last a year or so till someone decides to bite the bullet and get a new one.

Not many people have the time, skills, and patients to do the job right (at home). That's why so many of them are cracked and broken. That hack job took less than an hour and after touched up will take a second look to see it. The right way will likely take 4 to 6, which would be worth it.

 

I dont think you need to explain your fix. Its fast and effective.

 

I was on SwedeSpeed looking at some pics in an '04 - '07 S60 thread that really made me want to clean my car up more and keep it clean. Some real clean cars out there. Your wagon is one of them.

I keep my exterior pretty clean but need to work on the interior more. After I do my NA cams and valve stem seals, I'm going to work on getting my front seats recovered. I actually want to pick up a set of 850 seats out of a donor car, have them recovered and drop them in just to have a spare set of seats. They may actually have better cushion in them since my car had nearly 200,000 on it when I got it and the PO was a little heavy. I'd light to get some seats that have less cushion wear. I picked up a set about a year ago and let them go before I had the idea. Super nice leather tan seats. Not sure if they had heaters in them. Then I let go of some nice seats out of a '96 R wagon. Really should have kept them.

My favorites would be out of a '98 S/V70 R. Those would be perfect.

 

Sadly, mine is already in 2 pieces.

I have the piece, though.

Plan on trying to get it repaired and also having an OEM rear spoiler painted at the same time.

 

The rear spoiler is on my wish list. However, I don't think it looks that good when the roof rails are on.