Hey everyone, fairly new to GM products; just bought myself an ultra-low-miles '95 Impala SS a few weeks back, and this week some friends called and needed to part with their 53,000 mile '96 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. I guess when it rains it pours... *grin*

Anyway, the car is in very good condition for its age, mostly small door dings and minor scratches, some applique graphics that have peeled in a couple of places, red paint has a little different color on the body versus the paint on the bumpers, mirrors, and other trim, seemingly from age. The major blemish is that the original owner (I'm third, second owners were daughter and son-in-law of original) bumped something and cracked the front bumper cover at the passenger's side fog light and broke the cover of the fog light off. The crack is vertical and runs out of the hole for the light straight up, fading out as it goes up. There's also some faint cracking in the paint in the area, undoubtedly from whenever this happened.

I'm probably going to brace the backside of the cover with something to just align the two sides of the crack to each other. When I align them by hand the gap closes up very well. It's still obviously cracked, but for the moment is not a problem. What I'd like to know is if there's a better way to do this- I don't really want to go through the expense in painting and finding graphics for a replacement cover if I can avoid it and still have a halfway decent result.

Additionally the cover is wavy where the license plate mount was, especially passenger's side of the beak. I've pulled the plate mount off and plan to see if it smooths out a bit on its own, or if I need to apply a little bit of heat, or if there's any other technique that could help smooth it a bit.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

I've attached some pictures. It's weird, they show up narrow when I click on them through, but when I then right-click and select View Image they have the correct aspect ratio...

 

Thats no blemish, thats a tear!
Thats gonna need to come off it you want to try to fix it. (check out plastic repair sticky)
That being said, you could use those sticky repair sheets on the back for holding.

 

That's a real good looking TA you got there!!Good luck with the repair.

 

Wow! Spittin' image of the car I purchased brand new at Maroone Chevrolet Pontiac Buick in Ft. Lauderdale back in 1986. Traded in my 1982 Trans Am to get that one.

That tear can be repaired, but I'd have a pro tackle it. Look into laser (or even solvent) welding.

Then maybe lower it an inch or two? haha

Great looking car!