Morning folks, I've got a BMW with a couple of scratches on the front painted bumper which go down to the plastic and a localised but fairly significant dent in the back plastic bumper. I'm thinking about having a go touching them up myself but I've never done it before - I've repainted areas on cars before (window surrounds on my first car many years ago... sigh...) but never had to fill/resurface and blend in to existing paintwork before.

Is it hard to do? And is it something you have to do six times before you can get it perfect or is it possible with elbow grease to get it right first time? I figure if worst come to worst I'll just get a pro to do it anyway, nothing lost.

I don't have an area I can use that's dust-free, so would I be better setting up a dust free tent in the garage with plastic sheeting (dexter style) or just taking the bumper off and doing it in the kitchen?

Lastly, anyone recommend a good website with a howto? Or a good book?

Taking the dent first a little local heat applied to the bumper as you press the dent works wonders ---- a good hair dryer will provide enough heat but because plastic isn't a good conductor of heat you need to apply the heat slowly over a wide area to warm the plastic through its full thickness --- keep the the jet of hot air over the surface.

If the dent isn't on the top surface of the bumper you should have too much problems with dust ---- just don't do the sand in the garage, also many thin layers of filler will mean less sanding.

Those turbine HVLP sprayers (http://www.mptools.co.uk/products.asp?partno=HV3000) l are very good for this kind of job they are very easy to use because give very thin coats with next to no over-spray

interesting, thanks mate. Will definitely try to heat idea. Thanks for the tip on the sprayer, will compare in price etc to cans. I have no compressor so if cans aren't possible then it could be a good bet.