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Boiling your bumper?

tygrubb said:
Does boiling the bumper affect the cosmetic appearance at all? For example, does it cause any discoloration of the silicone or disrupt the glossiness of the plastic?

Seriously thinking about doing this. My bumper was a little loose, so I put some thin strips of gaffer's tape (wonderful stuff; think of duct tape with a velvety back and leaves no residue) inside on the bumper's anatomical left (right side as you face the phone). This solved the fitment issue for me, but I like the idea of not having to rely on a shim to make it fit, and there's other minor distortions that a shrinked fit might take care of.
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Does not affect the physical appearance at all, everything is just like new.

Warping will happen a little at the 30 pin port opening and the headphone jack however keep it square while cooling and all is back to normal. By warping I mean it will bend inwards every so slightly, others the sides warped a little however just like I said it can be straightened out while cooling and it will be square again. You can dip it in the boiling water for a few seconds to straighten out again if required.

Mine originally moved I would say 2mm up and down and the sides were loose and could be pressed in same with the top and bottom, you could feel it clicking against the metal band when any side was pressed, now it doesn't budge even when trying forcefully to make it move, it is like it is part of the phone now.

I was not happy with the fit at all before boiling however now I am very pleased.
 
Givmeabrek said:
I think the cooling part is unnecessary and causes the distortion because it cools unevenly. I put mine in boiling water (microwaved) and let it sit about a minute or two. Took it out, dried it and let it cool in the air. No distortion and a return to the natural shape before the phone stretched it out of shape a little. Perfect fit. :)
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Nope, it is the boiling part, the plastic and rubber becomes more flexible that is all, if you do not keep it straight and square while cooling it will keep that shape, problem solved by manipulating it while cooling to get it all straight again.

I think actually keeping it in the boiling water as apposed to the heated water from the micro makes the case more flexible which is why you did not have any warping. Could always try a lower temp of water when boiling however manipulating the case while cooling also works at removing the slight warping, in the end it has the same appearance, it is tight and straight.
 
Seems a lot of peeps feel this is a joke.

I can assure you this does work, if you want a loose case then joke away however for those of you that want this Bumper to fit as it should have and make it feel like it is part of the phone then boil away, I did 30 seconds in then under cold water to cool then repeated another 30 seconds and took that opportunity to straighten it out while cooling, you can always dunk it for another few seconds and cool again if required to straighten it out if you missed a spot.
 
WyseOne said:
Does not affect the physical appearance at all, everything is just like new.

<snip>

I was not happy with the fit at all before boiling however now I am very pleased.
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Thanks, WyseOne! +1 to the credibility of your moniker.

I just tried this. Brought the water to a boil, put the bumper in for ~1 minute, pulled it out and let it air cool until it was comfortable to touch (doesn't take long), then repeated for another cycle.

There appears to be little or no cosmetic change. There seems to me to be a greater contrast between the silicone and the plastic, with the silicone now appearing more grey, but that could also be due to me really looking at the bumper under different lighting conditions than usual.

Fitment is GREATLY improved all around. No more play or looseness, no more clacking sound when you pick the phone up. No more need for shims. And as has been noted earlier in the thread, the volume and sleep/wake buttons feel tighter and more secure, with no more play in them.

I can certainly appreciate the humor in this thread, but this is seriously no joke: if you have a bumper and don't like the fitment, take 5 minutes out of your day and do this.
 
rdowns said:
19340.gif
I'm a very busy man.
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Cross dresser?
 
tygrubb said:
Thanks, WyseOne! +1 to the credibility of your moniker.

I just tried this. Brought the water to a boil, put the bumper in for ~1 minute, pulled it out and let it air cool until it was comfortable to touch (doesn't take long), then repeated for another cycle.

There appears to be little or no cosmetic change. There seems to me to be a greater contrast between the silicone and the plastic, with the silicone now appearing more grey, but that could also be due to me really looking at the bumper under different lighting conditions than usual.

Fitment is GREATLY improved all around. No more play or looseness, no more clacking sound when you pick the phone up. No more need for shims. And as has been noted earlier in the thread, the volume and sleep/wake buttons feel tighter and more secure, with no more play in them.

I can certainly appreciate the humor in this thread, but this is seriously no joke: if you have a bumper and don't like the fitment, take 5 minutes out of your day and do this.
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Just compared to an unboiled brand new bumper and the color of the plastic and the rubber (silicone) are identical under the same lighting (side by side). They look and feel 100% identical.
 
I can confirm this actually works haha. I have a white bumper and scoffed when I first saw this thread but I boiled it for a minute, took it out cooled it and boiled it for another min. The bumper did deform a bit but it is sooo much tighter!
 
Has anyone whose done this had trouble after with their SGP (or other) skins, front and back?
 
bimmerchop said:
Has anyone whose done this had trouble after with their SGP (or other) skins, front and back?
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I have normal screen protectors front and back and no lifting, I think the rubber surround of the bumper would not cause lifting on any protector. Just make sure if the are the stick on type like invisibleshields that they are cured properly prior to fitting the bumper.

On another note I have boiled my bumper multiple times (more than 5) with no affect to the bumpers appearance or functionality, just fits nice and snug.
 
When you people say that the bumper "warps", this is only apparent when the case if off the phone correct? Once it's on the phone, nothing is out of the ordinary?
 
lol I boiled mine for too long(maybe 2-3 minutes total). It way entirely too small(with my BSE full body skin), ended up replacing it because it fitted so poorly, so I popped the buttons out and shottily installed them into my PixelSkin.
 
Kevio said:
When you people say that the bumper "warps", this is only apparent when the case if off the phone correct? Once it's on the phone, nothing is out of the ordinary?
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I have experienced no warping at all when the bumper is off. In fact, the first treatment of boiling/cooling (air) corrected some warping that was present when the bumper was first taken out of its retail packaging.

I should also say that during the air cooling period I use my fingers to force it into a proper rectangular shape, as sometimes it wants to take on a slight non-rectangular parallelogram shape. But I haven't seen any distortion due to uneven cooling or anything like that (I let it air cool vs. quenching it in water, as that may lead to uneven cooling and subsequent warping).
 
BergerFan said:
WTF? Boiling? A tad extreme, if you ask me.
To get the Bumper to fit properly, I prefer this method.;)
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Yeah, the idea does sound ludicrous at first, but it really does work. Prior to boiling I had used a method similar to what you mentioned in the quoted thread, using gaffer's tape as a shim (I still use this for my Incase Slider, which get used for outings where a bumper would be a little too naked).

The problem with tape is that it leaves residue on the phone, nor does it really address the fitment issue—the bumper is still warped, and still as non-straight lines (picky, I know, but the little things bother me).

Boiling shrinks the bumper, and with careful cooling distortions/warping are corrected. The result is a bumper that fits perfectly without any needing an additional material added to it.

Boiling is also easier and quicker than trying to get the tape shim just-so. :)
 
tygrubb said:
The problem with tape is that it leaves residue on the phone, nor does it really address the fitment issue—the bumper is still warped, and still as non-straight lines (picky, I know, but the little things bother me).

Boiling shrinks the bumper, and with careful cooling distortions/warping are corrected. The result is a bumper that fits perfectly without any needing an additional material added to it.

Boiling is also easier and quicker than trying to get the tape shim just-so. :)
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With all due respect, you must have done the tape thing wrong. There's no residue, because the tape is stuck to the inside of the bumper, in three places: The top, and the bottom two corners.
The fitment issue is perfectly addressed, because all the tape does, is to fill the 1mm gap, that allowed the bumper to move around originally.
No boiling, no stretching, you never see or notice the tape - it just works. :D

If you want to boil and cool your Bumper every so often that's fine. I'm merely offering an alternative. :)
 

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This is utterly ridiculous!

First you need a bumper to have your phone not dropping calls. Then you have to boil the bumper?! What's next? Building a hut for it from banana peel so the glass won't shatter?! Hitting stones together to charge the battery? (I actually remember a Samsung advert that would be appropriate now - pre-historic environment and a shiny glass thing.)
 
kernkraft said:
First you need a bumper to have your phone not dropping calls. Then you have to boil the bumper?! What's next? Building a hut for it from banana peel so the glass won't shatter?! Hitting stones together to charge the battery? (I actually remember a Samsung advert that would be appropriate now - pre-historic environment and a shiny glass thing.)
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Why do you feel the need to contribute to this forum? All your posts are negative.
 
It's not necessary to actually boil it; simply immersing the bumper for 30 seconds in the pan after the heat has been turned off then dunking it in cold water for a couple of cycles seems to work just as well.
 
Freak! I'm only 11 and thought y'all were serious so I boiled the bumper with the phone so the bumper won't get too tight!!!!! But who cares my dad already said he'll buy me a new one.






























Jk I'm actually 14 but not that stupid but I'm boiling my bumper (not the phone) now as I type this on my iPad.
 
Just tried it. Boiled it for a minute like suggested. Let it cool down through cold water, boiled again, cooled down, let dry...

My bumper is looser than it was before -.-
 
mclix said:
Just tried it. Boiled it for a minute like suggested. Let it cool down through cold water, boiled again, cooled down, let dry...

My bumper is looser than it was before -.-
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Doesn't sound like you did it right.. think about it, how can you boil plastic and rubber in hot water and it get looser?
 
I agree. But the water was boiling... I then put it under the cold water in the sink, boiled it again, cold water again... I patted it down until it was dry.

It is the oddest thing. The sides are definitely looser though. Not by much, but none the less. Also, the ear phone opening is stretched out.
 
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