R Mackow

My 2000 coupe took a hit to nose after a off course excursion...the big flexible piece that the air dams are attached, and is normally the first thing to contact a high curb or concrete bumper blocks. It's has a longitudinal crack originating from the skid bar opening to where the lower edge starts rolling up. You can see it if you look close. i see it all the time.
Can I pull the nose off and put a patch on the back side to keep the crack from propigating? What type of primer and paint for the front side?
I stripped and painted(lacquered) my Honda MC when I was a kid. I assume all paints are urethanes now. Any How-to-Books out there?
Does a Corvette nose require special treatment/techniques?

AU N EGL

YES

3M makes a Fiber glass / composite repair compound. Put a some new fiberglass on the under side over that crack, spread on this compound over the fiber glass and on the out side over the crack.

Let it harded, and sand to match the out side, Strip any wax off the other parts of the nose, piece, prime and paint.

When it is finished it will look like one full piece.

Painting OFF the car, the color may not match the remainder of the car.

Good Luck

Cobra4B

The bumper is urethane... Lord Fusor products makes specific 2-part urethane adhesives. You'll want to patch the rear, then v the front part of the crack and fill it, then sand/paint.

If you just want to stop the spreading and don't care about cosmetics then just grab some of the 2-part repair adhesive and go to town.

AU N EGL

That is the stuff I was thinking about.

craig-o

I too had an off-track excursion that resulted in a tear to the bumper cover, so you have my sympathies.

You might be surprized at what a replacement would cost; list price is $532, but I got mine for ~$350. (Now this was 2 years ago, and prices might have changed...)

I spent 2 minutes this morning searching forum vendors for prices - GMPartsHouse, FredBeans, GMPartsDirect, and prices ranged from ~$410 to $326.85 at GMPartsDirect. I took the printout into my local Chevy dealer and they matched the price. I paid tax, but no shipping.

Since you're going to have to paint it anyway (or better yet, take it to a body shop and have it painted), why not start out with something fresh? I removed the old, took it to the body shop off the car to have them match, and it turned out perfect.

Regardless of what you decide, as long as you have the bumper cover off, you should definitely replace all the bulbs - headlamps, fogs, turn signals/DRLs, parking. That job will NEVER be as easy as when the bumper cover is off the car.

And consider yourself lucky; I had to replace the skid plate, upper radiator mount and a few other pieces when I went off track...

Bill Dearborn

Repairing may or may not be feasible. I had a similar tear in the front fascia of my 97 after a 65 mph encounter with a 5 gallon bucket on the Interstate. It didn't go quite as far toward the front as what you are describing but when the State Farm appraiser looked at it he said that repairing wasn't feasible with such a long tear and approved a complete replacement. Several years later the other side of the replacement fascia was damaged when the parking brake failed to hold the car and it rolled into another parked car at about walking speed. This time there was a small tear near the right side turn signal opening and when I inquired with the body shop about fixing it they said they could repair the spot and blend the paint. When finished a person unfamiliar with the car could not tell there had been a repair. Color match was perfect just a little more road rash on the left side.

Bill

hisvett

I'm in the same boat, did mine loading it on my trailer. I can't believe no one has said anything about welding. Urethane welding has been around for many years. I have a local body shop that has fixed the same issue with a friends C5 bumper, turned out like new after painting. I'd do some more checking in your neighborhood going with welding.