MKearney

I've heard it's very difficult to fit fiberglass bumpers correctly. Do any of you have experience with installation of these bumpers? Where did you purchase your bumpers? I bought polyurethane and installed the front one. It looks terrible, the waves are worse than the original.

big_G

Hi Mike...lol... how ya been?
The fiberglass covers are usually a little oversized, you grind/sand/fill to fit the body. We have not seen too many perfect urethane covers...especially the reproduction units...G/L...

corvetteatv7

I put an 80-82 style fiberglass rear bumper cover on my 79 a little over a year ago when i painted the car. It really wasn't too bad and i love the way it looks. I bought it from ecklers. I took the old one off, and all the unneccesary hardware they had behind it for the lights, and then bolted the new one up which took the longest. I had to enlarge some of the mounting holes and have someone push against the sides while i tightened them up to make it fit the car as best as possible. I did this all the way around. Then i had to come back and sand the entire thing, the sides needed the most work to get them to follow the contour of the body. Overall i love it. I hate the 78-79's w/o a spoiler but i don't like the bolt on ones so this was the perfect choice. No waves, nice smooth fit. It takes some time and effort but it is definately worth it. I have a few pics of the almost finished product in my corvette photos. All painted but no emblems or anything on yet. They are now just haven't taken any new pics.

Bart

MYBAD79

I installed my fiberglass rear bumper, fittet it and had it then painted "off the car". That was a mistake - there is a lot of pulling, twistiung and tweaking necessary and you can damage the paint when installing the bumper

onaqwst

i molded my bumpers in....... fiberglass is the way to go though...more prep time but there won't be a color difference and no waves..... the flex bumpers they have to add a flex additive to it and that usually changes the color a shade or two..

b

MKearney

Gary,

I got the headlamps rebuilt. I'm putting new interior in at the moment. I want to get it running perfectly before having you paint it. I put on the new front polyurethane bumper. It looks like ****. You may remember I'm pretty **** about the way the seams look. I may drive out and let you look at this poly rear bumper. I think I need fiberglass as particuliar as I am.

Sharky Guam

I have installed over a couple dozen sets of bumpers so far and they all need some adjustment. Mose of the problem lies with the bodies and not entirely on the molding of the bumpers. But with some adjustment to the body and some filling and sanding, the fit is nearly perfect on nearly all of the installations. My reccomendation is to bond them to the bodies so that it will be stronger and a cleaner fit with no seams. Don't worry, you can unbond them if you later decide to change them. The only disadvantage to the fiberglass bumpers is that they are unforgiving to small bumper hits. Otherwise, it is a "no brainer" to choose them. When you install them, take your time and you won't be sorry.

onaqwst

i figure if my bumpers get hit bad enough, i'll end up with a new paint job for the whole car since my color is a custom mix..... also with the molded bumpers, there would be no choice in avoiding to paint the whole car...

b

NHvette

I had (have but no longer use due to new 70 rear clip) a
75 rear fiberglass bumper from Ecklers ... fit was great.
To replace the front, I went with a Truflex from Toledo Pro.
Find their website and email them. The price is very good, as
they give a discount from the prices on their web. Shipping is cheap, too.

I haven't installed my Truflex front yet ... but after holding it up in place, it seems to fit well.