Does anyone know of any type of "inner frame" for the 80-82 urethane bumpers, or any alternative to them that will prevent them from warping over time?

 

The bumper are fiberglas they are Urethane. (Plastic/Rubber) They will eventually warp the only alternative is fiberglass bumper. Both have goo and bad.

Fiberglass will not warp, it will always hold it shape. Fiberglass will not flex, it cracks.

Urethane will warp over time but it can take a hit here and there without chipping or cracking.

Ecklers has fiberglass bumpers, I have there front one on mine because of the warping problem with Urethane

Hope this helps

 

Mine is that way in one spot. I haven't messed with it. I'm thinking of trying a heat gun.Do you think that will work.

 

NO ! The only cure is fiberglass

 

Ah ok, so it's not fiberglass from the factory? My 81 must be a replacement then because it's fiberglass for sure, I removed it when the car was being repainted. The one in my 80 is the one that's warped, so that's the factory one then.

So what's the difference between a full fiberglass bumper and the Ecklers "flex fit" bumper? The price is about the same, is there an advantage to one over the other?

 

Flex fit is supposed to be the best of both worlds. Rubber bumper that won't warp. I was told they warp also, but I never owned one. Maybe someone else can give you a better opinion on flexfit.

 

our 81 is at the paint/body shop right now.

Bought both the front and rear flexfit bumper from ecklers, and the body shop just called and asked us to bring the originals down beacuse the flexfit ones are too far off, they wouldn't fit...

Is this bull**** and they dont want to do the work to get it fit?

I've got eckler's tech support hopefully calling me back tomorrow.

this is bull****, I dont want to use the old one beacuse I know its just going to warp again in a few months, and they're just going to ghetto rig fix for the current bad warps that both stock pieces currently have.

 

Is there anyway to reinforce a new urethane bumper? maybe a fiberglass or metal strip underneath? I think here in Florida you need the fiberglass one.

 

I tried the flex fit rear bumper from Ecklers. It was off more than a quarter inch on each side. Also you will also have to leave out some of the bumper support parts that mount under the bumper. I ended up sending the flex fit back and getting the urethane. The urethane is very straight and fit well. The only problem that I had on my 75 is that the CORVETTE letters are inset on the original bumper. The new on is like universal for years between 75 and I believe 79. I inset the letters on mine ny making a template out of aluminum and using a dremel tool with the router attachment. Stay away from any NOS type. Old type of materials were used in these and they can become brittle with time.
Good Luck
Steve

 

The original Urethane bumpers will turn brittle and crack with age.



Last summer I talked to the local Corvette shop and they advised me to go the fiberglass route. They recommended ACI and that's what I bought. The ACI unit came with recesses for the CORVETTE letters. The body shop that did the work said that they prefer the fiberglass to flexfit as it's much easier to work with and the ACI units require the least amount of work.



Just my 2 cents worth

 

The sun/heat does most of the damage to the bumpers causing them to ripple; a fact of life for Corvette ownership.

I remember reading somewhere that the early bumpers were more brittle than the older ones. In the 80 - 82, the new design allowed them to remain flexible over time...don't quote me on that, need to find my source...

FWIW the bumpers will never line up perfect. My car is bone stock and has lived most of it's live in a garage. Trace the body lines down the car to the bumpers front and rear....typical tolerances for the time.

 

Our corvettes had a lot of variations in the panel fit from the factory And factor in the variences in the mold process for aftermarket replacements...something has to be adjusted.

Urethane bumper covers are more forgiving and will adapt to any odd shape on the car with little modifications.

But fiberglass and flex-fit will most likely need some sort of modifications to make them fit...either to the cover or body.

I think ecklers slaps a big orange or red sticker on the covers stating this.

That's pretty much what tech support is going to tell you as well....I went through the same thing on my fiberglass covers.

So if your bodyshop says they won't fit, I think I would look for another shop.

I also don't know the nature of the labor quote to fix your car either and they may not want to mess with it because more time psent on the covers = money...they may have figured the estimate based on just removing/installing new panels....you'll need to check with them on that.

I've got fiberglass on my 82 and love them (after they were re-worked to fit)

 

I had the flex fit put on mine. The body shop recommended it. It had to be worked on a bit to make it fit but it looks good and the factory honeycomb is still in there.

 

The flex fit uses a different resin during production allowing it to flex more than a traditionally layed up fg part. Bottom line is this. If you don't want the part to warp over time, traditional fg layup is the only way to go. You WILL have to "fit" the part to the car. It does take some work. There are variations in each one of our Corvettes that a rigid FG layup will not be able to accomodate. It can be done though. Only prob is if it gets so much as tapped on, it will crack or chip paint. Stay away from grocery cart laden parking lots! If I had a better handle on the picture adding to my posts, I would post all the pictures of mine being fitted including the timeline. If anyone wants to point me the right direction to posting the pics, I would be happy to do so. I can post the pictures of the painting process as well.

 

this is a good link for posting photos, put toghether by Durango Boy
http://photos.imageevent.com/durango...g%20Images.pdf

 

My '80 front bumper is conventional fiberglass and my rear bumper is Flex - both bonded to the body and seamless. (The only reason they are different is because I got a super deal on the Flex.) The rear bumper bonding area has a hairline crack <2" long and the front [standard glass] bumper has NONE.

The Flex bumpers are supposed to give when bumped, but the paint is still going to crack even if the glass doesn't crack. I don't strongly recommend one over the other. Just don't choose Flex thinking it's going to be flexible and able to take minor bumps without any visible damage. That ain't gonna' happen.