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Posted a few photos last week of my 73 in the body shop......Shop ordered a fiberglass bumper for the front,mine was damaged......They ordered from Eklers.......Fit like crap the shop told me....Gaps all over the place.....
Anybody know where they make quality fiberglass bumpers? Urethane was four times the price of the fiberglass one from Eklers...
I bought my tru-flex bumper from Willcox. I don't know if you would every get one that doesn't have to be fitted, but I had to do very little to mine.
Just be sure that your fitting is on the cover and not the front end.
Here are some photos of my 73 before and after the fit that I did myself.
I also bought a tru-flex fiberglass bumper from Willcox and it fit great with very little work. Had it painted and installed at a local body shop that works on corvettes/muscle cars. Picture is in your other thread.
If you want the bumper on the car to look as good as the body fiberglass, I highly recommend you do NOT use Truflex. They are too thin and too flexible, and ultimately will have some of the same waviness and ripple issues that urethane bumpers do. I used them, and regret it.
Fact is, no matter what fiberglass you buy, its going to take a lot of body work....if you want it perfect. So, the advertising hype of Trueflex still is not going to work, so why live with the downside to it. Neither is going to survive even the most minor impact. Regular non flex bumpers are more rigid and have a better chance of looking as good as the rest of the car.
However, regardless of which one you buy, it may take laying another layer of fiberglass on the inside to get it up to the thickness and rigidity of the rest of the car. So, it may be possible to use TrueFlex, and then add another layer on the inside. I still would start with non Trueflex if I was doing it again.
Ultimately, why should the bumpers be any less wave free than the rest of the car. I let my painter talk me into Trueflex, and I forever will regret it. I am still working on fixing it. In the heat of the sun, the Trueflex bumper starts to move, distort and show weave while the rest of the car does not.
If you want the bumper on the car to look as good as the body fiberglass, I highly recommend you do NOT use Truflex. They are too thin and too flexible, and ultimately will have some of the same waviness and ripple issues that urethane bumpers do. I used them, and regret it.
Fact is, no matter what fiberglass you buy, its going to take a lot of body work....if you want it perfect. So, the advertising hype of Trueflex still is not going to work, so why live with the downside to it. Neither is going to survive even the most minor impact. Regular non flex bumpers are more rigid and have a better chance of looking as good as the rest of the car.
However, regardless of which one you buy, it may take laying another layer of fiberglass on the inside to get it up to the thickness and rigidity of the rest of the car. So, it may be possible to use TrueFlex, and then add another layer on the inside. I still would start with non Trueflex if I was doing it again.
Ultimately, why should the bumpers be any less wave free than the rest of the car. I let my painter talk me into Trueflex, and I forever will regret it. I am still working on fixing it. In the heat of the sun, the Trueflex bumper starts to move, distort and show weave while the rest of the car does not.
Thanks for the reply.....The shop is going to call Willcox when it opens at 9 am.....After reading this though I may just go with the urethane...As it stands now the insurance company has allotted the money for the cost of a urethane bumper I believe..
I was just figuring fiberglass since the rest of the car is fiberglass...
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I am very satisfied with the tru-flex bumper. It has been on for over 4 years here in Louisiana and has not distorted in any way. They can take a fairly good lick and not break as in this one.
Have you seen a urethane bumper on a C3 Corvette?? Chevrolet should have been embarrassed to install those and sell them on a new car. All this beautiful sculpted body front to back,....and then you put this rubber on that from DAY ONE had divits, warps, ripples, etc.....!!! And that was acceptable? Wow. Look at the 80-82 rear spoilers, across the top...I have never seen one that was not full of ripples...do people somehow not see it? If that is acceptable, why even bother doing bodywork on a car...just mount fenders, hoods and door, who cares if they line up, why fill in imperfections, etc. Body shops are paid to use fillers and sanding blocks, etc all to make a car look good, and Chevy bolts this rubber junk on and sell it as new.
Truflex bumpers are BETTER than urethane in this regard, but still not as perfect as the rest of the body. That is not acceptable on my car. Of course, if you are okay with all that, then so be it. Today we have fiberglass bumpers, and body men, who can put it together like GM should have in the first place. I know about the crash protection requirements, but government mandates mean nothing to me versus building a good looking car. And warped up poor fitting parts are not good looking to me.
And that picture above of a bent up Trueflex.......is that fixable or not? I doubt you would just snap that back to where it was....so it still needs replaced.
Last edited by Torqued Off; 01-23-2018 at 12:37 PM.
Have you seen a urethane bumper on a C3 Corvette?? Chevrolet should have been embarrassed to install those and sell them on a new car. All this beautiful sculpted body front to back,....and then you put this rubber on that from DAY ONE had divits, warps, ripples, etc.....!!! And that was acceptable? Wow. Look at the 80-82 rear spoilers, across the top...I have never seen one that was not full of ripples...do people somehow not see it? If that is acceptable, why even bother doing bodywork on a car...just mount fenders, hoods and door, who cares if they line up, why fill in imperfections, etc. Body shops are paid to use fillers and sanding blocks, etc all to make a car look good, and Chevy bolts this rubber junk on and sell it as new.
Truflex bumpers are BETTER than urethane in this regard, but still not as perfect as the rest of the body. That is not acceptable on my car. Of course, if you are okay with all that, then so be it. Today we have fiberglass bumpers, and body men, who can put it together like GM should have in the first place. I know about the crash protection requirements, but government mandates mean nothing to me versus building a good looking car. And warped up poor fitting parts are not good looking to me.
And that picture above of a bent up Trueflex.......is that fixable or not? I doubt you would just snap that back to where it was....so it still needs replaced.
Sometimes I wonder if there was no mandate in 73 how Chevy would have designed the front end....
I'm sure they would have used a chrome front bumper ......Would the hood be any different? What about the openings on the side fenders?
I like the look of the stock 73 hood as opposed to the stock hood on the 68-72........Can't beat the big block hoods though......
I'm in agreement....You have these nice curvy lines and you throw a rubber front bumper on it...
It is what it is......One day I will look for a 69...Can't beat those side grills with the stingray logo...
I don't know if an original urethane bumper is still available from GM, but the urethane formula was changed after a few years because of deterioration issues.
I bought a new urethane front bumper for my 73 about 20 years ago. IT fit nice, looked great, painted up very well, and is still in good shape 20 years later.
Anybody know where they make quality fiberglass bumpers?.
there is a guy selling bumpers, hoods, L-88 fender flares on ebay who I believe used to work for tru-flex before ACI bought them, do an ebay search and check his feedback, looks like nice stuff all priced right.
01-22-2018, 08:35 PM
Fiberglass bumper for a 73 ...
