Well,
Gave up today on stripping my front urathene bumper. Aside from it being wavey and prior repair work on it. I decieded to replace both front and rear bumpers. (Rear is as bad as the front.) Not sure I want to buy a set of 21 year old used bumpers from the local vette shop. New GM urathenes are out of site at 500.00 plus per. Vette gets new paint next week so it's kind of a priority at this point. So I'm thinkin about the so called Tru-Flex aftermarkets. Any input on this or experience with these replacements would be useful!! Thanks guys, L8TER, Paul.

 

Paul;

I put a true-flex bumper cover on the front of my '73. The fit was as good as or better than the original urethane piece, but there was a very slight difference in the conformation. By that, I mean the way it was formed. To me, it seemed like it was just a bit more angular than the urethane. Don't get me wrong, the car looks great without all the waviness of the old piece, and my observation is purely subjective, but there is a slight difference. All in all, it was a vast inprovement and I'd do it again without hesitation. One suggestion: Get the stainless steel retainer kits for $30 apiece rather than trying to reuse the originals. It'll make your life so much easier and they'll never rust, of course. Mid America has them, as well as just about everybody else, I suppose.

 

I am in the process of putting a tru-flex on the front of my '75. I like the shape and finish, but I had to do quite a bit of filling to get it to match my fenders. I also had to remove the "honeycomb" used on the '75's to get it to fit better. There was a lot of variation in the overall width of our cars from the factory and all this was not unexpected. You may get lucky and have it bolt right up.

 

My front true-flex fit nice. i wish i put one on the back. I took a grinder and shaved about a 1/2 off my honeycomb.

 

I used the Tru-Flex bumpers on both front and rear of my 75. The previous owner had replaced the driver's side front fender after a minor accident and had not fitted the fender properly. I spent the majority of my time cracking the bonding material and refitting the front fender, so that I could mate the front bumper to it. All in all, it worked out well. The rear bumper was not as difficult , although I did have to remove the fiberglass taillight mounts in order to get the bumper to fit. I then mounted the taillights in the bumper openings.

 

Definitely Tru-Flex. Why use 25 year old technology, unless you are going for NCRS points. I replaced my rear bumper with a Tru-Flex on my '74. My front bumper is starting to crack. This winter it will be replaced with a Tru-Flex.

 

OK Guys,

Kinda thought the feedback would lean more to the positive side. I just can't see spending $$ on old used bumper covers that have to be srtipped and painted anyway, when they can be replaced with a suitable "quality" aftermarket part, that's brand new!! I'll let ya know how it goes, hopefully by the end of today!! Thanks, L8TER, Paul.

 

TruFlex seems to be the favorite, but the rear bumpers were harder to fit than the front. Be prepared to spend some time or money doing some body work on the rear to get the rear bumper to fit nicely to the car.

 

I was sold on the tru Flex bumper deal too, from what I read on the forum, But I was not satisfied with the fit of my bumper after I spent a good evening trimming, fitting and trying to get it to fit to my liking. Besides the usual minor fit trimming, my bumper center line does not accurately line up with the cars peaked cener line. That I can live with and make work, but what really sucks is that I made the drivers side fender side fit perfectly flush, as it should, got the center peaks and "V's" to work in reference to the bumper rearside and the bodies nose "V" point. With these points of reference aligned, the passenger side fender side and bumper side are about 1/4"different. There is a huge noticable step from bumper to body. I figure that I will take the thing off later and make a really good consciencous effort to make the bumper work, but if Tru-flex is the ticket, how bad are the others that everyone else stays away from? If I have to put 1/4" of filler on a new $300 bumper to get it to be built up and work to the level of quality I want in my body fit, I may as well have bought a cheaper bumper and fixed it too! I expect better than I got, when I buy what I deem to be the best.
So, be informed, and prepared or you may be disappointed!
"Teach"

OK, after a nights sleep and now not being so cranky, I should add the positive side to a hard fiberglass bumper:
They are susposed to not crack over time like the original bumper covers do. Which I tend to believe, but with no experience.
They are not supposed to discolor your paint job a shade or two, I suppose due to color bleed through of the original black colored material the poly urethane bumpers were made of.
They have got to be alot easier to install than the originals because you dont have to worry about using the original long thin retaining strips.
I would tend to suspect that they would be easier to move around and fit up onto your car, but the flex of the poly urethane bumpes would allow for a greater difference in fit from car to car and make a nicer final fit, if your not into doing alot of work, like I will be doing.
The poly urethane bumer covers do cost about $200-250 more than a show special tru-flex price, so the savings could be applied to paying a body shop fitting and straightening out the bumper it is doesn't fit to your satisfaction.
then you break even on the price, but avoid the fit hassles, and reap the benefits of hard bumper as I have indicated above.

If more people indicate that 1/4" or so of misalignment is typical and everyone has to deal with this issue, (which I had never heard of such a lousy fit from an expensive product, especially touted as the best, that I find not acceptable) after weighing the pro's and con's, a hard front bumper, and maybe tru-flex then is the ticket. I bought a hard front bumper because I dont want future cracks from mother nature, and don't want paint discoloration.

I just don't anyone else to be disappointed and feel like I was the only that got the bumper that "was made on Friday afternoon or Monday morning!"



[Modified by 73 Teach's Pet, 8:42 AM 9/1/2001]

 

Teach

From what I have read and heard. a quarter inch difference in a corvette front end is a great fit.

Hope your removable rear window fits better.

Terry

 

I am getting estimates on the paint job for my 81' right now and am thinking I will just keep the stock urethane bumpers. The body shops that I have talked to all said they would do whatever I wanted, but they would rather use the stock bumpers and strip and repaint them than use anything aftermarket. They were all concerned about the fit.

 

Used 'em on the '79; nice fit, BETTER than stock in my case. Only trouble is, they have started to ripple! Maybe it's because of the dark color-I don't know. Anyway, I read recently that the "new" urethane bumpers have none of the rippling problems of the old ones, because they have changed the urethane resin that they're cast from.

 

I was expextecting an experience such as Teach's. Teach is absolutely correct. If an individual spends X amount of hard earned dollars, you expect to get what ya pay for!! If you have to do fitting and work on it to get it too fit than it's not worth it after all. It's kinda like a crap-shoot....if it fits ya lucked out, if not then its additional work on your part. I'm also considering new urethanes. Their not that much more $$ and it's a GM fit. I read a similar article that MassVette is referring too. Still not sure which way too go at this point. :confused: L8TER, Paul.

 

Well considering that all vettes are different, the urathene you can make them fit better buy pulling and streaching them, but they Will start to ripple after a while, and you will be in the same boat that your in now. I would stay with the true-flex. if you were to look at a all orginal vette, the urathene bumbers didn't fit that great anyway, because of the build tolorence. I have put a few urathene bumpers on at our bodyshop and spent most of the day lining them up, but with true-flex it is less forgiving and you can with your panels to make them fit better or mask the bumper off and do a little bodywork. the urathene bumpers will not hold in place, if you look close at the newer cars, the edges of the bumpers where it meets with the car are kinda rolled, this is where the stress starts and later crack, i have seen a lot of them.
I molded my bumpers on, worked out nice.

 

69vette66,

By body work you are referring to the bumper itself, the quarter panel or both??

 

depends if the bumpers are short or long. if they are long you will have to bring the qtrs or fenders out to meet them. really it not that bad of job. a little time consuming, but the results are worth it. my rear bumper was not a true flex, really it was IN BAD shape for a new fiberglass, Many pinholes and craters the size of a 1/4 inch or so.
the bumper was way to long, but I had to cut, splice and reglass all down the sides to make a good fit before i glued it on and finished moulding it to the car. in the last month i havent been able to work on it, to finish the prepwork for primer.
but considering the way the front fit I would hope the rear should fit the same with a trueflex

 

66,

Sounds like a real hassel!! I have decieded to go with the Tru-Flex. I sure hope they fit better than yours did!! Gonna order them on Tuesday. Should I get the fasteners that are recommended for them or should I try to use the ones off my old urethanes?? The car will be ready for paint by the end of next week so I'll have to hold it off at least till I get the bumpers. I'm sure the body shop will not be happy with that little delay :cry L8TER, Paul.

 

This may help someone: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cg...item=594969868

 

That's an AFTERMARKET ureathane front bumper cover offered in the local vette catalogs for $199.00. It's a good deal if ya buy it now for $165.00. So be aware. Thanks chevyman!! L8TER, PAul.

 

I reused the stock retainers on the rear (after replacing some of the studs) and ended up using machine screws with big washers on the front. I'd certainly use the individual replacement screws on the front; access seemed to be easier on the back for me.

Whatever you do, I'd make sure that you can easily screw the nut on before starting to mount them; it's a real PITA if you have to pull them on and off for little stuff like that. Also, don't tighten down too much - just leave them snug!

good luck