Tru-Flex Bumpers
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,523
Likes: 1
From: grand prairie texas
Years ago Ipurchased a front truflex cover for my 77 from Toledo Fiberglass on sale. I stored the cover up in my attic here in Dallas for a year over the hot summer and when I brought it down from the attic there was cracking in the bumper cover. I called the Toledo folks and they told me to send it back to them and even though they would not warrant it because I had it for over a year that they would send me a factory second cover. Well it was not very pretty. I bit the bullit and purchased the same type of bumper cover from Ecklers and was very happy with their cover.
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 165
Likes: 0
From: White Plains MD
Do yourself a favor, either get the original urethane or the hard fiberglass. The true flex are a nightmare. I bought both front and back bumpers. Both are still sticky, two years latter. Lots of pinholes, surface voids, and LOTS of work making them fit. Now, as I,m finally getting them to fit properly...they are developing cracks. The cracks fortunately, are in the taillight buckets and license plate area for the rear bumper. The front bumper is cracking along the bumperpads. I'm trying to fix the cracks, but I'm about to throw in the towel.
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,412
Likes: 50
From: Laguna Niguel California
About two years ago I got slightly tapped in the rear which cracked the glass cover. I purchased one of the flexiglass '75 replacements from Ecklers and had the body shop put it on. They said that they had to do a lot of work to make it fit right but it looks better than new and I haven't had any problems with it. The recesses for the '75 CORVETTE letters are not as deep and well defined as the original rubber but it's hard to tell.
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,714
Likes: 42
From: Austin Texas
I bought my Tru-Flex front and rear bumpers from a vendor on ebay. I can not speak to your vendor only the product in general.
I am happy with my choice. However, installation is NOT easy.
You will need to buy a bolt kit for them. I had to use duct tape to hold the bolts in place while I installed the covers to the car. Then I was able to get the nuts started. For me it was a two person job. One person under the car with a ratchet or wrench tightening the nut and another person up top pressing and forcing the bumper cover into place. Once it was secure I could sand it smooth to match the body.
They sand and prep just like the body panels and the color is the same on them after you paint.
best regards,
john
I am happy with my choice. However, installation is NOT easy.
You will need to buy a bolt kit for them. I had to use duct tape to hold the bolts in place while I installed the covers to the car. Then I was able to get the nuts started. For me it was a two person job. One person under the car with a ratchet or wrench tightening the nut and another person up top pressing and forcing the bumper cover into place. Once it was secure I could sand it smooth to match the body.
They sand and prep just like the body panels and the color is the same on them after you paint.
best regards,
john
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 10,643
Likes: 695
From: Danville Illinois
2025 Corvette of the Year Finalist - Modified
2024 C3 of the Year Winner - Modified
2021 C3 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2019 C3 of Year Finalist (appearance mods)
I got a 75 duck tail truflex about 4 years ago, fit pretty good.
Better than the Eckler ft bumper.
Better than the Eckler ft bumper.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,523
Likes: 1
From: grand prairie texas
Like the others mentioned sometimes these truflex covers are more difficult to fit because with the original covers they were more pliable to contour to the car. If your car has been wrecked in the past and not repaired to original body contours you may have some trouble making a good fit. My rear truflex went on perfect with no problems but in my case somewhere down the road my front was damaged and it took a lot of work to make fit good. I dont know if you can call this a positive experience or not
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Drifting
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 1,682
Likes: 3
From: League City TX
The rear bumper on my car is one of the true flex bumpers.
When I attempted to install it myself, it was far enough off that I was ready to send it back.
I was getting ready to get the car painted at the time, and my paint & body guy asked to see it.
When he checked it he said that it was closer to fitting than any of the hard fiberglass bumpers he had seen, and wouldnt be too bad to fit.
He did have to blend the body & bumper lines with fiberglass/filler, but it came out looking great.
When I attempted to install it myself, it was far enough off that I was ready to send it back.
I was getting ready to get the car painted at the time, and my paint & body guy asked to see it.
When he checked it he said that it was closer to fitting than any of the hard fiberglass bumpers he had seen, and wouldnt be too bad to fit.
He did have to blend the body & bumper lines with fiberglass/filler, but it came out looking great.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 803
Likes: 4
From: Christchurch, New Zealand
I didn't find it that challenging. Just time consuming. The car must have had some work done on it's nose at some stage, so I had to build up the drivers side bumper corner about half an inch with some 3M Fibreglass reinforced filler. Then there's the bolting and unbolting! But all very do-able.
Advanced
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 87
Likes: 1
From: Davenport Iowa
I have mine ready to be put on setting on my work bench. I re-used the fasteners that were on my old bumper then made a template with the box it was shipped in. Pretty easy to fit it on once you take the stuff off you don't need from the urathane bumper. If you have a show car have a body shop put it on. But for me doing it by my self is going to be better than the wavey off colored origanal bumper that rotted off. It might need a little bit to get it just right but it's winter and it's better than working on the house.
Racer
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 327
Likes: 3
I didn't find a problem at all. Just time consuming. I just heaved it around a little and clamp it from the back side. I had to pull the bumper maybe 3/4" and then clamp it. Then maybe a little tug on the otherside 1/2" then clamp it. Then I marked the original holes with a magic marker and then took the bumper off drilled the holes and send it out to a paint shop. The only problem I had was I used the gas cap cover as a color match and it was slightly off. That was the rear. The front was the same issue and I had a couple of other issues with the body so I had the whole car painted which took care of all the problems. I bought the Flex bumpers from Ecklers.
Thread Starter
Heel & Toe
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 15
Likes: 0
Another question, if I go back to the original urethane bumper covers, will there be the same type of fitting problems as I read here about the tru-flex? As far as I can tell, my vette has never been wrecked.
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 3,681
Likes: 200
From: Waterford Mi
The process to make a fiberglass part does lend it self to some shrinkage differences. The molded urethane parts are more consistent but the parts are softer and that is why you will see the waves in them once they are on the car. One other nice thing about the fiberglass parts is you do not need all of the reinforcements that you must have with the urethane parts. If you damage the fiberglass part you can repair it with fiberglass kits. If you damage the urethane part it will need to be replaced again.
I replaced the front bumper on my 73 with the Trueflex from Toledo Pro. I bought mine through Wilcox, a supporting vender of this site. Fast and with the member discount.
Racer
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 327
Likes: 3
With fiberglass and Trueflex you could remove the real bumpers underneath since you don't need the support that Urethane needs. Probably save 50-60 Lbs or more. Not sure if that's what I would do though. But if you're on the track you may not need the extra protection the steel bumpers would provide the rest of the body.
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 3,713
Likes: 550
From: Seattle Washington
Well last month I happened to be at ACI one of the larger Corvette Fiberglass vendors. They happen to be in Toledo. The owner gave me a tour of his facility and it was a very clean good looking shop. I asked Him what was his best seller was and He said C3 Bumpers. I told Him I had some and He asked if they were the Flex ones or Fiberglass. He then told me he only produced Flex Bumpers because His Compition did and didn't recomend them to any one. All of these Bumpers will take more time to Fit than any one ever would think they will. The Stock ones fit on the first try because they are so warped no matter what you do they arn't going to look any better.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 2,300
Likes: 2
St. Jude Donor '08
I've had a TruFlex 80's style bumper on my '76 for a couple years now. The fit isn't quite perfect, but its more than acceptable for a driver. Looks better than the crumbling original and much cheaper than urethane.