Rear Bumper
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 557
Likes: 105
Rear Bumper
I have a 96 LT4 and I backed into it on accident with my truck. It was dark and I completely forgot it was sitting there. (idiot) It damaged the bumper enough, big crack, that it needs to be replaced. Replacing and painting it is the easy part but I had a thought...
I have always loved the way the early C4 rear bumper looks over the later version like mine. Would an early C4 rear bumper work on my car and would it look weird to do that?
I have always loved the way the early C4 rear bumper looks over the later version like mine. Would an early C4 rear bumper work on my car and would it look weird to do that?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 3,243
Likes: 164
From: Folsom CA
Well, it's your car and your money.
I've seen early C4s with late model bumpers and trim, so the assumption is that it'd work in the opposite way too.
The trim is quite different, the early is a thin strip and the late is a wide strip, so you'd have to decide if you wanted the thin or fat trim on the rest of the car.
Betcha it wouldn't be cheap, no matter what trim you choose.
Crabs
I've seen early C4s with late model bumpers and trim, so the assumption is that it'd work in the opposite way too.
The trim is quite different, the early is a thin strip and the late is a wide strip, so you'd have to decide if you wanted the thin or fat trim on the rest of the car.
Betcha it wouldn't be cheap, no matter what trim you choose.
Crabs
Advanced
Joined: Nov 2024
Posts: 66
Likes: 22
From: Atlanta , GA
Well, it's your car and your money.
I've seen early C4s with late model bumpers and trim, so the assumption is that it'd work in the opposite way too.
The trim is quite different, the early is a thin strip and the late is a wide strip, so you'd have to decide if you wanted the thin or fat trim on the rest of the car.
Betcha it wouldn't be cheap, no matter what trim you choose.
Crabs
I've seen early C4s with late model bumpers and trim, so the assumption is that it'd work in the opposite way too.
The trim is quite different, the early is a thin strip and the late is a wide strip, so you'd have to decide if you wanted the thin or fat trim on the rest of the car.
Betcha it wouldn't be cheap, no matter what trim you choose.
Crabs
Race Director
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 12,221
Likes: 446
From: Overland Park Kansas
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (appearance mods)
C4 of Year Winner (appearance mods) 2019
EXCEPT....The one piece of molding you CAN NOT REPLACE is the front bumper. Why? The molding on the late bumper is molded into the bumper. Its' not a separate piece! I replaced my 89 bumpers with 95 parts to make it looks like an LT car. So, yeah, it can be done but you'll have to do the whole car. Over the years, I've seen one/two where they filled in the belt-molding channel to eliminate it. IIRC, that's easier to do on the early cars? I'm thinking that bumper did have removable molding?
Anyway, with the bumpers, you have to redo the belt molding AND convert the inner crash structures to match the bumpers laying over them. You'd also need to swap front "fenders" -- the pieces behing the front wheels. The possible exception to this is if someone makes a rear bumper with late molding (that I don't know of). Pretty sure the reverse is true because there were a lot more people that envied the later body style after seeing the ZR1 in 1989. That pressure/demand is what led to the LTx car's appearance.
Final thought. If you filled the channel on an early bumper and found some kind of round molding that was close enough, you might bond it over that channel? (Maybe w/o even filling it?) Of course, you'd need to swap the crash assembly as a minimum AND redo the lighting.
Oh yeah....I don't think it would look quite right either as the early front bumpers had a similar angular/straight appearance. WIth the late cars, the front/rear bumpers are more rounded -- keeping a similar theme.
Anyway, with the bumpers, you have to redo the belt molding AND convert the inner crash structures to match the bumpers laying over them. You'd also need to swap front "fenders" -- the pieces behing the front wheels. The possible exception to this is if someone makes a rear bumper with late molding (that I don't know of). Pretty sure the reverse is true because there were a lot more people that envied the later body style after seeing the ZR1 in 1989. That pressure/demand is what led to the LTx car's appearance.
Final thought. If you filled the channel on an early bumper and found some kind of round molding that was close enough, you might bond it over that channel? (Maybe w/o even filling it?) Of course, you'd need to swap the crash assembly as a minimum AND redo the lighting.
Oh yeah....I don't think it would look quite right either as the early front bumpers had a similar angular/straight appearance. WIth the late cars, the front/rear bumpers are more rounded -- keeping a similar theme.
