Questions about fitting flex fiberglass bumpers
 

I bought flex fiberglass bumpers a few years ago when I painted the car. I didn't take the time to make the bumpers fit properly and am looking to fix that. I'll most likely repaint the whole car, so I'm not too worried about trying to preserve the paint on the front and rear clips. Both bumpers fit like the photo below. The top looks ok, but down low they stick out past the fenders. The rear bumper sticks out a lot less on the other side, so I could probably move it over a bit to split the difference. The passenger side fender can be pulled out a bit but I figured after reading a couple other threads here that it would be best to not force things like that. The threads I've seen so far were about cars where they were trying to preserve the paint on the front and rear clips, but if I'm not concerned with that, is it better to apply VPA to the fender to make the fender match the bumper, or is it better to modify the bumper to be narrower than the width of the rear clip so it can be built up to match the fenders?


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...6ddb528a1.jpeg

I would definitely rework the bumper covers rather than altering the body. The flex covers are going to present you with more of a challenge over actual fiberglass bumper covers, since you don't have nearly as much material to work with. Use the body as a guide when molding the bumper covers to fit the car. Although I did this with fiverglass covers on my '76, the process is still the same as can be seen in the two threads below:

DUB's procedure:

Installing a RIGID fiberglass front bumper cover for a 1975 Corvette

...and my thread here:

DUB 101: Rigid Fiberglass Bumper Installation - Lessons Applied - RESULTS INSIDE


Hope those links help set you in the right direction. I'm sure DUB will come in and add some additional tips and advice you can use.

Dave

Yeah that's what I figured, but I thought I'd ask anyway before doing anything. It seems like I'd have to put a lot of VPA on the fender to make that look right. I've reached out to the manufacturer of the covers to see what materials I need to modify them. I've looked those two threads over a few times and thats what inspired me to make this right on my car.

DUB's thread what what inspired me to do both of mine...so I figured I'd document my progress to show others there's no fear in tackling that project.

Keep us posted on your progress! :thumbs: