JohnnieUtah

Hello everyone. I want to replace my original 1974 front and rear bumpers. I would love some advice from you all as to which ones to buy and there pro's and con's. I don't want urethane but anything else would be great options. There are several choices out there and I'm clueless on which to purchase. Thanks in advance!

JohnnieUtah

Wow...I thought I'd get more response than this Oh well, ennie meanie miney mo I guess

Johnnycyclone

To me the question was a little vague, so maybe that is why no responses yet. Are you asking about the material it's made of, a specific manufacturer, or stock appearance vs aftermarket?

I'm going to take a guess and say you are asking about the different materials. I don't have much experience but I recently went with fiberglass for my project. I have only worked on the back bumper and there are fitment issues. If you go with fiberglass you will need to rework them to get them to fit right. I am going to start on the front one in a few weeks, but I already know there are fitment issues. Here is a link to my project, you can take a look at the fitment issues with the rear bumper. They are not simply bolt on and go!

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-build-10.html

JohnnieUtah

Thanks for the response. What I'm really wanting to know is which one of all that's out there that's available in any material gives the best fitment.

Easy Mike

Your choice. All of the aftermarket bumper covers require fitting; none are completely bolt up. You will also be looking at trying to match paint.

GUSTO14

Actually the ones that fit the best, generally speaking, are the original style urethane bumpers and you eliminated them right off the top...

Most of the time they can be fitted without a lot of work once they are prepped and painted. That's of course assuming your bumper cover retaining brackets are in good condition. I would plan to replace them regardless.
http://www.zip-corvette.com/75-79-fr...ainer-kit.html

Having said that the fiberglass and TRUFLEX covers do generally look nicer once installed and do retain their shape better, providing of course that you don't "bump" anything with them. Installation is not a DIY project for most folks and can involve extensive body work. Which may have to be repeated if you do bump them.

Here's a pretty in depth article on what all is involved in installing a TRUFLEX bumper. 1973-1982 Corvette Replacing the Urethane Bumpers with Trueflex published about a year ago.

Good luck... GUSTO

Bloodzone

I replaced my rear bumper with a eckler's fiberglass. It was not perfect. I believe fit will vary between cars. What might fit great on one 74 might not on another. I think its luck of the draw to a point.

Johnnycyclone

From what I know there are 3 choices, Urethane, Flexible Fiberglass (Flex-fit, Tru-fit), and Fiberglass. Urethane will be the easiest to work with because it is the most flexible. You can rule out fiberglass because it doesn't fit that well and would require a lot of labor on the bumper and probably on the car to get it to match up. I don't know anything about the Flexible Fiberglass. Here is a thread on it though so you can read through it and maybe decide from there. Hope this helps!

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...x-bumpers.html

Johnnycyclone

Keep in mind the bumpers on your car if original are 33 years old and will not look near as good as a new set of urethane. I can't say that for sure as I have never seen a new urethane bumper, but it stands to reason they would. The old ones will be prone to warping and waviness. Maybe someone with new urethane will chime in and give their opinion.

Torqued Off

I ended up with Truflex, and regret it. I wish I would have used the more rigid fiberglass. I had no interest in the wavy look of urethane.....it is completely unacceptable to me that we have this beautiful fiberglass car, with flowing lines and very solid fiberglass.....and then you have these ridiculously wavy urethane bumpers. It would be like buying a brand new Chevelle and then taking a hammer to the hood. It looks horrible. And to think people bought these cars brand new like this.......!!

So, I went with Truflex because my painter convinced me it would fit better than rigid glass. I believe him and I am sure it does.....however, it still took a ton of bodywork, which equated to many $$$. The downside to Truflex is the thickness of the bumpers being too thin, combined with the flexible resin, leaves some degree of waviness. I wanted the bumpers to be as solid, and waveless as the rest of the car. So, if I were doing it again, I would buy the best NON flex fiberglass bumpers, and if necessary, add additional layers of fiberglass on the inside until the bumpers were as straight, wave free as the rest of the car.

It drives me nuts to see my Truflex bumpers waving at me in certain light conditions. They should be as solid as the car, but they are not. Count on a lot of body work to make them fit, but in the end, the car will look better.

If you are worried about an accident or a small fender bender messing up the glass.....get over it. The urethane won't survive without some damage either. I don't base my decisions about cosmetic issues on the possibility you could be in an accident.......if it happens, you fix it.

JohnnieUtah

I only did because like some people have stated I can't stand the waviness.

JohnnieUtah

That would be awesome!

The13Bats

Im with iwas on this,

I believe "flex" glass is more a sales tactic than a good idea and iwas also shows painters and bodymen dont always know as much as they think do,

I didnt catch if you wanted stock or not,
But if you do want stock ecklers or aci regular fiberglass is a good bet,

It might fit good it might need bodywork but it is possible to get the waves out, the only reason the factory used plastic was they had to,

But me i would flip the rear to either the 80 style or better yet the conversion to look like a 68 to 73 rear.

JohnnieUtah

I hear ya on the flip tail 68-73. I have always loved that little kick up tail. Something to think about. My favorite year is the '73...has a little of everything.

JohnnieUtah

Does anyone know if the Flex-Fit and Truflex are the same or are they different companies?

indy99

Here is a link to ACI. They are located in Toledo Ohio. If it is not too far go visit the showroom and see sample and talk to them.

http://www.acivette.com/

The13Bats

Johnnie,

When i got my 69 the one must was convertible, in my price range was not pristine cars, not that i wanted that ,
i have to make my idea of the perfect c3, that changes as time passes, damn ADD OCD, lol

When i got my 69 it had a slightly modded 73 to 79 front clip and soon it grew on me,
I Like the mixed matched front and rear of 73,
You get the cool aerodynamic front and classic chrome rear,

Who knows what style clip will be on my 69, i have two at the moment,

All that "flex" key word stuff is basically flex agent added to the resin...each companies has their name and theirs is best,
Aci or ecklers, about equal in my book,

I do believe ralph eckler started it in retail with the flex stuff,

i will always say marketing is the reason it has more cons than either non flex fiberglass or poly combined as far as im concerned,

Torqued Off

I will add that if you go to straight fiberglass versus the flex types, I think you will need to look at the quality of the part, especially the thickness. Even with tradition resin, I believe what matters is how thick, i.e how much fiberglass they spray into the molds. I have read on this forum others who have said that the real problem is them making the parts too thin. So, if I was doing it again, i would talk to ACI and see if I could pay them to make a special bumpers some degree thicker. My first real job out of high school was at a place making fiberglass car parts, mostly British car parts, and I know if they are spraying glass with a chopper gun, its a matter of a few more passes into the mold.

Think of it this way. The rest of the car is waveless, and I know GM had way to make these parts that is different than all the aftermarket companies. GM I believe had two part molds and was able to control thickness very well, but if you can increase the thickness to a similar thickness, with traditional resin instead of flex resin, it seems to me that you could have bumpers that are same quality as the rest of the car.....which sounds like what you want, and what I wanted.

Johnnycyclone

That's the same reason I went with fiberglass. I wanted to be able to fit them perfect and block sand them nice and smooth, no waves. Waves are for surfing not for cars. I purchased the ACI because they are in my back yard and I could look at the product in person. I can confirm they are made quite well. I measured the thickness of the fiberglass in several areas both on my 81's body and on the bumpers. The thickness is right on spec in comparison to the body. Fit will mostly depend on the car, since these cars weren't made to very tight specs, each is different. Good luck with your decision, it's a tough one to make since the fiberglass will look better, but needs more work and more money to fit up nice.

The13Bats

I believe you will be fine with aci,

On a side note if a corvette parts house is offering chopper gun parts

Run like hell,

Chop even when the gun works good and the operator is okay its soso at best,
Thick and thin spots resin rich, wasteful too,
But its quick,

Boats, carnival rides low end kit cars and buggies were chopped, not high quailty parts,

Vettes were press molded from factory, and wavy, in fact the joke several decades ago was if a vette is too straight its had bodywork,

All the aftermarket companies offer hand laid mat or press, but if any offer chop, forget it,

Leave chop to the guy who wants a crappy wavy 10 pound camaro hood for his track car...