OK, so my bumper covers are thrashed. I bought two new ones to replace the crappy ones.

But then I got to thinking: I want to shave the moldings on the sides, and I think it would look nicer if I could get rid of the built in moldings on the bumper covers... And since I happen to have two thrashed bumper covers that will only end up in the trash, why not try something with them?

So here's what I'm thinking boys and girls: I am going to remove the jacked up covers and CUT the moldings out of them, then fiberglass/bondo it flat and nice where they were. The only problem? I have no idea how to do it. Should I just try to bolt them to something so that I have a solid piece to keep them together? Should I try to make a center piece to fit where the molding was first, then mold that in?

I just think it would look a lot cleaner if it had no moldings at all.

 

Hmmm (that noise is the brain trying to think)

I think I would do one of two things
1. before cutting the bumper, cut a piece of thin plywood the exact size to fill the gap. Attach filler pieces to the top and bottom of the wood (like 1 x 3). Now you can cut the plastic, and have two wooden edges to clamp the two halfs together with. Just put wax or mold release on the wood, fill in the gap with fibreglass, pull out the wood.

2. Don't know how to tackle the part I'm about to describe. Once when I hit a deer with my mx-6 the front urethane bumper cover was torn up and split. The body shop had the urethane in like an 2 part epoxy mix. They ground off the paint, filled it with this stuff, sanded it smooth, and painted it. It seems like it would be a good idea to keep with the same material. Putting different synthetics like FG and urethane together generally don't work out too good.

 

I've actually put alot of thought into this.

My idea was to prep the inside of the bumper cover and make it sort of rough with some sandpaper.

Then, I want to lay fiberglass on the inside of the bumper cover to fill in the channel.

After that, I would "shave" the mouldings off, leaving a slick bumper. Use a little bondo here and there to smooth it out, prime and paint.

What do you think of this idea?

 

Unless your damn good, your not gonna get any fibreglass or bondo or anything to stick to the bumper. Its definately gonna take a 2 part urethane, or a 2 part bodywork epoxy to do. In canada our cars came with ugly and basically useless headlight sprayers, and let me tell you I had quite the time experimenting trying to find something that would work to fill in the holes left over from me smashing the sprayers off. Trust me if you want it to last and look nice, take your time with the epoxy or urethane. Youll save yourself a big headache trying to make the new part flow into the old bumper.

 

it would make the bumper look better without it thats for sure

 

i think i may be able to help out with this problem. i know a guy who we will call "bill" and he can get a two part epoxy that has proven itself on many applications including filling gaps and bonding to plastic/rubber. i don't remember exacly what it is composed of but it has proven it's self at mach 2. if you would like a sample let me know and i'll send you some for your bumper project. and if it works out i could probably talk to "bill" to get more for next to nothing.

 

I'd like to cut the lower part of the bumper cover off, and epoxy/bolt a front spoiler to the upper part. Blend the two together and have a 1 pc front bumper/spoiler. Thats the plan anyways.

 

I think the best way would be to glass the back of the cover, using a release agent on the rub strip, then cut the strip out. The strip will the need to be trimmed and flattened as much as possible and welded back in. The fiberglass and urethane will not stay bonded together. the flexure differential between the 2 is too great to maintain a bond over time. I have worked with the urethane putty, I doubt that it will hold up well if used to build up to any depth. Perhaps an easier option would be to find strips of an identical urethane and weld them in where the rub strip was cut out.

I had concidered doing something similiar when I did the widebody, it just looked like more than I wanted to get involved with at the time. Another option is to use the cover as a positive mold and make a negative glass mold, then reverse the process for the final procuct. Mucho work and I think the covers are available is glass already. I bought a rear one off eBay once. It has long since been trashed by my newb efforts at trying to modify it.

It may be possible to use my first suggestion, if the urethane can be found in a form that can be mixed and poured or spread into the void left from cutting out the rub strip. If you find a product like that, please let us know.

 

or... you could use a plastic welder, just grind away the paint, and cut the old bumper into strips about 1 in wide. then melt the old bumper "strips" into the new bumper, and once you get it almost smooth, use the 2 part epoxy to make it perfectly smooth. it will take some practice to get it right, so i would practice on the old one first.

 

I'm not looking to make the bumper perfect... I'm looking to use it to make a mold that I can smooth out and perfect, then make myself a nice, solid bumper.