The body shop is not suppose to use FG to fill the shaved part. They're suppose to use urethane repair materials, such as from

www.urethanesupply.com

This is a forum member's car (Huy in OK) who had his '99 spec bumper shaved. He reports that fexibility is maintained.



Urethane Supply's Fiberflex, pic from their site:

 

Looks nice and sounds promising , but how long has he had it ? I need to dig up the old article form Sports Compact car and see what they used to fill the spot. When you look at the nose from the side you can see the impreshion of were the patch is .But this guys looks good from 20 ft . Perhaps this happens over time threw heat cycles.If the urethane you talking about works well, I wonder what the cost is.The front end cost 1300 complete and I would think a repair like this will run a few hundred .It could be a option but I would like to hear from some other guys that have done this and see how its holding up

 

It looks to me like it can be done without showing - but I think you would need to find someone who is really trained how to do this. I also worry about heat and any plastic joint over time - however......that car looks good!

It obviously takes special tools.

Think I'll talk to my body shop guys.

 

The SCC car used FG and the old 93 bumper skin as a graft. I still have that issue somewhere. I believe Huy has had it done for only 1/2 year.

As Ron indicated - the key is, though, the skill of the shop and how familiar they are with the process. I've been a number of shops that swear they know how to shave a bumper, but when I dig a little deeper, I find they are clueless about plastics repair as detailed in the site in my post above. Only thing keeping me from having my '99 bumper shaved already is finding a shop I'm comfortable with (locally). Well, that and I'm lazy.

I bought my '99 skin from Mazdacomp/speed for $365 + $15 shipping, combo lights for $315 shipped, and a pair of '99 lips (one for show, the other for 'daily' use) for $165 + shipping (the 2nd set was from a private party, for a little less). I will be reusing/modifying my rebar. Unfortunetly, Mazdacomp/speed no longer sells to the general public - only to racers.

I've been quoted $200 for the work by a local bumper repair place (whose number was given to me by Urethane Supply).

 

how did you get ur 99 skin so cheap?! is it replica?! the cheapest one i saw was on RX7store, but it's over 1000 dollar......

 

No kidding ,great price .But you convinced me , I am getting a 99 jspec and will shave the front when I get the entire car repainted a few years from now . The air flow is supossed to be such a huge improvment I cant pass on it . Thanks for the info Roaddog

 

That was what Mazdacomp/speed was selling them for at one point. May have been $395? Pretty sure it was $365 though. Been a year since I ordered it, and it's still sitting in it's box hehe. Not sure why shipping was so low (it came in via Fedex Ground IIRC), but you can bet I didn't call them back to press the point.

Keep in mind that the '99 bumper skin has to reuse the aluminum brackets/mounting hardware on your 93-95 bumper. Pretty sure all new bumpers do not include this, so make sure you budget for this (or keep them off your old bumper). Have not priced them, so not sure how much they are.

I'm not sure Mazdacomp USA was designed to turn a large profit (if any at all), but to support the Mazda grassroots racing scene. You can source OEM parts for far less then anyplace.

Unfortunetly, Mazdacomp/speed changed their policy and no longer sell parts to the general public (they use to sell anything that was not stock on the 93-95, including '99 OEM parts along with competition stuff, to non-racers). You now have to be a participant in some form of organized racing, and provide 2 race results a year to qualify for the pricing. I'll be getting into auto-x and road racing a little later this year, so they'll be a great source of parts. If you needed more incentive to go racing, this is it hehe.

Not trying to convince anybody to actually shave it - but to make sure you find a shop that understands what is involved in properly doing it. I guarentee every shop you visit will say they can. Whether they really know how to properly do it is another matter. There are likely shops that specialize in bumper repair near you (couple in my area, just don't know if I trust them) - see your yellow pages or get phone numbers from Urethane Supply.

 

?!?!?!?!!
I didn't give out any info, I am the one that's asking for the info lol......

 

so can anyone still get those 99 spec cheap?!

 

BTW, the RX7store price ($1298) includes the bumper skin, combo lights, the lip, and the rebar. You can modify your old rebar, so ordering the new one is not neccesary. IIRC, the '99 rebar was just over $300 from Mazdacomp/speed.

So, if you add up what I've spent - $365, $315, $165 + shipping - you can see it's pretty close to what the RX7 Store sells it for, minus the rebar.

 

You can get the $365 bumper skin (and remember, it's just the skin, minus the lights, lips, etc) from Madacomp/speed if you can provide them with 2 race results, or show that you are a member of a racing organization and that you are biulding your 'race' car.

 

I c....so how much does it cost to mod ur old rebar?!
and can i just order the bumper without rebar from RX7 store?!

 

Just the time it takes for you to hack it. An airsaw, if you have access to one, will speed things up. The rebar is FG, and pretty thick at that too.

For as long as I have had it, I still have not gotten around to mounting the thing. For what I read though, you need to enlarge the area where the combo lights sit, as the '99 combo lights are larger.

You'll have to ask Jason if he'll sell w/o.

 

why do u need to enlarge the lights area?! I thought this bumper is OEM, so it should be able to fit perfectly right?

 

You need to enlarge the rebar where the combo lights extend back into. I'll take pics in a second.

Meanwhiles, with all this talk about '99 front ends, I figured I'd go look at mine. Pobably first time in 6 months I took it out hehe:

Arrows indicate the aluminum bumber bracket/braces







(my car is actually a siverstone, but swapped noses with a local friend after he bashed his in hehe)

As you can see in the above pic, the leading edge profile of the '99 is sharper. Will not be a simple 'cut and graft', so all the more reason to find someone who knows what they are doing. I imagine as the tech gets down to the bottom (sharper) edge, they'' have to cut the doner graft into little slices and make everything whole with the correct filler materail.

Sorry photohosting service will only allow this size, I'll attach a little larger pics when the forum gets fixed. Anybody that is referencing this in the future, PM me to do so if I forget.

 

It's my understanding that the light 'wells' on the rebar/bumper support need to be enlarged. Don't know for sure, as that I have not received my lights yet. There maybe other parts that need to be trimmed, not sure yet. Also, rebar not as thick as I remembered - maybe thinking of my Civic bumper hehe.

 

You know guys a few months ago Chuck from Rotary Extreme was going the have some shaved 99 Spec bumpers made but know one put down a deposit. If you're really interested maybe someone should email him and see what's up. Here's the link :

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...4#post1035184;)