BizarroTerl

My original front bumper skin (black, 93) has ripples in it. This seems to be a common problem as I've seen it a few times on various FDs. Since I'm looking at a refresh, the old skin has to go.

If I bought a new Mazda skin will it ripple again in a few years? Maybe Mazda fixed the material in 94 or later? If Mazda didn't fix it, what is better to go to; urethane or fiberglass (considering the Pettit 99Spec)?

turboIIrotary

iTrader: (9)

I'm pretty sure it will ripple again it's from the heat in the engine bay but it should be longer than a few years before it start to ripple, fiberglass will keep its shape but is fragile a cracks easily, i'm not sure on the urethane.

Supernaut

iTrader: (83)

I believe black ones rippled more as well. The used ones are so cheap I would just buy another used one and keep replacing it.

rx7rcer09

or be a cool guy and go 99spec!

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

It's not the engine heat. This problem affects the darker colors (Brilliant Black and Montego Blue) as they attract more heat from the sun. Many years ago, some users tried using some foam when replacing the bumper to help it not sag, but they were never on the forum long enough to report whether it helped or not. That may be an option to look into if replacing with another OEM bumper.

turboIIrotary

iTrader: (9)

I used a heat gun to smooth it out a little on my BB bumper so I assumed some kind of heat caused it whether it would be the sun or engine bay.

prrex4ever

iTrader: (3)

I'm in the process of installing some oil coolers on my FD and when I took the bumper cover off I noticed that my car only has the middle piece of foam on it. I'm planning to contact Ray at Malloy this week to try to get the two outside pieces of foam to help with the ripples, we'll see if it helps.

Narfle

iTrader: (16)

I always figured you could lay down some fiberglass to reinforce it if you had a good one to start.

prrex4ever

iTrader: (3)

^ That would help. I'm also going to break out the heat gun to smooth out the ripples and hopefully the new foam will keep them smooth.

XLR8

iTrader: (52)

I have a MB car, and it is doing the same. It is common among FC & FD's alike. I do believe it is from the heat when sitting outside. I had a friend who had a stock bumper that had rippled on his FC. He removed it & set it outside for a summer as he replaced it with an aftermarket fiberglass piece. After dealing with the fiberglass bumper for a year, he decided to put the OEM one back on.... The ripples were GONE! All it did was sit outside that summer.

BizarroTerl

I've noticed that when it sits in the hot sun for a while the ripples are much worse. As it cools down they get smaller, but as the years roll by more and more stay.

I've thought about fiberglassing the back, but if the coefficient of expansion of the fiberglass and bumper skin are different it'll fail eventually.

How much does a new OEM skin run?

Montego

iTrader: (1)

yep it does seem to happen to the darker colors and it is caused by the sun. My stock bumper (which is montego) also has ripples.

blue87

iTrader: (2)

I will post some pics of what I didd to mine, but basically when the bumper skin was off I used some super heavy polurathane adhesive and a thin flat aluminum bar stock and clamped it place while it set and it helped to even out a lof of the ripples... mine was really bad and I was re painting the car so I didn't want to cake on the body filler as I figured it would jsut pop out after time anyway... I got the idea from a tech I was talking to at work that used to work for GM. It was a factory fix for the same problem they had with some old suv...

jplecas

iTrader: (1)

I always thought it was caused by people not re-installing the three foam pieces in the nose, on top of the rebar. and then yeah eventually the heat makes the bumper ripple.

blue87

iTrader: (2)

My bumper had all 3 foam pieces, but like someone said I have MB and the darker colors apparently are worse so heat from sun exposure must be a factor. I know my car lived in California and Georgia they are both hot states so this could also have played a factor in the bumper. I removed the foam pieces to install my bracket which I was able to force under the factor mounting bracket to help keep it in position.

the Aluminum was pretty stiff and it took some effort to wedge it under the factory bracket but it felt very secure when it was installed.

I used 4 clamps to maintain pressure on the bumper while the adhesive cured. Even though I used a piece of Aluminum stock to spread out the clamp force I think I should have used more like 6 - 8 clamps instead for 4.

The bumper came out much flatter than when I started but there is still some ripple in it, but much less noticable... If I were to do it again and use more clamps I think it could have been almost perfect.

After the adhesive set I glued the foam blocks back into place and installed the bumper

zammm

iTrader: (6)

My silver FD has this problem as well, pretty sure its from the engine bay heat..

cabaynes

iTrader: (4)

^ Nicely done! You should do a small write up with the adhesive you used and the step by step process... I'm sure a lot of people (including me) would like to give this a try.

rajeevx7

iTrader: (11)

Nice job blue87.

I agree with Mahjik though. There were two guys, one stuffed or sprayed foam into the area and another stuffed towels(?) into the area between the foam support and bumper cover.

Someday, I'm going to try the towel thing. But, I rarely take my bra off so it really isn't a big deal.

Wade

iTrader: (1)

I think they updated the skin. My 94 was only a few years old and it had a lot of wave in the front bumper. It was then replaced with a new Mazda skin and while it HAS waved a little in the past 10+ years, it is still not nearly as bad as it was before or as bad as most original bumpers I see. I think they might have thickened the material later on.

Wade