vettesite

Anyone done replaced the front bumper on an '80? Which one would you go with any why? I know the urethane is more but I want it to fit as close as possible because the front of the car has already been painted.

Thanks for your help. :cheers:

Paul Borowski

I'd think your "best fit" would be to go with the original GM urethane front bumper. I myself don't know if they are available new from GM or you are talking about getting a used '80 front bumper. Seems like the opinion of these replacement bumpers for as long as I've been on this forum is that some people get lucky and will get a great fitting TrueFlex, Eckler's, Vanacor's replacement bumper-others have had not so good of luck. Also have seen here where people just "mold" the bumper into the fiberglass of their car to get it right. The '80 to '82 front bumper has to be one of the harder ones to get right the way it completely wraps around the front end. I put a front and rear TrueFlex's on my '75 last winter and they came out good, not great or perfect, but for a decent looking 136,000mi car they look good. I also spent a great deal of time taking them on and off several times to adjust the fit. The urethane ones are a little bit more forgiving being more pliable and easier to "shape" and "fit" to your '80's front end.

Monty

I was under the impression that Eckler's bought the actual tooling used to make the urethane bumpers from GM. If that's the case, is there any reason why their urethane bumper's wouldn't be the best fit?

I am getting my car repainted the spring and need to replace the front and rear bumper covers on my '82 and was leaning this way. I prefer the urethane since is is more flexible than fibergalss and less prone to cracking when you eventually bump something. Both of mine are in decent shape - but they have the typical waviness and subsurface cracks.


[Modified by Monty, 2:45 PM 2/18/2002]

74-Roadster

I'm replacing my front cover right now. I got mine from the last detail and the fit isn't bad, but it's not perfect either. I'm going to have to fill a couple areas almost 1/16" - 3/32" and maybe a little more. Eventually I'm going to glass it in when I'm getting it ready for a repaint so I'm debating going ahead and doing that now and blending in new paint. I've blended solid colors before so that shouldn't be a problem, but I'm sure it will show a little somewhere. After the front is blended into the car, to pull the body, all of the front bumper components and braces will have to be removed.

Sorry for rambling, back to the question. I choose fiberglass because I wanted it blended in and I've never had great success painting the urethane covers with flex agent added to the paint. I never could get a glass-like shine. But that was 15 years ago and lacquer, I've never done it with urethane. Talk to who ever is going to paint it and if they say they can get a urethane cover to shine like your car, go for the flex.

VTHokie77Vette

I'm replacing my front bumper on my '77 this summer. It had already been replaced by a urethane bumper before I bought it, but it didn't hold up well at all. I haven't hit anything with it, its just that over time it became wavey and now has cracks all the way through. I'm probably going to take it to a local Corvette specialist to get his opinion first, but I'd like to try the True Flex Bumpers from Ecklers.


[Modified by VTHokie77Vette, 4:18 PM 2/18/2002]

Magnum '82

This really hurts discussing this again(salt in a wound). I am STILL!!! working on replacing mine.This has been all winter so far. I hit a deer, so I thought I would get new True-flex bumpers and get rid of the wavy/dulled bumpers while I was at it.Car will finally go to the body shop in about 2 weeks. Anyhow, here is my fresh experience: I've wasted half of the winter buying and RETURNING True-flex bumpers(front and rear). I ordered from Corvette Central. The fit was horrific. Where edges were to be sharp they were rounded, and my cornering lamps/turn signals bezels would not fit in. This would've taken a LOT of work to make fit. And between the headlights where the car mates to the bumper, the (inside) corners should be squared, but the True-flex was rounded, as if the mold maker got lazy or they were OVER sanded. The rear bumper was worse :mad . When I lined up the top of the bumper with the deck lid, the body line in the middle(side) of the bumper was off by a good half inch! AND the bottom body line was off too. Then if you lined up the bottom edge, the top and side body line were off!!!!!!! This is NOT from assembly line variances. This was from a bad mold. The manager at Corvette Central basically said, I and many others are just incompetent when it comes to mounting these bumpers. He then went on to tell me that you need to break the factory fiberglassing and spread out(or pull in) the sides of the car! :rolleyes: This is not the problem! I guess he doesn't know vertical vs. horizontal. You would have to move your entire body line to fix this problem. They would not pay return shipping. For the front end we're talking about $100 here! So, I ordered a new urethane bumper from Ecklers(GM mold) and it is just fine. Just a note- you will never defeat the warping of the urethane bumpers, so don't buy a new one just for that reason. Eventually, you'll get the same thing. OH, Just today I got my refund for the bumper, and hauled out all my Corvette Central catalogs to the recycling bin. I will never order from that arrogant butt again. Hope this helps. I feel better now just getting this off my chest. GOOD LUCK. Choose wisely and ask questions before you order. Ecklers was quite honest/helpful with me when asking questions. If the guy didn't know an answer he didn't b.s. me, he had me call him back so he could get the truth first.

P.S. I am not just slamming Corvette Central. I am telling it just as it happened!

SteveA

Like others have said here, some fit and some don't fit so well. I just finished fitting a rear FB one on my 79 (replaced the 80 rear) from mid america. Fit was close..I had to fill 1/16 or so in more than a few places to even it up. The glass is thin though, so I had to reinforce it. You will also have to cut out the holes for everything(tail lights,license,license mounting,etc(wear a long sleeved shirt and respirator for this)Urethane might be easier to mount, but will warp eventually and never hold the finish as well. Also. Ecklers FB is the best. The 80 rear I took off was from ecklers and a side by side comparison showed a big difference...I saved $50 but it cost me later. Whichever way you go, try ecklers 1st.

vettesite

Thanks for the awesome responses!!! :cheers:

I just ordered a GM urethane bumper. I want the lights and grills to fit correctly.

I will let you know how it the intall goes.