Aftermarket bumper - guys I need your help!

Alison · June 18, 2008, 07:46:26 PM

After the accident (earlier thread) we thought it was the perfect opportunity to replace the standard front bumper with a nice new one inc. 99 spec lights.

Bumper arrived at the bodyshop, no problemo until they decided that it wasn\'t going to fit! :2eek

The place that have supplied the bumper have said they have produced many more with no problems, and cannot understand why this one is different, and all that is needed is to shorten/remove the reinforcement bar at the front and....well that will be that!

Bodyshop are not convinced, have said that the bumper needs ALOT of prep work to get it right, and that even after that it will not be, not just not a good fit, but a S*** fit!

Now I really don\'t know what to do.....All of you with aftermarket bumpers...did you have similar problems, or is the bodyshop just being picky?!

Any help appreciated!

S3TH · June 18, 2008, 07:55:15 PM

Depends... if it\'s genuine or not, obviously this one isn\'t so it\'s hit & miss with fit- in most cases they\'re never too far off to be deemed impossible but perhaps there is that off-chance...

Timmy · June 18, 2008, 07:57:58 PM

Is it fibreglass, generaly the fibreglass one are cheaply made and crap. Thats a general rule. The companies that got to the expence of makeing them from grp normaly fit alot better. Personaly i would only touch good jap manufactures oem and places like shine auto project.
Send it back saying it is not fit for purpose as it does not fit make/model specified.

davyv · June 18, 2008, 08:10:19 PM

I got a new front end from ebay, i have never seen anything so thin and VERY cheap and the fit was way out, so i binned it. You will only get what you pay for.

S3TH · June 18, 2008, 08:12:35 PM

Quote from: Timmy;509746Is it fibreglass, generaly the fibreglass one are cheaply made and crap. Thats a general rule. The companies that got to the expence of makeing them from grp normaly fit alot better. Personaly i would only touch good jap manufactures oem and places like shine auto project.
Send it back saying it is not fit for purpose as it does not fit make/model specified.

Err... you chose grp over fibreglass when they\'re the same thing?

All the genuine bumpers I\'ve seen to date are fibreglass...

It\'s an awesome material just used craply by some...

Timmy · June 18, 2008, 08:20:18 PM

Glass Reinforced Plastic instead of Fibre (normaly glass) Reinforced Resin. Genuine bumpers are all grp and don\'t crack so easily and have a degree of flex to them.

Alison · June 18, 2008, 08:27:17 PM

Hmm, yes it is fibreglass. I thought the place i got it from were going to be pretty good to be honest!

Does anyone have any pics of their cars with a "replica" or cheaper bumper fitted??

S3TH · June 18, 2008, 08:35:30 PM

Quote from: Timmy;509762Glass Reinforced Plastic instead of Fibre (normaly glass) Reinforced Resin. Genuine bumpers are all grp and don\'t crack so easily and have a degree of flex to them.

I digress but have you got a link to the differences? I\'ve been confuzled...

Timmy · June 18, 2008, 08:49:17 PM

FRP is when you have a mould and randomly lay glass fibre matting chop strand or a weave. held together with resin.
not sure how the grp process goes but it\'s plastic with glass fibre mixed in.

Grizzly · June 18, 2008, 11:19:18 PM

Quote from: Timmy;509780FRP is when you have a mould and randomly lay glass fibre matting chop strand or a weave. held together with resin.
not sure how the grp process goes but it\'s plastic with glass fibre mixed in.

They are one any the same... GRP is Fiber Glass

In my experiance of GRP bumpers.......DON\'T DO IT!!!!!!, Simply because even if you do get it to fit properly (often it costs more to get the Bumper to fit than its cost) they tend to Stone chip very easily (if you have a Black car like me white stone chips look an eyesore) also there is no Give in the bumper so its easily damaged/Cracked.

Can you tell i\'m not a fan

I have Painted and Fitted Hundreds of Spoilers and kits and the good quality ones are Plastic not GRP and you usaly tell a quality kit if you can offer it up and and it doesn\'t need cutting to bits to make it fit right.

Timmy · June 18, 2008, 11:25:15 PM

i was under the impression GRP is plastic. not the layed fibreglass stuff which i would call frp. Never mind ill go with what you say as its your trade.

S3TH · June 18, 2008, 11:29:31 PM

I think gel-coating might be confusing you Timmy, or perhaps you meant plastic full stop...

Interesting though... apart from oem, how many manufacturers make their bumpers out of plastic?

Timmy · June 18, 2008, 11:32:48 PM

My c-west is plastics as it comes. I think veilside shine and i assumed all the other big jap brands were plastic typre stuff too.

bin liner · June 19, 2008, 12:35:58 AM

i think you\'ll find 99% of aftermarket bumpers are fibreglass inc veilside, c west, shine etc....the only aftermarket company i know of that makes plastic bumpers is Wings West...a genuine 99 spec bumper is plastic ( a yellow coloured plastic)......If your bodyshop cant fit it then take it to a place who has experience in fitting aftermarket kits..most bodyshops are good at production work but are lost when it comes to aftermarket kits....

20B_boy · June 19, 2008, 02:01:43 AM

Fitment is pot luck a lot of the time, even with genuine stuff to a degree - altho you hope you are going to get lucky if you\'ve paid genuine $\'s. All C-West\'s bumpers are availalbe in the flexible stuff - but it still disintegrates if u hit some thing hard enuff...

Bin\'s right, try another shop that fits a lot of kits, some shops will just offer it up and say \'nah, dont fit\' when the majority of kits will need some degree of fettling to get to fit well.