airmaxon1

hey guys. my bumper has been cracking and peeling like this for awhile. and just yesterday some jackass throws something out of his car and it slams into my bumper. something plastic so it just shattered, but it left some scratchs on the bumper. do you guys recommend getting it repainted or just putting a new primed bumper on there and then painting it? tell me if you want any other pictures of it. i took tons.

Brangeta

Are there stress cracks in any of the fiberglass? If you can feel them, then I would say get a new one, but if you can only see them... well... I'm not really sure what I'd suggest.

Edit: I see some by the Camaro logo, but I can't really tell how bad they are. Our '95 has some cracks in its front bumper too, and I can't decide if it would need replacing, or just some repair work. My solution? Not worrying about it. :-\

airmaxon1

yeah i can feel them. also the paint is peeling off in many spots. i found brand new primered front bumpers on a site for only $38. think im gonna opt for that. how much do you think a paint shop will charge to paint just the bumper if its already primed?

Brangeta

Wow! $38? Are they GM bumpers or aftermarket copies?

When our '95 got vandalized, the Chevy dealership put on an aftermarket passenger side front quarter panel and it doesn't fit right... Even after my dad and I adjusted it, it still doesn't fit properly. I'm a little wary of using aftermarket body panels after that. ... ... and wary of having the Chevy dealership do body work. You can still see the hammer marks on the bottom side of the hood where they didn't repaint the area...

If you want a real bumper (if the $38 one isn't) you could try gmpartsdirect.com, but I don't know the price...

airmaxon1

oh man, just looked and there aftermarket , after hearing your story im not sure i wanna get it.

RacingTiger04

i woudlnt worry about that too much, i got a new GM bumper and even had issues with its fitment *shrug* and it sags in the middle and has rises under each headlamp i would at least give an aftermarket one a chance for $38 i payed over 300 for mine..

fasteddie94

Aftermarket is hit and miss. So is OEM but just not as much. The cracks can be fixed no matter how big they are but I think the best route is get an estimate both ways from a shop. Most times it'll cost more to fix something like that then replace it anyway.

Brangeta

I'm sure the aftermarket bumper is a fine quality bumper for general purposes, but since our '95 Z28 was a show car for many years, we are really disappointed at the way the aftermarket 1/4 panel fits. It is ever so slightly too small, which throws off the alignment of gaps. Like, instead of being an even 1/8 inch or whatever gap all along the hood, it varies (after adjustment --before adjustment by my father and I, it was about a 1/4 inch gap) unlike the panel that is factory stock on the other side. It also has very sharp seams on it; I don't believe the dealership did a proper amount of prep work on it. On the area that leads to the passenger-side side-mirror, it is so sharp you could probably cut your hand if you rubbed it quickly. :-\

Honestly, what I would do (which may not be the best way to go about it) is this:

I would see if I could find someone (who does body work all the time... like not just a guy who puts bodykits on cars) to completely sand my bumper w/o removing it. After that, they see if the cracks are just paint cracks, or fiberglass damage, and if they are fiberglass damage, they need to figure out how to fix it. Then they do all the paint prep and paint it.

If your gap alignment isn't messed up, I wouldn't even have them remove the darn thing. You see, the problem with mine, is my sister also got into 2 minor (5 mph) accidents and the bumper is slightly deformed. You can see dimples in the 'eyeshadow' area in front of the headlights, and there is definitely 1 very defined crack in the fiberglass surrounding the passenger side blinker. I'm pretty sure our Z28 would need a new bumper, because I was told by the body guy that most repairs to it (the crack) would make it worse or it would happen again. But... thing is, it doesn't bother us that bad, because it still looks better than 90% of the early 4th gens out there.

If I end up with the car later in life -- as solely being mine -- I will undertake all of the restoration at one time. Meaning, get everything fixed, replace everything damaged, and get the car entirely repainted to it's factory stock conditions to look brand new again.

Z95m6

Why get one your bumper is fine. Those are just stress cracks in the paint. They will be able to be sanded down and fixed.

Z95m6

Also everyone keeps saying this is a fiberglass piece but its not.

Brangeta

Well... if you want to get real specific...

The doors, roof, and hatchback are made of a dent and rust resistant polymer composite material; the front quarter panels, front bumper, and rear bumper are made of Reaction Injection Molded (RIM) plastic, and the hood and rear quarter panels are made from two-sided galvanized steel.

I wish the whole body of the car was made of the polymer composite the doors and such are made of. That RIM stuff gets door dings and other imperfections too easily... it's intended to be cheap to replace... but it really isn't all that cheap to get from GM...

airmaxon1

alright guys thanks. illk take z95m6's word and go get the bumper sanded down and repainted.

Z95m6

Lets put it this way i've had my front bumper repainted going on 3 times now that a frickin 18 yr old girl backed into me in a parking lot and my dad backed into me the time before that. The covers can get cracks in them but it takes a lot. What you're probably seeing is just the paint cracking, when the cover flexes the paint can only move so far before it gives, and it usually gives way before the bumper cracks. I'd get it sanded down first and if you can reuse it, which i'm almost positive you can then you know you'll have a good fitting piece.

fasteddie94

Pretty elaborate way of saying fiberglass LOL! But yeah your right. Z95m6 has the right idea. That's the best way to go......just wish that's what I said the first time.

blackztpi

my bumper has those same stress marks. it's just the paint. it's common because the bumper is too flexible for the paint. my question is....
WHAT KIND OF PAINT IS BEST FOR REPAINTING THESE FRONT BUMPERS? i tried all sorts of stuff on my old '89 (same material bumper) and it just cracked and flaked off. i want something i can have stay on, but take a small impact (like me leaning on it working on the car or something like that. any help..please?