Issue with rear bumper...suggestions?

[Brad Anderson]

So question first.... from what I'm seeing....both at the back and front of the car...in between the bumper and the the car is what appears to be a flimsy piece of black plastic that runs from one side of the car to the other - I'm assuming this is how they came from the factory?

Anyway, i noticed a week or so ago that this flimsy black plastic was starting to peel away i guess from the back of the car, almost like it was glued on somehow when it was new and just over the past 25 years the adhesive wore down and it was coming unglued starting at the bottom and about halfway up.

Well then i took my car to a touchless car wash this past weekend and as I was hand drying it I saw this. In the pic you can see the flimsy black piece I'm talking about and if you look at the left side, where it meets the trunk of the car, you can see it's not only unglued completely now but it's also torn

So my question is first, is this really how the car was made from the factory? With this black plastic in between the hard bumper and the car? And if so, how do you recommend i go about fixing this?

My thought was to find some strong adhesive at an autoparts store and apply it where this appears to have been connected to the car and just glue it all back together .. even apply some at the tear spot and just reattach it and hope it sticks. Any other suggestions? I'm assuming this thing isn't easily replaceable if at all?

 

[Brad Anderson]

After doing some further searching today I found out what I'm looking at are called bumper fillers and found them for sale at GBodyParts.

I just sent them an email but I figured I would ask here as well, what does ABS stand for in the case of these bumper fillers and what is the pros/cons with ABS vs Fiberglass if/when i replace them?

Also from the pics on GBodyParts it looks like they bolt on at the top but the sides, the part that is peeling way from my stock set, looks to connect with some sort of adhesive - is that correct?

 

[Bweavy]

Brad pop your head under the car. You will see where the bumper fillers Bolt to & attach to the body. If you do a search on ABS & fiberglass fillers you will see alot of information. We came out with these new units that replace the factory unit but are much better then the original GM . They cost more but no prep time & line up well. So if you take it to a shop they have less time in making them fit correctly.
http://www.gbodyparts.com/product_info.php?products_id=1656&osCsid=d459f11f888c1ffa3b1b12842d49c9e1
We do carry a lot of different style bumper fillers
http://www.gbodyparts.com/advanced_...id=d459f11f888c1ffa3b1b12842d49c9e1&x=10&y=12

 

[Brad Anderson]

Brad pop your head under the car. You will see where the bumper fillers Bolt to & attach to the body. If you do a search on ABS & fiberglass fillers you will see alot of information. We came out with these new units that replace the factory unit but are much better then the original GM . They cost more but no prep time & line up well. So if you take it to a shop they have less time in making them fit correctly.
http://www.gbodyparts.com/product_info.php?products_id=1656&osCsid=d459f11f888c1ffa3b1b12842d49c9e1
We do carry a lot of different style bumper fillers
http://www.gbodyparts.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=Bumper filler&osCsid=d459f11f888c1ffa3b1b12842d49c9e1&x=10&y=12

Thanks for the info and yea I haven't really had a reason to look at these until last weekend and I noticed how they attach and bolt to the body, the part i was curious about was on the sides where there are no bolts - for example if I ordered this set (which I do like especially if it's cheaper for the shop to paint/prep) would it come with the adhesive needed to attach on the sides and if not what should i buy?

I will continue doing some research but I'm glad to know I can replace these cause I was worried I wouldn't be able to. Thanks again.

 

[Bweavy]

There really is no adhesion to the body. It incorperates speed nuts. There is a push pin in the rears from the factory. Then there are 2 in the front fillers by the grill header panel area. The rest is just speed nuts & bolts that attach to the fender. The rear is all speed nuts.
We sell all 3 styles of fillers due to what a person is looking for. Mike Bernard came out with a 1 piece rear fiberglass piece that is nice as well. I would carry that also if he let me
The fiberglass units we sell will take some work to make 100%. The abs can be hit & miss. They raised their prices 20% 2 months ago which slowed down the sale of them.
The OEM style we sell well they are OEM style & will fit like OEM & out last the originals due to their improved chemical make up.