What's the deal with bumpers?

[achalmersman]

Hello all. New member here from DE. Just started working on the 87 Turbo Buick. Just finished the T-top seals and metal replacement. That was a sucky job. Long story short I'm looking for GN style bumpers. I want to do black bumpers like the GN's have. What are my options? The fiberglass ones I see do not use the factory support from what I can tell. This means no collision tolerance correct? I dont want a parking lot bang to total the car. What are my other options for a daily driver car? Un-chrome the ones I have and paint them? What are GN owners doing when they get in a collision? Thanks for any help, Andrew

 

[BIGPSI]

you can either sandblast your chrome ones and paint them,or find some used GN bumpers. i wouldn't run fiberglass ones on a street car, my buddy barely backed into something in his driveway in his race car and the bumper was broke in half !

 

[achalmersman]

Then thats what I will do. Sandblast it is. I cant believe there are no streetable solutions out there. What are guys doing to repair vehicles that have been in a collision? Eventually we will run out of used parts right? Thanks for the fast answer!

 

[turb0buick57]

you could probably look around for a agn being parted or someone who converted to fiberglass to find black ones but the cost probably wouldnt be worth it over redoing the chrome ones

 

[TRICKSIXPA]

Take your bumpers over to Prestige Powder in Newark DE ask for Ron. Get them done in Gloss black. They have been doing all my powder coating for the past 3yrs. Welcome to the crowd.

 

[Slow91z]

Then thats what I will do. Sandblast it is. I cant believe there are no streetable solutions out there. What are guys doing to repair vehicles that have been in a collision? Eventually we will run out of used parts right? Thanks for the fast answer!

Considering there's no difference to a chrome t bumper and a regal bumper I'm gonna say it'll be a while before we run out or em.

 

[oldsracer]

How nice is your chrome bumpers. I have GN bumpers and Im switching to chrome if your interested let me know.

 

[achalmersman]

How nice is your chrome bumpers. I have GN bumpers and Im switching to chrome if your interested let me know.

Well I will have to look them over tomorrow. No damage. I think they have your typical aging that can be removed with simple chrome polish. Where are you located? After the used suggestion I started looking on my used parts sources and am toying with the idea of keeping the originals in storage and either buying a set of GN or another set of chromes to "modify". If your located close maybe a swap would be worth-while. Otherwise the shipping would be killer I imagine

 

[rag231]

Ultimate worst case scenario, no matter what you decide to do get yourself a set of chrome and then now or later take a DA sander to them and take the chrome off. I was amazed at how easy it was, then they were powder coated gloss black that was matched perfectly to my car. I think that if they were going to be painted some etching primer would have been in order. I have about $225 in my bumpers not including the front bumper impact strip, the back was reuseable. They look great. If you ever told someone that they were once chrome ,they wouldn't believe you.

 

[oldsracer]

I live outside of Philadelphia, Ive shipped just the bumper shell and no supports and it was less then $50, surprised the hell outta me

 

[achalmersman]

Thanks for your offer oldsracer. I appreciate all the suggestions. Sounds like I have found my resource for questions. I think j am going to go with the powder coat option and have it done around the time I paint the car. What is the main advantage to powder coating? Is it tougher? Expect a post in the future about powder coating or painting T wheels. Thanks guys!

 

[BIGPSI]

powder coating is way stronger and tougher and chip resistant over regular paint