Urethane or Fiberglass Rear Bumper

[heider85]

I am about to purchase a new bumper. I am leaning toward fiberglass. Any thoughts.

 

[celeryman22]

Im leaning towards the flexfit models at corvette central, I think they are fibreglass also.

 

[Nut]

heider.... are you considering replacing it with another 1979 rear piece or when you refer to "fiberglas" are you talking about an entire rear section? The urethane bumper covers will absorb some rear impact without causing considerable damage to the bumper system. That's why it's urethane plastic. A fibergalss rear (like a 68-73) will crack immediately upon impact. The chrome bumpers acted (somewhat) as impact protection back in those years. What are you thinking on this?


Nut

 

[Evolution1980]

Im leaning towards the flexfit models at corvette central, I think they are fibreglass also.

The TruFlex bumper that I got from them was garbage. The fit was horrible, that being if it DID fit. Probably just a one off problem, but I just decided to go back to an repro OEM urethane rear bumper.

I with Nut on this one. I didn't like the idea of one little bump could equal one BIG crack!
People used to not like the urethanes because of the paint matching issue. But with today's paints, it's a non-issue now. I'd suggest anything but the fiberglass. Unless you have a show-car only.

 

[Raidervette]

I bought trueflex front and rear bumpers last spring and am pretty happy with them. The rear fit real good. The front one not to bad. I've been told to get a near perfect fit you need to use a little fiberglass filler to make up the difference. All in all, I'm glad I went with flexfit.

 

[bill81vette]

mine is being fitted now, my body man told me that it is a collision part and it will not withstand a hit...oh well I'm not going to change it now,if it gets hit again then I'll think about it.

 

[celeryman22]

Does the sun still warp the urethane bumpers? Not that I park my vette outside much.

Thanks
Mike

 

[Evolution1980]

Does the sun still warp the urethane bumpers? Not that I park my vette outside much.

Probably, but only after MANY MANY years of baking out in the sun. We're talking like 10,15,20 years of continuous, hot sun-bake.

 

[AUSSIEVETTEMAN]

The Decision...

Fibreglass
+ SIDE:
If you plan on hitting things all the time, I would buy the fibreglass bumper as the costs of the urethane bumpers are double the price.
- SIDE:
The fibreglass bumpers can be repaired from small hits and taps, but keep in mind that they do not bounce back like the urethane bumpers do, which may itself be the cause of many of your small repairs.

Urethane (My Choice)
+ SIDE:
These can take smaller taps without splitting! They respond better to the light taps of normal driving.

- SIDE:
$$$$$$ and warping in the sun, but if you are after Concourse Wins, then warping is you friend.

Cheers

Tony

 

[KANE]

I am about to purchase a new bumper. I am leaning toward fiberglass. Any thoughts.

You can do some trick stuff with fiberglass- like flush mounting it and then taking out the seam. That looks really nice.

 

[bluecoupe]

Fiberglass. looks cool, nice and smooth, easy to paint, cheap to repair or replace. If you smack up a rubber bumper it still needs to be stripped $$$ and "special" painted. $$$ If you crash it you will get lazy and live with the wrinkled rubber bumber because it still looks "pretty good" and is so expensive to fix that you put off fixing it for years. Then you drive around in a sub-standard Vette.

IMHO, Fiberglass...handsdown better.

 

[Evolution1980]

I'm not really sure where you fiberglass guys are coming from. When I had my car freshly painted in '01, I stuck with the urethane bumpers. The original up front and a new OEM in the rear.

Since then, I have given what I would consider "good bumps" to the urethane and it didn't wrinkle, crack, or nothing. The same "bump" would have surely cracked a fiberglass bumper, or at minimum caused some good paint chips.
The only real special additive to paint being applied to a urethane bumper is the flex additive. IMHO, this is nothing major nor more costly to do. The flex additives don't adjust the paint's color anymore, nor is it hard to use if you are at a reputable shop. It's been 50+ years...any shop that can't properly us a flex additive shouldn't be painting your car!

Just this past fall, I had a cabbie back up into (AND on to) my nose. I GUARANTEE it would've cracked fiberglass. The worst I have right now it some scuffed off paint on the front lip/crease, and it cracked some paint down the side. It'll just be sanded down, and repainted. No muss or fuss with laying and molding a just right a new fiberglass patch.

This is why HEIDER85 asked this question...so he can get good point/counterpoint feedback from all of us. I think we're doing a bangup job!

NOTE: Just thought I'd add this conditional statement...I could see doing the rear in fiberglass if it was waaaaay cheaper, as the bends/creases are less if it has to be replaced, and it's much less likely IMHO to be hit or bumped like the front bumper. I probably wouldn't argue too much if had to go fiberglass in the rear. But there's no way I'd do it up front...not with the hidden-sight of from my POV and the person in front backing/pulling up to my nose.

 

[76texvette]

I have been trying to decide the same thing.....Urethane or Fiberglass. I can see both sides. I am leaning towards Urethane because from what I read, Urethane bumpers are made better these days than they were 30 yrs ago. They are also easier to paint than they were then and they will absorb more than fiberglass. My .02 worth......

 

[The73vetteman]

I bought trueflex front and rear bumpers last spring and am pretty happy with them. The rear fit real good. The front one not to bad. I've been told to get a near perfect fit you need to use a little fiberglass filler to make up the difference. All in all, I'm glad I went with flexfit.

Raidervette, can I ask where you got your bumpers from?

 

[65365]

Last year I put a urethane from GM up front and a fibergass out back from J&D. Very happy with both. Can't tell from looking whether urethane or fiberglass. They look the same. The fiberglass actually went on with much less trouble according the the shop. Very little work to get to match up. The shop sent back the first urethane beacuse the fit was so bad. Second one fit pretty good. The real trouble was finding all the reinforcement strips.

 

[The73vetteman]

The real trouble was finding all the reinforcement strips.

Do you need to use those strips with fiberglass or just with the urethane?

 

[74bigblock]

Do you need to use those strips with fiberglass or just with the urethane?

I've got a 75 rear bumper in my garage... complete with mounting brackets. You want it??? Come pick it up!!! FREE. I think it's urathane... I can take some pix if you are interested.

-Dave