I was looking at some posts and I was wondering what everyone thinks about me having the body shop make the front clip look like its one piece...My camaro has to have the whole front end repainted anyways so i might as well do it now...What does everyone think??Yes,No maybe so ..If you need pics of what im talking about,ill try and post them...But its pretty self-explanatory...

 

i like the idea. but if u did the front bumper i think u would have to do the back bumper to so it would look right.

 

Thats what I'm gonna be doing with my car. I'm getting the front end, sideskirts, and rear bumper molded. But watch out, if they dont know what they are doing the paint will crack over time because of stress. I have seen cars with flush GFX and molded front ends that lasted on the street (no cracking) but it was alot of work to re-inforce everything and prevent flex. The other guys I know that didnt re-inforce anything ended up getting cracks / seams.

 

I think it would be a really cool feature...but...I'm not sure if it would be very succesful in the long run...it would more then likely crack..

 

scauffiel tried to make his Firebird seamless, but I think he ran into the problem mentioned above with cracking. He hasn't posted here in a while though.

 

are you talking about plastic cracking or just the paint having problems? dont they have special coating to make the paint somewhat flexible for plastics?

i wouldnt thing the front ground effects would flex much when molded to the top front fascia. Unless you scrape bottom on dips and stuff, but other than that, should be better to be one piece. would look nice.

 

When I first joined the forum, some discussion was taking place on how to do this...
I don't think molding the fascia to ground effects would be an issue, with the right products.
HOWEVER, you really won't get away with bonding metal (the fenders) to urethane (the covers)!
We're talking two different substrates, with two different heating and cooling properties... and a lot of stress between parts.
Have you ever seen a third generation "Vette that has not been restored with new products?? There is a line of demarkation that shows up where the actual fender meets the upper body...GM put a seam and a bonding agent there that didn't show until a few years down the road...some even cracked. (and THOSE WERE compatible substrates!!)

 

I could never see doing this mod.... I have been rear ended by a first year driver, a first day driver and a van full of Guatemalans with no license... needless to say I am glad that a bumper cover can be changed without any serious issues

 

good point. what if for some reason you had to remove something? I say it would be a cool idea for a show car or a car that does not get driven alot. But for a daily driver I dont think it would be worth it.

 

they would stil be seprate peices, i would assume. they would only be using body filler/fiberglass to smooth it...so if it does need to be replaced, it wouldnt be a huge difference the stock form.

 

I'm talking about whatever he was filling the seams with cracking, and most likely the paint as well but I am not sure... I never tried it.

 

Those urathane bumpers have quite a bit of flex in them, going to be a real problem if you go seamless and drive your car regularly on city roads or drive it in high heat and cold. Its going to crack, just a matter of when.

Unless it was a car I just used for show purposes I wouldnt do it at all.

 

dont do it.

 

Kandied just mad a post about a flip front end..

The front end is one piece..

Thats the only way to go ...

 

Yeah, I'd do that. ^

I also asked about this when my car was in the shop. This was a place that does show trucks that get the covers of magazines and they advised me against it. If the pros say its bad, I tend to believe them.

 

Would doing this be more feasable if fiberglass fenders were added into the mix? I think our cars, especially the camaros, would benefit greatly from molded and smoothed GFX to the bumper and fenders; I'm personally not too fond of the seams and have been pondering doing this for some time. It seems though, that the general consensus is that the metal fenders, and the stresses between the metal and polyurethane, are teh only things hindering the overall success of doing this. By adding fiberglass, or even polyurethane, fenders to the mix, couldn't this be more feasible?

 

I agree that it will eventually crack, but I think it will last longer than alot of people think if its done right. I think most shops wont recommend it because its so time consuming to do it right, that it rarely justifies the cost or time. It seriously takes alot of time to do this and not end up with cracks all the time. From the shops perspective the average person isnt gonna pay that much to mod their ride, and if they did, they would probably expect it to last forever. To do it right, everything needs to come off and supports need to be fabricated from the inside to keep everything solid, help eliminate or minimize that vibration. Kinda like when the truck guys completely shave the tailgate of a truck, the guys that do it the right way build supports on the inside. I've seen guys do this to attach all different types of materials to steel bodies (fiberglass, polyurethane, etc) and had it last for years, with $6000 paintjobs no less. But yeah I would agree this is probably not a good idea for a daily driver. The more you use it, the more likely it is to crack. Thats a fact.

 

well thanks to everyone that gave their .02 cents worth...Its not gonna happen thats for sure...maybe on my next project

 

Wont happen ever, if they were both steel then yes, one steel other plastic, nope, the only way ur gonna get that is with that complete fiberglass clip, i was gonna do that to mine since i shaved everything off, but i didnt, why, cuz it will never last...ever.

 

 

doesn't look all too bad, I do like the lines though

Brandon