whats up everyone, ive been thinking.... i never really did like the black part of my bumper(not sure what its called) but its labeld A on my pic.... anyways i was wondering if its possible to shave it off... same with the rear bumper that has the same black part. if it is possible how hard is it to do... and also if possible can you guys upload some pics if uve already done this mod.

 

if they are removable you could fill em in with fiber glass or something of that nature, im not to familiar with birds

 

yea i figured that.. but ive never taken them off the car and i dont know if they are a vital part of the bumper configeration

 

i cant see them being that important but i could be wrong ill let someone else who has more experience with birds chime in

 

It seems like a hassle to shave them when there are factory bumpers that already don't have any. I painted mine, as have other people, and it looks really good.

 

I think this has been discussed before and there are factory bumpers that dont have those, but I would shave them with fiberglass if your set on keeping that bumper.

 

well as for porbably alot of people... my car has drained me of 99% of my cash and well i was looking at a cheaper way of getting the shaved look, rather than buyin the stock ones that come already like this... a question for those who painted theres... can u post a picture of them if possible?

 

You could just replace them like others said. And it might be cheaper to do it that way, instead of "customizing" yours. And you could resell yours, to recoup some of the money spent on buying & painting the new ones.

But yes, you could redo yours.

If you take the bumper inserts out, your left with big, gapings square holes, the size of those inserts. And you couldn't just fiberglass or bondo new filler pieces in. It wouldn't flex like the urethane of the bumpers does, so it would crack soon.

Here's what your up against (Redraif's car), if you pulled them out...

 

wow good thinking on the reselling of the ones i got now... never thought about that im gunna see if i could do that...

 

the pic that stephen posted is not the same as yours.I have pulled a few of these pieces off of different cars.
On your 87 formula when those black pieces are removed you are left with only (i think)6or7 small bolt holes and 3/8"dimple the size of the black trim pieces.
The one in the pic that stephen posted looks to me like an 84 t/a part that had the grill pieces mounted to it.

 

alright well to make sure i can always pull off one of the bumper pieces soo does anybody know how? and is it easy to reapply?

 

I beg to differ. The only other style, is the one that has 1 large squarish hole, rather then the 3 small rectangles.

Either way, the bumper inserts are inset, not simply on the face. You will not be simply left with a few small screw holes to fill.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/715283/5

 

they have nuts holding them on from the back side,so if you want the bumper smooth and clean,the best result would be from removing the bumper cover completely and fiberglassing the area in question on a table.
you might be able to get one of the pieces off w/o removing the bumper cover,but it will definately be broken if you happen to accomplish this.

 

does anyone have pictures of the painted bumper pieces?

 

The other style inserts, has an even bigger hole to fill...

 

Thats what I meant by 3/8" dimple the size of the trim piece.I know that they aren't completely smooth under them.
Are you 100% sure about the openings having the big holes and not the small bolt/screw holes I mentioned?I would like to see what you're talking about.

 

The small are there, but it's the BIG holes I was talking about. If it was smooth, and just mounting holes, they;'d be pretty simple to fill and smooth.

As for the rear, not fun there either...

 

well thanks Stephen,I could almost swear that I have seen bumpers without the large holes.
Perhaps it was in a dream?

 

Too bad you aren't closer. I've got a front & rear bumper cover, side FX, EVERYTHING, of a 89 GTA, I wouldn't mind selling. I can't imagine building a crate, and shipping them that far though!

 

Here is a picture of 87 formy's car with them painted:



He said he just sanded and painted them, but I wasnt sure if a filler should be used to even out the bumpy texture, or maybe use a high build primer and block it out?

 

There was a primer and wet sand before paint which I may have left out... It was a long time ago I was basically getting at they're hard plastic - there's not much to it.

Also, to the OP, think about the time and effort you would spend attempting to get it to look good. At the very best, your job would look as good as a factory piece, but with a whole lot of work to it. Find out how much you can get a set of bumpers for before doing anything crazy.

 

well now that i see the painted bumper im starting to like that too, however i am going to talk 2 a local third gen shop about doing a trade in for my bumpers for some off perhaps a gta... if it doesnt work out ill just paint them... i like that look aswell

 

Perhaps a junkyard could be persuaded to trade you, for yours plus a little cash?

You wouldn't hafta deal with trying to sell yours, which may or may not happen. I've been sitting on parts from the 89 GTA I parted out. Lots of interests, but then sudenly, the buyers disappear. Not more communication, nothing. Yet they saw the pics before they ever contacted me to begin with, so they weren't just dropping out after seeing junk parts in pics.

 

do anybody make a grill or delete "plate" to replace them maybe?

 

I too always hated those Black things on the covers. So I swapped bumper covers from an 84 Firebird. The rear is exactly the same and a direct swap, for the front you will also need to change the black plastic "honeycomb" support behind the cover.



For the front I used the grille inserts from an 84 Trans Am with the Aero package, and filled in the lettering on the driver side:

 

that looks really nice, i actually got my original idea from a picture of your car. i really liked the way you delt with the black part... and its because of the way that yours came out that i decided to keep the stock bumpers and just paint them.... thanx alot guys uve really helped me out here