front facia- naughty or nice?

[sdycke]

Thinking of having a few dings in front facia corrected. Started the insurance route but my premiums would go up of course. Mused to the adjuster about taking it off myself and paying my favourite shop but he said dont try it without leaving a next of kin. Said he was a bodyman before and vette clips are awful, awful, awful......Oh really? Is it so? What would people in our community think? I have a shop, tools, and some experience. Is it really that hard? Maybe aligning it for sure....Have the FSM......Does pride come before this fall?

[Z51JEFF]

Are you talking about removing just the bumper or the hood too?What year is the car?Ive have the front bumper off of a 91-96 and its not difficult at all.

[Blue Flame Restorations]

Painting just the front bumper would not require removing the bumper cover. Is it a 90? If so, remove the cover and the black trim from the cover. Don't just mask the black trim.

Re-aligning the bumpr assembly is not difficult, especially if the car is not wrecked and then put back together.

[sdycke]

just the bumper cover and its a 91. I thought it wouldnt be tooooooo bad but you know how things can surprise you. wanted to ask first. from what the adjuster told me, they have to remove the plastic cover to repair the dings, and then paint and install.

[Z51JEFF]

The hardest part about pulling the front bumper on a 91 is aligning the 9 bolts along the top edge when putting the thing back on the car.If the side marker lights are left in the bumper they will hang up at the sides of the car as you pull the bumper forward.As usual,your adjuster doesn't know what hes talking about.This job is straight forward and not difficult at all and there is nothing to align,just put it back on as it came apart.If you do have the bumper painted the paint you want to use on the blacked out section in the driving lights is TRIM BLACK GLOSS,this is a 100% perfect match for the blacked out section.

[Blue Flame Restorations]

Originally Posted by sdycke

just the bumper cover and its a 91. I thought it wouldnt be tooooooo bad but you know how things can surprise you. wanted to ask first. from what the adjuster told me, they have to remove the plastic cover to repair the dings, and then paint and install.

If the plastic bumper has "dings", we're in trouble already. You need a new adjuster. LOL

If it's just paint chips, it can be prepped and painted on the car. Especially if no color change, obviously.

Being mounted, it will not move around on you while prepping either. You can do the whole thing with a sanding block and wetsand paper. Start with 320 and finish up with 500. Let the shop primer and final scuff.

Have you ever done this before?

[sdycke]

Thank you for all your help. Knowing now its a pretty straightforward job I think I will take it off. I have a tiny bit of experience with paint but it usually just gets me into real hotwater. The worst "dings" are two nasty rock chips and one 4" long dint (which fairly rebounded out). I'm guessing they want to R&R the cover because thats the only way they feel to properly repair the dint. Since I cant drive till May I have lots of time to do this and any excuse to be in the shop is good for me.

[DaveK]

When my tool chest fell on the hood of mine and damaged the hood and bumper the shop I took it to took the cover (and hood) off to fix it. It was a place with a good reputation and they did a great job. Just for info.

Dave