Filling in bumper indentations a good idea? - Exterior Forum - j-body.org

Filling in bumper indentations a good idea? - Exterior Forum

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Filling in bumper indentations a good idea?

Friday, August 11, 2006 12:10 PM

I have seen a couple Sunfires on here and on Car Domain that have the Sunfire indentations in their rear bumpers filled in. I would really like to do this to make the exterior of my GT a little cleaner and a little more unique. I am wondering if this is indeed possible and more importantly, if it is a good idea or not?

Here's what I would like to fill in:
- the PONTIAC indentation in the front license plate filler

- the arrowhead indentation in the front bumper

- the Sunfire indentation in the rear bumper

- I have also been toying with the idea of getting some '03+ Sunfire side skirts and of course, filling in the Sunfire indentations in those as well

Any help / information / advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Re: Filling in bumper indentations a good idea?

Friday, August 11, 2006 12:15 PM

Laffs00GT

Whats different about 03 sunfire sides opposed to all pre 2k2 gt's? And I believe you'd be using a urethane filler to do what u asked, like fusor or similar product, not 100% tho/

Re: Filling in bumper indentations a good idea?

Friday, August 11, 2006 12:26 PM

El fuego (the grounded one)

listening...

Re: Filling in bumper indentations a good idea?

Friday, August 11, 2006 12:35 PM

Stephen (manta z)

You mean like shave them where they wont be there? or just paint inside them? I got a good idea and product to use that i PMd u..

Re: Filling in bumper indentations a good idea?

Friday, August 11, 2006 1:07 PM

Carrie B.

Laffs99GT wrote:Whats different about 03 sunfire sides opposed to all pre 2k2 gt's? And I believe you'd be using a urethane filler to do what u asked, like fusor or similar product, not 100% tho/

The differences between the '95-'02 GT side skirts and the '03+ side skirts are:
- the '95-'02 side skirts have a little line indentation on each side of the door whereas the '03+ side skirts do not (i.e. the '03+ side skirts look cleaner)
- the '03+ side skirts have the Sunfire indentations to the rear of the doors, the '95-'02 side skirts don't have the indentations

In reality, I guess it makes more sense for me to keep my side skirts and just have the lines filled in

.

'95-'02 side skirts

'03+ side skirts

Manta Z (The Primered One wrote:You mean like shave them where they wont be there? or just paint inside them? I got a good idea and product to use that i PMd u..

I mean filling them in so they can no longer be seen. I think painting them on my car just wouldn't look right.

I got your PM about the Auto Mix. I am going to my body shop on Monday morning so they can buff out my trunk lid. I am going to ask them and see what they say about this topic.

As far as what you said about molding the front license plate filler to the front bumper, I would, but I have gotten pulled over way too many times for not having a front license plate, so that idea is kind of out of the question. Plus I think it would look weird since nothing else on the car is molded or shaved. Remember, I am trying to keep the clean, subtle stock, look

Re: Filling in bumper indentations a good idea?

Friday, August 11, 2006 1:21 PM

Jeff Rutter

i shaved my old front bumper ....

all i did was drilled many many holes and just filled it in with body filler

Re: Filling in bumper indentations a good idea?

Friday, August 11, 2006 1:33 PM

Carrie B.

Jeff Rutter wrote:i shaved my old front bumper ....

all i did was drilled many many holes and just filled it in with body filler

That looks really good! Man, actually seeing it on a silver GT really makes me want to do it

! Thanks for the pictures Jeff

Re: Filling in bumper indentations a good idea?

Monday, August 21, 2006 10:29 PM

Jeff Rutter

got an up dated pic of my filler plate. that i filled in

i think it looks good.

Re: Filling in bumper indentations a good idea?

Tuesday, August 22, 2006 4:39 AM

big daddy

ok my advice is not use "bondo" on plastic its not flexable and it wont last i dont care what any one says not goin to last
if you are inexperienced with this type of work then do not attempt to do it your self

1st you need to determine what type of plastic you are working with , iam guessing this is either tpo or tpe, and in this case the plastic needs to be promoted with a plastic adhesion promoter
2nd lightly grind the area, and kinda bevel the edges, i personally would try make a piece that fits in the pontiac head to cover the hole, i would use panel bond yes panel bond it sticks and is flexable i do it all day long at work and have been for yr`s
3rd d.a. the area with 80 apply the promoter let it sit for 10 min`s i personally recomend 3m`s automix system they bought out duramix and 3m`s product in bar none the best around, then apply the plastic repair product
finish it off with 180 then 240, tpo tpe teo plastic when working with it swells allot so ya have to keep working it down with a finer grit paper

that`s what i would i have done it before and works out great but please don`t put bondo on plastic, it`s just so wrong

can i haz bondo

Re: Filling in bumper indentations a good idea?

Tuesday, August 22, 2006 9:33 AM

Fallen Angel

^^^ pretty much what he said.

Bondo + urethane/plastic = won't last long... because bondo/filler doesn't really have any flex to it.

It could be filled with a urethane based compound, it's worth talking to the shop about

Re: Filling in bumper indentations a good idea?

Tuesday, August 22, 2006 10:26 AM

Jeff Rutter

my pics did not show the first time so here they are again

Re: Filling in bumper indentations a good idea?

Tuesday, August 22, 2006 10:53 AM

I SATCHMOE YOU!!!!

not so sure about just shaving the pontiac off the front i think it would look so much better if you mold the filler panel into the bumper heres my quick chop of it

In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005

Re: Filling in bumper indentations a good idea?

Tuesday, August 22, 2006 10:43 PM

Carrie B.

Jeff Rutter wrote:got an up dated pic of my filler plate. that i filled in

i think it looks good.

I totally agree! I think it would be a good look for my car for sure.

big daddy wrote:ok my advice is not use "bondo" on plastic its not flexable and it wont last i dont care what any one says not goin to last
if you are inexperienced with this type of work then do not attempt to do it your self

1st you need to determine what type of plastic you are working with , iam guessing this is either tpo or tpe, and in this case the plastic needs to be promoted with a plastic adhesion promoter
2nd lightly grind the area, and kinda bevel the edges, i personally would try make a piece that fits in the pontiac head to cover the hole, i would use panel bond yes panel bond it sticks and is flexable i do it all day long at work and have been for yr`s
3rd d.a. the area with 80 apply the promoter let it sit for 10 min`s i personally recomend 3m`s automix system they bought out duramix and 3m`s product in bar none the best around, then apply the plastic repair product
finish it off with 180 then 240, tpo tpe teo plastic when working with it swells allot so ya have to keep working it down with a finer grit paper

that`s what i would i have done it before and works out great but please don`t put bondo on plastic, it`s just so wrong

Even though I don't know very much about auto body stuff, I figured it wouldn't be too good of an idea to use Bondo on plastic.

If I do decide to have this done it will be done by a shop that knows what they're doing.

Fallen Angel wrote:^^^ pretty much what he said.

Bondo + urethane/plastic = won't last long... because bondo/filler doesn't really have any flex to it.

It could be filled with a urethane based compound, it's worth talking to the shop about

I am taking the car in to the shop in the morning so they can buff the trunk lid. I am going to ask them and see if they think it would be a good idea, if it will last, if they are willing to do it, etc. Whether I do it or not is all hinging on what they say.

I SATCHMOE YOU!!! wrote:not so sure about just shaving the pontiac off the front i think it would look so much better if you mold the filler panel into the bumper heres my quick chop of it

That definitely does look good, unfortunately that wouldn't be practical for me seeing as I have been pulled over for not having a front license plate. I only use the filler plate at shows, which is why I would rather just get rid of the "PONTIAC" logo in it. I want to get rid of all the logos to achieve a cleaner look. Plus a lot people already have no clue that it's a Sunfire, so they would really be screwed with no logos anywhere

Re: Filling in bumper indentations a good idea?

Tuesday, August 22, 2006 11:36 PM

97cavie24ls(™)

i dont see any difference in the sides , other than the sunfre in them

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