Front bumper cover replacement

Tired of the road rash on my front bumper, in addition to the front license place bracket. Couple questions for those that might have gone through this:

1) American Muscle has, what appears to be, a nice urethane cover that is primed and has the rivets and brackets. But, not so cheap at $745 shipped (seems to me not too long ago you could get an OEM for that much). If it were you, would have a body shop try to fill the bracket holes, sand off the rash, and repaint? Or would you just say F-it and get a replacement? Not sure how far $745 will take me in labor costs trying save the original... and just how good can it look.

2) My brother in law works at a Ford dealership and says that their body shop can do the paint work. My car is black; I read that black is the easiest to color match, so does that mean any place that does body work should be able to knock this out easy, or should I spend the extra money on a "specialty" shop.

Thanks for reading!

I just repainted my hood and fenders for $1k in SoCal (labor here is ridiculous).

Back in 05, I had my license plate holes filled and bumper repainted for $500.

I would go that route and keep the OEM cover.


Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com

I bought new front and rear covers when I had my car resprayed 2 years ago (bought the lmr front and rear combo pack, which was only 200 or so more than to just buying the rear alone and no extra shipping cost). I had my paint guy spray them thinking I would change them out. He only does paint type work and doesn't do body work of changing bumpers etc, just does minor repair and fill, and spray, than clear coat.

I never put the front bumper on the car because after the respray the car looked amazing. He did really good work. I did have some spider cracks and some rock chips, but they are gone now.

I would say if your front just has minor stuff, have it sanded some, fill it, and spray it.

You can see my covers on one of the pics behind the car. I just wrapped them in moving blankets and put into the attic.

Hope this helps!

Sent from my SM-G965U using the svtperformance.com mobile app

Thanks guys... sounds like you've had good success with the repair and paint route. I just assumed they'd never get those bracket holes filled right to the point of being unable to tell they were there.

Live Wire said:

Thanks guys... sounds like you've had good success with the repair and paint route. I just assumed they'd never get those bracket holes filled right to the point of being unable to tell they were there.

Click to expand...

Companies like SEM and 3M make epoxies for repairing urethane bumpers, I honestly wouldn't sweat it.