A couple followup questions as I am trying to find a replacement bumper...

I've been told that the '97 to '99 are all the same. I ran into a couple '97's without fog lights. They have a narrow plastic bar as part of the bumper running across the opening where the fog lights would be.

Are these the same as my bumper with foglights? I just cut out that strip and the opening is the same otherwise?


Also, I ran into a '97 bumper that was flat black. The car was maroon with a maroon rear bumper, so it wasn't factory on that car. But, the flat black looked original. Did they make any factory flat black bumpers on these cars? I'm going to paint the one I get, but I want to steer clear of any amateur paint work or unpainted surfaces to avoid excess prep time for the painter/body shop. Maybe someone replaced it an never painted it? Are the replacements flat black?

Thanks,

 

97 - 99 are the same, yes you can cut the opening and install fogs.

Flat black was not a factory option, it's an unpainted replacement on the car.

Don't steer clear of any unpainted parts, that's LESS WORK and would be welcomed by the body shop. That's the bumper you want.

 

Thanks. I was thinking that unpainted would be a hassle for the surface prep.

 

Replacement OEM parts have the flat black look. They're not painted, as njmaxseltd pointed out. Although the body shop guy may be happy with a clean slate, he may have to deal with cutting the bar/strip where the fog light is in order to make it look perfect. On second thought, looking at a few pics on the net, it appears the bar floats in the front of the opening and is attached more at the back. Therefore, a simple cut it and forget it may suffice as any imperfections will be hidden from view once the fogs are installed.

 

I have cut those bars on non-SE bumper to fit fogs. It is very easy and no imperfection will be visible once you put the fogs in.

 

The fog light opening "bar" is OEM on all bumpers. Iirc the factory instructions to install foglights outright says to cut the bar off with a razorblade.

Where the bar meets the actual "body" of the bumper is much thinner than the bar itself - just take any knife and give it a nice cut and it comes off like its nothing. Dont worry about any imperfections left behind because the foglights completely cover that area anyways.

 

Thanks,

 

Just thought I'd follow up:

Piece of cake... just pulled all the lights, fender bolts, the few bolts up top, the shield bolts, and it was off. Nothing much was stuck except one of the bumper to fender bolts that snapped ... and I have a better set of those strips on the car, so I'm sure those will come off clean.

Got a nice bumper with just one small scratch, even still has the "this bumper was primed with" sticker inside.

Thanks all,

 

Good to hear.

 

If the scratch is not deep then just sand it down with 600 grit to get it blended. If sanding doesn't remove the scratch line then fill it with putty. Prepping these plastic bumpers is easy.

I removed both bumpers last year for painting. Had them hanging in the garage on bungee cords.

 

Thanks... but I'll be having my body guy painting them and he always wants to do his own sanding (despite the fact that I'm qualified for at least that :-). I don't really have the area to use a spray gun and my skills aren't that great due to a lack of practice. I'll let him deal with the paints and additives and temperatures, etc.