BUMPERS

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Very few things are to be said about bumper straightening except 'good luck'. I have had more then one different style of bumper straightened and from more then one bumper shop. A few things to consider:


#1- If you plan on powdercoating your bumper afterwards, be sure the bumper shop knows this. They may do a half ass straightening  job thinking you plan to filler/paint it anyway.

#2 - Powdercoat does NOT stick to bondo/filler.

#3 - If they ask you if you want it polished, say yes. I don't know if this applies to all shops but when my local shops say 'polish' they mean make the surface smooth again like it was when you brought it there. I got a set of ribbed bumpers back that they had removed rust and paint with a *very* coarse disk and left it that way with the metal ground down and choppy lines running across... the entire surface and all the round corners were choppy and uneven. I told them not to 'polish' it because of course the powdercoating shop will sandblast it again no matter what. Polish means shiny finish to me which is not what the powdercoater wants.

#4 - Bumper shops seem to hate people that don't want them to chrome them afterwards - your request of purely straightening may not be received well.

#5 - Your bumper will come back to you with 'gouge marks'  on the backside if they used a hydraulic press with a wheel to aid in straightening your bumper. Some people do not like that.

#6 - Ribbed bumpers have lots of edges and corners. Plan on the inner corners on the ribs not being crisp anymore due to the press. This also makes it *very* difficult in masking new lines for the two tone bumper.

#7 - You may want to check the bolt holes on your bumper. Often overlooked, they oval out over the years. The bumper shop can fix this upon request.

#8 - The aftermath: After is all is said and done, more then likely your bumper will no longer fit like it did before.  Some shops swear they have "patterns".. As if a shop has patterns for a truck only rear bumper? yah right. Once they use the press and it squeezes out the metal, it will lengthen and etc.

#9 Truck only rear bumper do not run straight across the back. They still have a slight bow. Don't let the shop trick you into thinkin it should be straight. Of course its much easier for them to straighten it into that form.

All thoughts above are my opinion based on what I've seen and dealt with in AZ. You may find the golden bumper shop in your local area...my search still continues.

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