Have a look at the attached closeup of the bumper - see there is a sharp outline and/or crack around the air duct. The other side has the same affliction but it's not quite as pronounced...not yet anyway. Couple questions: 1. Car has never been in an accident so...what's up? What causes the fiberglass (I presume it's fiberglass) to do this? Is it shrinking? Is this common? 2. Best way to remedy this? Can it be re-glassed and repainted? Image Unavailable, Please Login
i do not think it is fiberglass. It does not look that bad. I do see some wax residue on the edges. I would drive the snot out of it, until something falls off, or drags on the tire. Fix it before you sell the car.
Don't think it's wax residue...you can feel the break (ridge) in whatever the material is. I'm not sure but I did wonder if perhaps this was just a clear shield aging but then problem got worse.
It looks like thick PPF. I can see it has degraded quite badly and gone matte. The paint left exposed looks quite nice. If you are unsure and don't want to risk some exploratory work can you run it by a friendly and trusted body shop?
When I fitted the CS inserts on my front bumper from memory them side vent are made of plastic not fibre glass and is bonded to the bumper which is fibre glass looks like the glue may have weakened. Remove front bumper re glue the vents and think ur gonna need to repaint bumper. Gud luk
Since this is a picture, none of us are looking at it in 3D only 2D so it's hard to tell for sure without touching and feeling and seeing in person. So... if you tell us that there's no clear bra on it, it looks like someone burned through the paint with a buffer when they were rounding that corner during polishing. Not a very good technique. That looks like the underlying material to me.
The bumper is fiberglass and the scoops are plastic the glue they use to bond the two cracks around the entire opening and that is what your are seeing. I have removed a few front bumpers and repaired them for this problem. If you pm me I can send you pictures of what's going on and the repair and refinish process. I would just attach a few pics but I just have had no luck doing this from my phone.
Willing to bet it's the clear shield getting old. Before you spend too much time or money, take a hair dryer to warm and soften it up and see if it peels back. I suspect the bumper and paint are just fine. It's not that unusual to replace the clear shield after several years.
As Sherpa noted, I have advantage of looking at the issue in 3D...and I think this (noted above) is what's going on versus a paint protection film or an errant polisher. Surprised this isn't more common...maybe it's an age thing (mine is a 2000).
My bumper is experiencing the same problem - only worse. It is definitely a bond failure. Does anyone have experience repairing this, and if so, what specific materials and methods did you use? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Interesting that both issues shown and photographed are black cars ...(?) If re-bonding is necessary I would use a 2 part product from 3M #8115. It takes a special "gun" and a mixing tip included. It's a body shop product and can be bought at an auto body supply store. I've used it many times. It's great. Used and approved for use on panel bonding on vehicles being crash repaired. But to be sure I have found numerous uses for it. Best of luck, Ken
Thanks for the suggestion Ken. Yeah, both black and both model year 2000. That “special gun” has “special price!” Hopefully I can find one to borrow.
Had my front bumper resprayed last fall and as part of the prep the dealer removed and rebonded these vents as they did develop small cracks. A good shop will do that, removing the front grills too, and repaint both the body color and the black underside contrasting matte finish Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
It sure does. But since I own a restoration custom car shop I can justify it. Too bad you aren't closer you'd be welcome to borrow mine. #8115 is truly amazing stuff though. Find a good bodyshop in your area and maybe they will oblige. Best of luck to you, Ken
