Bumper Cover Question

[ChopStix]

Hi, I have these plastic bumper covers on my van. Its got these molded in grooves and pockets for appearance. But obviously they make the aero worse. So my question is since these bumper covers are made to be flexible. What do you think is the best permanent method to fill these?
Because bondo/fiberglass hardens rigid which defies the point of them being flexible. Personally I can't think of a flexible filler that is functionally the same as bondo/fiberglass. Ideas?

[oil pan 4]

Rtv

[mcrews]

That will make .0001 difference.
Do you have a scangauge?
Have you aired up your tires?

[ChopStix]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

Rtv

Originally Posted by mcrews

That will make .0001 difference.
Do you have a scangauge?
Have you aired up your tires?

Sorry, I think I need to add more info. I need to fix the cracks and paint the bumper covers. So since I will be repairing those issues, I figured it would be the right time to fill in the other undesirable issues with the bumper covers. I've seen people on here glue plastic panels in with RTV. But I wonder how well auto paint will stick to RTV? I've never tried painting over it before, or seen it done.

As for the gauge, I agree they help. But that is a different direction than where I'm going with this part of the project. Thanks though.

[Ryland]

Thin pieces of abs plastic cut to shape and glued in place.

[Ecky]

They're not necessarily for looks (only).



^ Many manufacturers are putting these "cups" on the bumpers in front of the wheels, to create a high pressure zone and encourage air to jump over the aerodynamically dirty wheel well.

[ChopStix]

On the cracks, I finished gluing the outside today. (A local auto parts shop is a dealer for specialized painting supplies and they actually carry urethane glue!) I still need to sand/prime/repaint the front end. But the cracks are pretty solid without my having done the back side yet. I'll get after that side tomorrow, or when the rain stops. I'm also going to fill the pockets with some urethane sheet. But I didn't have time to get to them before the rain today.

I'm also considering doing a two tone on the van. Silver on top, Black on the lower 3rd. I found a concept image from a Astro van website of a guy talking about plasti-dipping the lower fenders for rust prevention. I don't know how well that plan would actually work in the real world. But the concept pictures are pretty awesome looking.

[matt36415]

A totally different, very light weight way of achieving the. same thing is to use a vinyl wrap. Just search 'wrap' in the car parts of ebay. There are many colours, designs... its really cheap, to apply it pretty well is not too hard - larger sheets are harder though and need 2 people.

Negative - it isnt super strong and where its not directly on a surface ie like my grill block, it will get a hole if a decent stone hits it at speed but I stuck an off cut over the hole or you can easily peel the whole thing off in 2 min.

[ChopStix]

I'm thinking about painting mine like this: