C5 Corvette Bumper Repair - The Right Way?!? - PART 1 of 3

[@fixtravels1744]

It’s very obvious your learning. I hope the haters relax a little with the insults. Thanks for posting your video. I enjoy watching people trying to save a buck. That’s how I learned everything from auto body work to mechanical, plumping, electrical, etc… it’s so satisfying when you accomplish things on your own and saved a boat load. I found you through your quickjack vid. Just ordered the 7000TL as well. They teased me saying it’ll arrive today Friday but only received the wall mounts!!! Think many people complain about not getting it all at once. I’m excited to get the thing already lmao. Looking forward to seeing the work on the vette! I work on my buddys C6 a lot.

[@Addimotive]

Thanks for the comment. Trying something, failing, and trying again are all part of the process! I want to document my learning experience to try and help others also trying to do similar things. Even "experts" had to start from somewhere at some point. Cool to hear you got the Quick Jacks, they have been an absolute game changer for me and I'll never look back at using jack stands.

[@OMEGATECH]

What a coincidence I need to almost do the same thing to my C5 bumper cover although my damage is very little I still need to take out the cover and work on it with the same method and the same tools as I'm seeing here, awesome video by the way!!👍

[@Addimotive]

Glad the video could help! There isn't a lot published out there on how to effectively repair these bumpers. They're made from a very obscure material that only works with certain repair materials. They definitely don't follow the conventional repair method for most bumpers since they're made from a special thermoset plastic.

[@Addimotive]

I plan to film another video shortly that specifically covers what body repair material you should use to repair each part of the car since there about 3 different kinds of materials used throughout all of the panels.

[@bat5917]

Good process showing the steps and materials. Good camera work and lighting. More concise narration maybe? 😊

[@Addimotive]

Thanks! Yes I understand the video is long with all of the explanation, but I was trying to be as thorough as possible since there were a lot of things I learned a long the way. I’ll try to shorten up the future videos.

[@bat5917]

@@Addimotive I posted your video on corvetteforum last night and 45 people have watched it so far. Have you watched the Toys4Life C5 KZbin channel? He’s very good at sort of bullet pointing, since a lot of car enthusiasts tend to be more visual than auditory.

[@wesleyv4555]

Any tips looking to repair my bumper too?

[@Addimotive]

Hi Wesley, is there anything specific you’re wanting to know? This three part video series goes in depth on my process of repairing my front bumper.

[@exoticspeedefy7916]

For all the trouble it is worth, I'd just get a new bumper bro.

[@Addimotive]

Not really. OEM bumpers in good shape are hard to come by, especially locally, and they’re not cheap. A decent bumper with minimal damage is going to run close to $1000, and you’ll most likely have to paint it anyways. Most used bumpers have some type of damage, and if they don’t, it’s a high likelihood they’ll get damaged during shipping because it’s such a large item. Plus this entire project is about teaching myself new things. Repairing this bumper was one of those things I wanted to learn.

[@exoticspeedefy7916]

@@Addimotive Ok thanks, I am asking because I was just going to buy a OEM bumper. I currently have run into the problem a lot of C5 owners have done at some point, and that is damaged the front radiator support skid bar. Unfortunately it has ripped out of the bumper left drivers side and torn the holes it screws into underneath, also splitting it, also pulled out the lug it screws into in the chassis frame which means I have to weld up the hole in the frame lol... luckily the damage isn't noticeable unless you look underneath.

[@exoticspeedefy7916]

@@Addimotive GM parts centre has one for only $417.68 so I guess they are still making them

[@Addimotive]

@@exoticspeedefy7916 interesting! Didn’t realize GM parts center still had them. Just be careful though, sometimes they’re OEM “recreations” and don’t have the same quality as the bumpers that came on the cars.

[@Addimotive]

@@exoticspeedefy7916 so you’re saying the impact ripped out the rivnuts from the frame? You could try and drill them out and then install a larger sized rivnut. I’ll be making a 3D printed radiator support skid plate in the near future to help try and minimize damage to those pieces.