Bumper gaps

[theholycow]

There are gaps between my bumpers and my body. There used to be a color-matched plastic piece that covered the gap but it rotted away.



This is what they used to look like:



I'll need to fabricate (aka hack) something using scrap materials. Even if I could find replacements I don't think I could find a budget for them.

Any suggestions for how I could do it? Everything I think of seems like it'll be craptastic.

I'm also thinking of hot-melt-gluing some plexiglas in front of the headlights which are currently parachute-shaped. Any other suggestions for aerodynamic improvements?

[GasSavers_TomO]

Coroplast to the rescue!?!?

[bowtieguy]

i see old caddies like that...ugly rear end.

[GasSavers_Erik]

How about cutting 10" wide Aluminum flashing to fit the horizontal gaps and maybe use silicone caulk to "glue" it to the underside of the top edge of the bumper.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by bowtieguy

i see old caddies like that...ugly rear end.

Aesthetically speaking I'm not a huge fan of my front or rear end either. It seems too industrial, not classy enough.

Originally Posted by Erik

How about cutting 10" wide Aluminum flashing to fit the horizontal gaps and maybe use silicone caulk to "glue" it to the underside of the top edge of the bumper.

That's pretty much the first thing I thought of but I suspect it would be wavy. It'd have to be better than the way it is though!

[VetteOwner]

its really a hard flexable rubber so the bumper could actually bump things without doing a single dent to it or the car, unlike the plastic crap we have nowadays.

but as with everythign it dries out and gets extremely brittle.

id say the aluminum flashing painted back (or dupont match as close as you can car color spraypaint) would be the best bet.

the headlight surrounds actually make an air bubble that makes the air go up and over, the plexiglass really wont do anything i belive besides trap water and or cloud up or get brittle or crack

[GasSavers_BEEF]

I once bought a $10 trash can to make an air dam extender (stole the idea from Jay). it was a basic gray. you could buy one and cut material out of that to put there and it would look descent. you could also spray paint it with Krylon Fusion paint that is made for plastic.

you could cut a piece way too wide and use a dremel to get the right angles and fit it in pretty easy.

the same could be done with plexi-glass but that does get expensive.

[theholycow]

Actually, I have some sheets of plexi-glas that are scratched and stained, they'd be good with some paint (or a sheet of rubber laminated on) and would not end up wavy like every other idea I've considered. That's the best idea yet.

[Jay2TheRescue]

LOL, I didn't buy a $10 trash can. I found a cracked trash can in the stack and offered the manager $1 for it.

[GasSavers_BEEF]

yea, I bought the trash can. we can't all get good deals. lol

it was good material to work with even though it didn't work out for me. I scraped everything under the sun and just forced more air into my engine compartment.

the plexi works pretty well and you could use the spray on bedliner stuff if you wanted. that would look cool. you can get it at lowes in a can. you may have to roll it on.