Making Bumper Replica

[mixxamike]

If I were to buy an expensive fiberglass bumper and broke it, i think i'd cry. So I was just wondering how difficult it would be to form a mold and hand lay a custom replica from an original. Having a few extras laying around would be so nice.

Here's what i'm thinking...Take the original, (one of those JDM tyte ones) and make a female mold of it. Make this nice and thick so you can reuse it. Then make a couple copies...would it be that simple???

Anyone have any sort of experience with this type of diy project?



thanks
-Mike

[matlock]

I am not sure I have no experience with fiberglass, but I am sure if it was as easy as molding one out of another one many people would do it and bumpers wouldn't be as costly as they are. I might be wrong but this is just what I am thinking....hopefully you find some info and you try it and maybe you can make it work out. I also think supplies and time might cost quite a bit too....Good Luck!

[brianglawson]

essentially from what ive read fiberglass is very easy to work with, i watch an american classics on speedtv and they showed how to make a mold and stuff, it didnt look very hard at all

[driftz240sx]

Yea. It's pretty easy to work with. I built a canoe in shop and we had to lay fiberglass around the whole boat. It's easy if you know what your doing, but it's probably more easy to do a boat than a bumper.

[goodjuan]

s13 silvia aero yo! i've been playing with this idea for awhile. but no time/space/money to do it at the moment. Good luck!

[Bone]

I have quite abit of experience with it and I do not think it would be any problem to do other than time consuming. You would probably want to make a 2 piece mold though instead of a 1 piece so you could get a good wrap on each end of the bumper then bolt them together in the middle do your thing and pop out your bumper a day or so latter. Sand the seam were the mold goes togethre and throw on some paint! Just my .02

[HyperTek]

donate it to a US body kit manufacturer and they will mold it and mass produce it.. but id feel your getting ripped cuz they would sell the chit out of it and make profit off your original.

[ryan hagen]

my cousins own a body shop they were gonna make me copy of my grand am bumper, cause me and another friend got them and he busted his up the first week he had it. they said it wouldnt be too hard, but itd take some time.
it was a couple years ago but i remeber him saying you wax the bumper witha special wax, then you can use a kind of foam, or fiber glass to mold around it then the wax would allow it to be able to come apart, but wouls require sanding and stuff to make it smooth again. this was like 4 or 5 years ago, but i m sure it didnt change much, btw i might not have all that info right as i wasnt payin that much attention, and probally left things out.
he said the main thing that keeps them from makein duplicates is often a copy right.

[Maeda]

The hawaii guys have been doing this for a long time.

And yes it will work. Fiberglass is MESSY, and dangerous, but other then that pretty easy to work with.

[mixxamike]

Bone, i'm kinda confused by the process you're describing. One piece mold, two piece?? bolt them together?? could you help me a little?

thanks!

[Bone]

When you make the mold make it split in the center of the bumper from bottom to top(like when its bolted on the car). Put a flange on the mold that will hold bolts so you can bolt the 2 pieces together and lay your matting. Then when the fiberglass sets you can unbolt the flange and slide the molds off the bumper easier. Thats how I prefer to do it. Don't forget to use release agent or it will get really nasty when you try to pull the bumper out of the fiberglass! That make better since? Thats just how I prefer it.

[mixxamike]

ok, cool. thanks!