2G Headlights gap

[Velmin hu]

anyone know how to fix gap between headlights and front bumper I took out the reinforce bar it’s blitz front bumper
Pic attachment
Thank you

 

[teamevolution2]

Check out boosted fabrication. He makes brackets for this. I have a set on my car and I love them.

 

[Cherry]

You have a few options, fiberglass work which there would be kind of a lot involved, or just use fiberglass reinforced body filler and then top it off with a lightweight body filler to smooth everything out.

With fiberglass it would have a lot of steps, and you can go about it several different ways. The best way would be to use something like clay to fill in the area and get it looking close to how it should look, cover it with clingwrap and then make a mold. Then cut out the area that is slightly smaller than your mold, and then make a new part of the mold which there is a lot of stuff out there explaining how to make a mold and what to do to release the new part, and then put it in place on the back side either fiberglassing it in, or using a 5 minute 2 part epoxy and then smoothing out with a lightweight body filler.

If you bought that from a company I would take a picture, have your order number and message them that the product they sent is unacceptable. It looks like an Extreme Dimensions front bumper which even though they were in all the magazines and stuff, they produce trash. If it was from a friend or something then you just have to put the work in. Personally I would probably just fill. Just put some foam in it since its a pretty big area to be filled and then use the fiberglass reinforced bondo and then a lightweight body filler. Just make sure if you do you make the foam to be smaller than what the finished product will be, giving enough room to finish it out with the filler.

 

[jakelandry]

A bracket for this is relatively easy to make if you can weld. I made some from light duty angle iron once that bolted to the front bolt location and the side bolt location and just ran under the section of the bumper where the gap was which lifted it flush to the headlight. Interesting to see someone sells it in the previous post as I’ve been around a while and never seen that.

https://www.boostedfabrication.com/collections/2g-dsm/products/2g-dsm-bumper-supports

They seem well worth $85 to me.

 

[Cherry]

The problem with making a bracket for it is unless you get the stress out you are going to get stress cracks. Fiberglass is rigid and forcing it to do something you want just isn't good. It will look fine for a little while but you will start to get cracks in the gel coat which will transfer to the paint. Even just pulling the sides in can cause it on the front corners of the bumper. Unless it's a well fitting kit or a plastic it takes a lot of work to get them to fit properly.

Having supports for an oem bumper is a whole different story. But basically, a lot of these companies don't have good molds anymore. Extreme dimensions even markets their products as a flexible like fiberglass plastic hybrid but it's just all fiberglass.

Bad molds and/or craftsmanship leads to what you see above.

 

[asexton6969]

Get the brackets that have been listed above. Work wonders.

 

[motomattx]

I have never known of those brackets, want some myself.

 

[Cherry]

Those brackets work good on OEM bumpers that are plastic, and they would get the dip out somewhat, but it is just a matter of time at that point that stress cracks will form, and if they form after you paint the bumper you have to go in and fix it all anyways.

There is literally too much material being forced into one area, and since it cant it is creating the dip. If you pushed the dip up it is just going to put force in other areas like the center of the bumper and around the parking lights where it starts to bend back towards the mounting point to the fender. I have actually had this happen because of a cheap kit and mine cracked right by the parking lights.

 

[motomattx]

Oem material is urethane and it looks like the op has a urethane bumper as well, likely as you said from Extreme Dimensions, same as the one I have, mine is urethane as I paid extra for the option.

 

[Cherry]

Most of Extreme Dimensions are just regular fiberglass and you can find many reviews on ED bumpers and products that they are absolute garbage. Mine was and they claim their Blits front bumper is FRP (Fiberglass reinforced plastics) and that you can bend them almost 180 degrees but its really just hand laid 6 oz fiberglass and they have a signature black finish. Even on their website it all says Duraflex which is FPR and I cant find any place to change the option to urethane or polyurethane which they said that they make or even carbon fiber.

To me that looks like fiberglass entirely with the gelcoat lightly sanded. The only way to completely know for sure is to check out the back side of the bumper.

Rocket Bunny which while expensive, has probably the best fitting out of all the aftermarket companies and even they use FRP.

 

[motomattx]

I would never install a fiberglass front bumper, no way your just asking for trouble, you might as well install glass or plastic knowing its going to get hit with rocks and will chip and crack, besides that fiberglass is never smooth and straight and its hard to even get it smooth, lots of work to even try and it never looks good. I did notice that ED does not list a urethane option anymore for the Blitz, wonder what happened? maybe they are costly to make or California doesnt allow them to process urethane anymore due to toxicity reasons or something?

 

[Cherry]

If a fiberglass bumper has stress it is definitely going to crack. Boats have this problem, but you can always use better resins than just the polyester resin used in most fiberglass parts.

At the end of the day, there shouldnt be that dip under the headlights. I have a OEM bumper cover with no inner bumper and it doesnt sag under the headlights as all. Just think of it as trying to put a piece of copy paper in a box that is slightly smaller than the sheet of paper. Unless you cut that sheet of paper it isnt going to sit flush in that box. The paper is going to be pushed to one side or the other, or its going to fold over itself. That is essentially what is going on under the headlights for any number of reasons.

Either it was taken out of the mold when it was still curing and warped, or the mold isnt in the shape of how the finished product is going to sit on the car so you have to push the sides in creating the dip as well.

If it is fiberglass it needs to be fixed properly now than just trying to force it into place and it crack 2-3 months down the line when you scrap on a speed bump or speed hump, train tracks, the end of a driveway on a hill.

If it were mine I would put a slit in it, cut out the excess material and put a couple of layers on the backside and put some resin on the top or just fill it with lightweight filler. That is if it is fiberglass.

One thing I just dont understand though is that ED says that they hand lay fiberglass reinforced plastic, but how? From what I understand FRP is made in sheets and can be vacuum molded. Unless they have the molds and molten plastic that they mix with fiberglass and hand lay it though I wouldnt mess with hot plastics with my hands. That makes me wonder if ED is saying they sell something they dont?

Also it seems like Urethane bumpers need metal molds to make the parts which drives costs up a lot unless you can mass produce a lot of them which how many eclipses are out there wanting to run aftermarket bumpers? I bet they stopped just based on costs.

 

[Velmin hu]

It’s kbd polyurethane body kit blitz style.

 

[Cherry]

So then it's injection molded and the headlights sag like that? Kind of goes against their quality figment statement. I would want to see the back side of that bumper. If it is polyurethane it should be smooth as well but if you see strands then it's fiberglass of some sort.

If their products sag like that which watching the carid video the first comment was talking about how under the lights sag in heat. If it is polyurethane then you would need those supports and use heat as well since heat allows it to be formed back how it should be.

To me though it doesn't match their advertisement and they should be contacted with pictures of the product. Their site also shows that it comes in a small bot with the bumper folded up in it and you leave it in a source of heat like the sun for it to go back to shape. Kind of how I got my stock rear bumper where the sides were folded in. Put it on the car out in the sun and you can't even tell.

To me though, it doesn't look like polyurethane and that's why it would be good to see the back of it. The only reason I'm skeptical is because they said in the video that their parts come out shiny. But then again the website shows a dull finish with the eclipse bumper so I don't know.