bumper smoothing

need advice from anyone who has ever smoothed a bumper


with the bolts sticking thru the bumper
do you weld the bumper bolts on the inside of the bumper or on the outside or both

 

Hacksaw the round part of the bumper bolt to leave the square part to fill a square hole. Weld both sides. Gotta weld the outside to have something to smooth. Hard to chrome over bondo ya know. Keep inside welds tight so to not interfear with the brackets. If you just weld the outside you got to have good penatration or the bolt can pull out or at least pull and crack your chrome.

 

NO chrome here ran across a cool color the other day by accident must have been a chemical reaction or something but i like it and am thinking bout painting bumpers and grill surroun that color

kinda a glossy primer grey metallic, like i said it was a fuck up but i love the color

 

can you post pics of that color?

 

thats what I did..after welding and grinding as smooth as I could get. finished it off with All Metal and painted it Steel Wheel paint, stuff blends great...

 

front axle
sorry best pic i have

if u like i can get a better pic tomarrow

 

If you cut the head off, and weld what's left into the hole, after chroming, when you tighten it up, the bolt will pull and crack the chrome.

What I do is set a regular bolt, with head still attached, behind the hole, and fill the hole with weld. The I put a washer over the bolt, and weld it to the back of the bumper. now when you tighten it up, it pulls on the washer, and doesn't crack the chrome.

 

Enjenjo's got it right, you have to spread out the load of the bumper bolt over a larger area...use a nice thick washer! The washer also keeps the bumper from see-sawing around on the welded bolt.

 

i agree, the washer is the trick most bumper bolts are 1/2 in. so i cut off the mushroom and put a 3/4 washer behind the bumper , cant say enough about a flapper disc to grind the front smooth.

 

The Kustom gods say thou shall chrome and not paint bunpers. Painted bumpers come on new Hondas.

 

Can anyone sketch this out?

I'm having trouble picturing how the bolt and washer fit against the bumper.


I would eventually like to smooth the bumpers on my car, so I honestly want to see this set-up. Thanks.


PS: Gotti -- any painted bumper will immediately conjure up ghosts of the 1980s. If it's a custom, chrome it.

 

I'll do ya one better sweetie, here's a photo. The bolt is welded in place then the washer is over that and welded in place.

I do have one more litttle piece to add. Both times I tack welded the bumer bolt in place before even taking the bumper off the car. You would be surprises on how hard it is to make sure you've got the bolts at the correct angle to make sure you can bolt the bumper back on the same car.

 

Denise,
turn the amperage knob to the right and the wire speed one to the left. That is, more zaps and less wire,

Roo

 

Thanks, Denise!

That's exactly how I was picturing it, but I figured that would leave a lot of space between the washer and the bumper, needed lots of material to fill it.

 

would it maybe be easier to tighten a nut on the washer to hold the bolt flush when the bumper is off of the car to do the weld?I've never smoothed a bumper but to me it would seem easier.

 

I plan to do it this way. It should allow for a little adjustment when mounting to the brackets.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/Highlander809/bumpermount.jpg

 

I like that idea. It would allow you to be able to change the carriage bolt, if necessary.

 

My chrome guy says to fill the square hole, metal finish the outside, then weld a piece of..well we'll say 3/4 x2"+or-, flat bar to the inside, then weld a bolt to that. Then metal finish the outside again. Your wanting to spread the load as you tighten the nut. Oh yeah, TIG the square hole and use a chromemoly filler rod too! Thats prob most important!

 

One more little tip-use grade 8 bolts. ....that way when done and tightened up,they wont snap off and render the whole job ,a waste of time.

 

Talk to your chrome shop before you do anything! I worked at a plating shop and we ended up turning down a bunch of other people's "custom work" because they fucked it up before we had a chance to tell them how to do it right.

If your chrome shop us up to the task of plating your bumpers after you've welded on them, then feel free.

And, while you're at the chrome shop asking if they'll do your bumper, have them strip all the chrome off of it. DON'T WELD ON YOUR BUMPER with the original chrome still on it! You will fuck it up that way. And grinding the chrome off around the hole doesn't count either. The whole bumper needs to be properly electro-stripped before you do anything to it.

Also, try to get bolts and washers that aren't coated. Zinc plated hardware can be hard to get clean by blasting and stripping and might end up discolored when welded and plated. Starting with bare hardware will help alot.