Eric (ClearBar_Guy) lives in Kansas City and he asked for my opinion on some modifications he's doing to his Rookie bumper. When he recieved it, he was a bit surprised at how raw it was and how much work it would take to get the finish correct prior to paint. Eric is a professional bodyshop guy hence the reason he was so shocked at the quality, how much work it would take, but not scared to tackle the project because he's seen it before with other fiberglass panels. He forwarded a private user link to his photography website which has all the pictures of the bumper as it was recieved shortly after arriving to his shop. Without his permission, I will not link his photography and I don't want to risk linking his company's website which may be construed as advertizing per the rules of this website.

I do have "first hand knowledge". I've got the pictures which are just as good as holding the thing in my hand.


My self-painted lower sills are ghetto because I painted them myself using the same equipment as the professionals? Okay...

The one I've seen will need a lot of filler and additional resin to get it up to anything resemembling OEM quality and finish.

 

lmao at 4drhotness

 

they are
225/35/19. 9.5 +4
235/35/19 10.5 +17

 

That rear end avatar is SIIIIIIICK!

 

Figured something out.

Poor finish around each corner lamp area




Inside edge of corner lamp area showing thinness of panel


Lower opening, poor finishing. Will need some sort of filling


Additional areas in need of filling and refinishing



Depicts thinness of material






Damage during mold release





There are other pictures, but these are the most obvious problem areas.

 

Wow That will hurt sales...

 

are you sure thats a rookie bumper??? Mine looks nothing like that - and neither do any of the others I've seen.

 

yes can we please see a larger pic so we can verify if thats a rookie bumper

 

 

those are all really minor discrepancies. i wouldn't even go so far to call them "defects".

regarding the thickness of the material: if you know anything about composites you should know that material thickness does not directly correspond with strength or durability. Ideally you would want a very thin bumper with a high cloth to resin ratio to optimize strength and weight savings.

 

These are the pro photography “secret pics” that you were afraid to release?

I’ve seen many of these bumpers – even ones in stock at the shop… non of them looked like the pics in the close ups… why didn’t he contact Viet to get it taken care of?

Think about it – a guy that has a show car that’s won multiple awards and has been in several magazines (including covers) isn’t going to let a flawed bumper go without correction.

Clearly if this was the norm you wouldn’t be the first one to mention it.

 

I have had my bumper for over a year. It has withstood my stupidity and hitting a curb and is still intact. i personally picked up the bumper I was very impressed by the quality and structure of this bumper so much that Eric (Klumzyee) wanted to see it. he was so shocked that he was very curious to know who is doing Viets Fiberglass work. And...where are the holes for the Lower part of the grille to attach to the bumper.

 

LMAO at this whole thread. Thanks all for the entertainment.

 

^ For Real.

Im going to get my painted and professionaly put on in this week. Lets see how it goes :/

 

I wouldn't call those "minor" discrepancies. If the intended design was to keep the material as thin as possible, then would it not be consistently thin across the entire cover? The thining typically occurs at points on the cover that need the most reinforcement. Some of those points are mere millimeters thick. Also, wouldn't you say that a decent amount of work is going to have to go into fixing the area around the corner lamps? You surely just can't knock that roughness down and paint it or else it will look like total crap. The surface has to be very smooth and consistent or else even the most minor flaw will show though. ClearBra_Guy is a body guy and even he knew this bumper was going to take a good bit of work to get it looking right.