Possibly the worst Bumper warpage yet

[tilstad]

I bought a new bumper painted and delivered from ebay. It seems the whole bumper was kind of curled up, and needed to be bent ALOT to fit it's mounting points. Look at pic 4 from the top, you can see the middle of the bumper where the airdam attaches underneath is curled up too. Maybe this is normal, I dont know, as this is the first time I've replaced a bumper cover. The rear bumper came out ok, since it has sufficient attachment points to bend it out enough.

But on the front, as some already knows, there is no support underneath the headlights, and then I got this result, which totally sucks! Of course, I bought the bumper last July, and didnt get around to mount it until yesterday, hence the 30 day return policy is not an option. Guess I'm stuck with this, and must make the best of it. I did send them an inquiry though, but I dont have high hopes of anything.

Question: Do anyone have any experience heating a bumper with say a heatgun? Would that hurt the paint? Any suggestions?

Short of fabricating a real support brace underneath, I'm lost for what to do about it. Unfortunatly I don't own a welder.

 

[Wooluf1952]

You didn't list where you live, but maybe when the hot weather hits, the warpage will smooth out.

 

[tilstad]

I'm in Houston Texas. I tried to update the profile, but it seems only some things will show, other won't, like engine etc. Oh well, maybe it needs some time to do so.

The bumper was alot wider than the front of the car before mounting, so it had to be bent inwards about 10-15 inches on each side to attatch to the slide-in mount. Because of that, I'm not holding my breath that warmer wather will fix it.

As of now, fabbing a support bracket seems to be the only sure way of fixing this. Just wish my fabbing skills were a bit better. It's going to be difficult and time consuming I'm sure.

 

[BRomanJr]

I'm in Houston Texas. I tried to update the profile, but it seems only some things will show, other won't, like engine etc. Oh well, maybe it needs some time to do so.

The bumper was alot wider than the front of the car before mounting, so it had to be bent inwards about 10-15 inches on each side to attatch to the slide-in mount. Because of that, I'm not holding my breath that warmer wather will fix it.

As of now, fabbing a support bracket seems to be the only sure way of fixing this. Just wish my fabbing skills were a bit better. It's going to be difficult and time consuming I'm sure.

First question, why did you replace the bumper cover(s). The pictures show up small on my computer but it seems the only way a properly made cover would do that is if the impact bar was deformed and pushed in at the center.

The pictures sorta show that the bottom of the Grille and the center of the cover are pushed in.

Is the Impact bar damaged? If you remove some or all of the fasteners in the center of the cover will the center of the cover move forward away from the impact bar and look better? (that just confirms damage to the impact bar).


If you elect to make support brackets, then removing the headlights and fabricating some aluminum bar stock and/or angle stock and using bolts/nuts or rivets might be the easiest IMHO.

You might try to claim the bumper warped over time and attempt warranty coverage that way.

 

[tilstad]

If you click on the pictures, a new page opens up with larger images.

The bumper had some scratches that my wife created in a meeting with a garbagebin, and also some spiderwebbing or crackling. No major hits, straight steel, I thought that changing bumper would be easier than fixing spiderwebbbing in old bumper. Knowing the issue I have now, just sanding the old bumper, then prep and paint probably would have been way easier.

The center is pushed in because thats how the bumper is "curled", as I have been trying to explain. The reason it's only on the center, is because it attaches on the far outer sides, and get some support there. While in the center bottom, there is no support, or bracket. I do believe though, that the airdam will take care of that, is it is constructed as an L beam of sorts.


The best comparison I can make is to imagine a leaf thats curled up and dried. Thats how it looked. And given the bumper was from some guys in Texas, where as most know, it can get very hot, that might be just what has happened.

 

[Voymom]

I would try a hair dryer before a heat gun, or if you trust yourself maybe a heat gun would be okay. I would end up melting the entire truck so I would use a hair dryer

I would find SOME way to apply pressure for the correct form while applying heat and let it cool while in form.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[BRomanJr]

If you click on the pictures, a new page opens up with larger images.

The bumper had some scratches that my wife created in a meeting with a garbagebin, and also some spiderwebbing or crackling. No major hits, straight steel, I thought that changing bumper would be easier than fixing spiderwebbbing in old bumper. Knowing the issue I have now, just sanding the old bumper, then prep and paint probably would have been way easier.

The center is pushed in because thats how the bumper is "curled", as I have been trying to explain. The reason it's only on the center, is because it attaches on the far outer sides, and get some support there. While in the center bottom, there is no support, or bracket. I do believe though, that the airdam will take care of that, is it is constructed as an L beam of sorts.


The best comparison I can make is to imagine a leaf thats curled up and dried. Thats how it looked. And given the bumper was from some guys in Texas, where as most know, it can get very hot, that might be just what has happened.

OK, after seeing the larger pictures I feel you got a CCC (poor quality) bumper and it may never look perfect.

On another note, from the factory, they installed contoured foam fillers above the Impact Bar below both headlights to hold that part of the cover up in the proper shape, are these installed?

 

[Voymom]

On another note, from the factory, they installed contoured foam fillers above the Impact Bar below both headlights to hold that part of the cover up in the proper shape, are these installed?

My 03 Envoy doesn't have the contoured foam fillers you speak of and my bumper doesn't look anything like his. I think he just got a bad bumper or a cheap bumper and had it boxed up to long.

 

[BRomanJr]

My 03 Envoy doesn't have the contoured foam fillers you speak of and my bumper doesn't look anything like his. I think he just got a bad bumper or a cheap bumper and had it boxed up to long.

I checked the 04 (like mine) and the 03 (like yours and both ar shown to have the fillers. Somebody left them off at some point or they fell out. Looks like some adhesive was involved when new.

Parts list from GMPartsGiant does not list them as available from GM but they appear in diagrams (#6) for both years.

Here is the 03 listing:

 

[Voymom]

I checked the 04 (like mine) and the 03 (like yours and both ar shown to have the fillers. Somebody left them off at some point or they fell out. Looks like some adhesive was involved when new.

Parts list from GMPartsGiant does not list them as available from GM but they appear in diagrams (#6) for both years.

Here is the 03 listing:

Well all be damned lol thanks for that list so I know what to get if I need to.

 

[tilstad]

I do have both the filler pieces in there, it looked ALOT worse before I put them in. That lifted the area 3-4 inches, but as you may know, the filler pieces don't extend all the way, and alas, this is the result I got.

I tried putting some foam on top of the filler pieces, although that helped, it wouldnt lift the outer area enough, and ended up looking more bumpy, since it wasnt an even piece, or straight piece of foam.

I already made some cardboard templates for support under the affected area, and had in mind to pop over to the home depot and see if I could get some steel sheet thats a little thicker than regular body sheet metal. I guess I could cut them pretty easily aswell. The problem would be how to support them, but I guess if I take one step at a time, the solution might present itself.

 

[fletch09]

The bumper was alot wider than the front of the car before mounting, so it had to be bent inwards about 10-15 inches on each side to attatch to the slide-in mount. Because of that, I'm not holding my breath that warmer wather will fix it.

i replaced 2 bumper covers on my 03 ext TB, (daughter thought it was fun to try and rip them off, 2 separate times)
you should not have to move them 10-15 in. to get them to fit. maybe 1-3 in. at the most. you got a bad bumper cover.
i don't think any amount of heat is going to fix it.

 

[TexazReece]

How was it wrapped when it was shipped to you? I work for FedEx and I see a lot of bumpers being shipped and wrapped like crap. Maybe that'
s why it was wider than it should have when mounting.

 

[tilstad]

It was wrapped in cardboard, with some fine foam sheets inside, front and rear bumper together. It was actually delivered by the guys who painted it, as they were local. Both front and rear bumper was equally warped, so I think it's more an issue with the fabrication of the bumpers themselves.

This listing: 2002 2003 2004 GMC Envoy Front Bumper Painted | eBay

and this: 2002 2003 2004 2005 GMC Envoy Rear Bumper Painted | eBay

Anyhow, screw that, they never bothered to respond anyhow. So I went ahead and tried to adress this myself.


First I made a cardboard template. Brace/support basically rests on top of bumper cover inserts, and glued down. Bracket/mount screws into existing bolt underneath headlight. After 3 or so tries, I settled on this one:

Then I took a 16 GA steel sheet from Home depot, this is thick enough to give the necessary strength:

Then Transferred to steel, flipped over for the other side of the vehicle, bend at dashed line:

Cut out with jigsaw with metal blade, smoothed out the edges, left a little extra meat for final trim after test fit:

Attachment point/bracket done, metal hand bent to curved shape for optimum bumper cover fitment:

Painted 2 coats:

Mounted. I used cardboard and foam to support the glue down of the high spots:

Voilà! Done. Much better fitment:

 

[BRomanJr]

It was wrapped in cardboard, with some fine foam sheets inside, front and rear bumper together. It was actually delivered by the guys who painted it, as they were local. Both front and rear bumper was equally warped, so I think it's more an issue with the fabrication of the bumpers themselves.

This listing: 2002 2003 2004 GMC Envoy Front Bumper Painted | eBay

and this: 2002 2003 2004 2005 GMC Envoy Rear Bumper Painted | eBay

Anyhow, screw that, they never bothered to respond anyhow. So I went ahead and tried to adress this myself.




Voilà! Done. Much better fitment:

Looks great, you did a nice job!

 

[fletch09]

nice fix

 

[jimmyjam]

wow that came out better than I expected good work!

 

[TexazReece]

Sir you did an Excellent Job It's a shame you had to do that yourself instead of the seller responding and at least helping you fix the prob.