Repair front bumper or replace w/ aftermarket... pros and cons (help me spend my money!) (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Jan 14, 2019
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Location
St. Louis, Missouri
I have a dilemma. My front bumper cover has some minor collision damage, some from the p/o, some from a woman hitting me a few months ago while parallel parking.

I had originally planned to repair and repaint the the bumper myself, but now I’m getting cold feet. So far, I spent about 5 hours—but no money—repairing the damage. There’s more to repair, which will require fiberglass. I’ve also priced out color-matched paint. The materials will run me close to $300. I am no auto painter, so I have no expectation of how this will turn out. Hence my cold feet of spending the money on the paint.

For a little more than double the cost, I can get a TJM T17. I don’t care for most aftermarket bumpers, but I really like the T17.

I am kinda leaning this direction, and I told myself at the outset that I would try to paint it, and if it didn’t turn out, I’d get the T17. However, I am now thinking it’s not worth trying due to the cost of paint.

Anybody install an aftermarket bumper and regret it? Any major benefits to keeping the factory bumper cover that might sway my decision? Thanks!
 
Post up a wanted ad in the classified, people be giving away bumpers, hope you get lucky with the color.
 
I can weigh in on the painting side of things and say that doing DIY paint "well" is no small task, especially on a flexible part like the bumper cover. It's easy to mess up the cleaning/prep/adhesion stage and end up with iffy paint that will flake off later on.

Go for the armor. If weight is a concern, go aluminum by one of the vendors that offers that.
 
I have a custom paint job on my Cruiser and the bumper is already showing signs of wear. I too wanted to repaint it, but like you find the cost not worth it. for extra hundreds, I went with a tjm t17 to install so i dont have to worry about paint chipping, better approach angle, dont have to cut crossbeams, and is still light enough for stock Torsion bars.
 
I do not have any regrets moving to an aftermarket front bumper (ARB for me). My stock bumper was scuffed, scratched, gouged and had a winch fairlead cut into it. If you are staying 'winchless' the additional weight of an aftermarket bumper won't be noticed, especially with a lighter weight bumper like the TJM T17. As a bonus. the next time somebody backs into your bumper, you wont have anything to fix.
 
Hurry up and get a TJM. Bumper superstore still has the 5% cyber week discount. Mine is being delivered tomorrow.
 

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