anyone else have an 00-01 with an unpainted bumper?

-Devil- · Post by **-Devil-** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:09 am

i just remembered why i hardly wash my car ... my front bumper is not painted ... it is just molded black plastic ... that lost it's shine after about 2 years ... and nothing i have tried will bring a shine back to it ...

this is the OEM bumper ... my car is an 01 ES ... in black ...

not sure if i will just get this bumper sprayed .. or get an 02 bumper to put in it's place (kinda like the grill area more) ...

Post by **racer12306** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:12 am

so did it come that way, or did it get replaced with a non painted one

-Devil- · Post by **-Devil-** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:19 am

it came that way ... the day i first picked the car up i noticed the front bumper didn't exactly match the rest of car .. when i questioned the dealership they told me it was molded plastic and not painted for black cars ....

03blackrt · Post by **03blackrt** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:32 am

I think the dealer lied to you.

-Devil- · Post by **-Devil-** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:34 am

thats always possible .. but i picked up the car with 13 miles on it .. and was there when it rolled off the truck ... you can see a few 'mold lines' on the edges of the bumper ... where it wasn't sanded down or anything for paint .. it is black molded plasitc .. even a scratch in a obscure surface turns up nothing but black ...

03blackrt · Post by **03blackrt** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:38 am

all the bumpers should have mold lines and such because they don't really sand before painting. but all 2gn neons should have painted fronts. unless they forgot to paint it at the factory...

-Devil- · Post by **-Devil-** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:40 am

i have seen a few other black ones like mine .. and 2 white ones ... but that's it .. so not sure if it is a 'forgot to' or what ...

03blackrt · Post by **03blackrt** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:43 am

post some pics, because that has to be a rareity

-Devil- · Post by **-Devil-** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:44 am

will take some pics tomorrow .. right now it is freshly washed .. but no wax or anything so the difference really shows ...

Post by **racer12306** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 12:46 am

that is interesting. i have honestly never seen that before.

nofrills05 · Post by **nofrills05** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:03 am

I know that some 1gn neons had unpainted bumpers, but not 2gns...wierd

-Devil- · Post by **-Devil-** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:06 am

yeah, i first thought it was a fluke till i found some others like it as well .. and had found one or two other people online as well on another neon forum that said their bumpers looked the same way .. but other then what the dealership told me .. no 'official' word about it being done ... i think it was just 00 and 01 on a few colors ... white, and black for sure .. and i beleive someone said red on a couple...

may have been plant specific as well ...

TNK · Post by **TNK** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:16 am

IIRC, most of the 00-01 bumpers were a dyed plastic. my 00 has dyed plastic bumpers. bonestocks bumpers are dyed plastic. i BELIEVE they chagned this in 02 though.

hell, coem to think of it, i think teh 1g bumpers were dyed as well. when i replaced a bumper on my 96, the front was a painted one and didnt match with the rear becasue it was a dyed one. and my buddy from work has a blue 1g with dyed bumpers.

-Devil- · Post by **-Devil-** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:23 am

now that makes the most sense ...

i am guessing the dye job wasnt to good on my front bumper .. my back bumper is fine .. still shines up like rest of the car and hard to tell the difference between them (still a difference tho) .. but the front really started showing up after about a year.

OB · Post by OB » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:55 am

didnt some of the 1st gens have plastic black bumpers?

Post by **racer12306** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 2:06 am

hmmm interesting.

so i guess in the attempt to make the neon a little nicer looking they abandoned their dying process and started painting the bumpers.

TNK · Post by **TNK** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:27 am

yes OB, some had a gray/black unpainted plastic bumper set.

devil, dont feel bad, bonestock's rear bumper is faded pretty bad also.

frank, that woudl be my guess as well. paint >>>>dye

-Devil- · Post by **-Devil-** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 11:03 am

if it was a white car wouldn't show up as much .. but on black the dullness really shows up ... will grab a pic of if when i get off work ...

i seriously need to either get it painted .. or get an 02 bumper and grill ...

TNK · Post by **TNK** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 11:14 am

my 00 has no color variations. and it has a painted front and a dyed rear. but it's white

03blackrt · Post by **03blackrt** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:50 pm

Thats weird. my 2000 base model had paint on the front and rear. so did my brothers 2000. but both were plymoths. I have never ever seen an unpainted bupmed on and 2gn.

or atleast from the factory.

-Devil- · Post by **-Devil-** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 5:16 pm

it is odd for sure ... in a few more hours i can get pics of it ... rear i beleive is painted .. has same gloss and finish of rest of the car, but you can tell for sure that the front bumper isn't

-Devil- · Post by **-Devil-** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 8:39 pm

theres closeups of the sides so you can see the difference .. the entire front bumper is like that.

Chibits12 · Post by **Chibits12** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:34 pm

I'm one of those victims. Bumpers look nowhere as shiny as the rest of the body. I plan to get them painted soon or better bumpers.

Here are the pics:

01WhiteNe0n · Post by **01WhiteNe0n** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:02 pm

I guess they die them so if they get scratched up it doesnt really show ? I would just respray the two bumpers, because eventually the rear will go to most likely.

-Devil- · Post by **-Devil-** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:09 pm

01WhiteNe0n wrote:I guess they die them so if they get scratched up it doesnt really show.

thats pretty much the exact reason they do or did it .. and cheaper to die the bumpers then paint them .. (or cheaper insurance wise as well, since wont have people reporting flaking paint on something that is cracking from a light impact) ...

yeah i will get the back done as well .. prob get the whole car buffed up at the same time ...

00element10 · Post by **00element10** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 9:15 am

my 2000 had painted front and rear bumbers, however, underneath the paint on the front bumper it was black plastic...the rear on the other hand was paint, then underneath it was the dyed red bumper, I noticed that after the rear bumper started peeling a little bit.

on 1st gen, I went to the junkyard and got a dyed black front bumper...haha as long as the car's dirty you cant tell.

Post by **racer12306** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 9:22 am

could the clear coat have a problem sticking to the plastic vs paint? and now the clear has come off completely?

-Devil- · Post by **-Devil-** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 9:28 am

that is possible .. but on mine i have had it since new ... and there never was anything peeling off of it .. just over the first few years it just got duller and duller ... and no amount of waxing , polishing or buffing would bring a shine back out ...

ragek23 · Post by **ragek23** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 10:15 am

maybe he buffed the paint off? i have heard of that happening before. this prolly isn't the case but either way you should get the bumper sprayed

-Devil- · Post by **-Devil-** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 11:03 am

on mine there never was any paint to buff off ...