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| Exposed Metalwork and all other rusted bits painted with Underbody Seal. |
Car: 1991 VW Golf Mk2
Colour: Marine Blue
VW Golf Mk2's always look better with big bumpers on. Any Mk2 Golf with small bumpers can quite easily converted into a big bumper model.
The cheapest way to obtain a set of big bumpers or even a single front or rear big bumper is in the secondhand marketplace. Altough if you wish to, you can opt for a brand new set of OE (Original Equipment) big bumpers or replacement after market ones.
Original VW bumpers are made from ABS plastic and the quality is much better than that of any of the aftermarket makers bumpers. Aftermarket bumpers are usually much cheaper inferior quality, but you get what you pay for, and so, we opted for some secondhand Genuine VW big bumpers.
The hardest part to buying a set of secondhand bumpers is finding a set in good condition and in the correct colour! This is not so much of a problem if you have a colour that is very popular amongst GTi's, but can prove difficult with other colours.
We decided that we were very unlikely to find any set in Marine Blue, and so we opted to buy any bumpers we could find that were in a decent condition, and were at the right price!
Obviously, choosing to buy them in any colour gives you the pick from all those that become available, and if you need front and rear bumpers, you could buy different colour ones, if it means you get a better deal.
We already had a rear big bumper removed from a previously owned mk2 Golf, and so we only needed to find a front one for this car.
After just a few weeks watching and waiting on ebay, we finally managed to buy a silver front bumper with all the lights and brackets, and with no damage. We won the bidding using a single last minute bid.
Last minute bidding is the only way to buy stuff that you really, really want! (otherwise you are just helping to push the price up). If you don't win the bidding it does not matter, as similar items will always come up again! Never go auction crazy!
The seller was a local car scrapyard, so we printed off our winning bid confirmation email, and drove straight there to pay and pick up the item. The scrap merchant was surprised to see us so soon, as he had not realised the item listing had ended, and he asked how much we owed him. When we told him, he said we were robbing him! and that it he was already regretting listing it with the lights! (which normally on their own, fetch more than we were paying for the lot!)
We were grinning, as we had got a great example for peanuts, but that's the way auctions work sometimes! (or, most times in our case!)
We dismantled the bumper for painting then masked off all the area that would remain black.
After Painting the rear bumper first and finding we had spent a lot of time buffing up the paint afterwards, we decided to try and spray the paint on thicker this time, hoping for a better result. (We are new to this spray painting lark!)
We were just using spay cans of Halfords Plastic Primer, for the undercoat. Normally if painting fresh plastic, you have to use a special bonding/plasticiser, followed by other special paints or methods, but, as this was already a painted bumper, we simply had to paint onto an existing paint surface. This meant a quick rub down with some fine wet & dry paper, which would then allow the new paint to adhere correctly to the old silver paint.
The grey primer/undercoat went on superbly, hiding the silver paint perfectly, but to keep the final finish as smooth as possible we gave the bumper another rubdown with some 600 then 1200 wet & dry paper.
When we sprayed on the blue gloss, we could not believe, how well it was turning out! Spraying the paint on thicker was obviously the answer, whereas we were worried about creating runs or overspray, we were not having the problem of either. The finish was fantastic!
We couldn't wait to fit the whole bumper to the car!
When we did try and attach the bumper (after first changing the mounts on the car from single mounts to the double height ones to suit the larger bumpers.) we found it would not fit with the fog lights installed, as they were hitting the bodywork. Anyway, wanting to use the car again we removed the fog lights and fitted the bumper temporary without them.
The next time we had a day to spare we removed the front bumper (and front grill). A hole was then cut in either side of the front of the car. The bumper was tested at this point just to make sure it would now fit with the fogs.
After checking the holes were large enough, they were painted in underbody seal to prevent any corrosion to the exposed bare metal. This was also a great opportunity to paint any other rusty bits we could find.
Whilst the bumper and grill had been off the car, additional wires had been taken from the original side light wiring to attach to the new LED's that had been inserted in the fog lights!
With the bumper finally complete, and with the lights back in their place, it was quickly refitted to the car.
It was beginning to go dark, so it seemed like a good idea to check all the lights were now working. We were happy that the fog lights had become additional side lights, as this was actually far easier to wire in, and would also give the car a unique look! To wire the car for actual front fog lights would of required, a switch, relay, fuse, wiring, etc. and fog lights would see little, or no use.
The indicators had been smoked with some spray by a previous owner, although we did go over them with some more smoke spray tint, just to give them a darker look to match that black VW badge!
We also liked the VW Main Dealer number plate holder that came with the bumper, and so we kept that in use, too. The number plate holder also added to the look of originality.
Well Happy!
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