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MG MGB Technical - Poor Bumper Quality

Well, I hate to say that the new bumper that I received from the Roadster Factory was far below what I had hoped. The chrome quality seems good and the bumper seems heavy enough.

The problem is with the pressing. The upper surface has pressing ripples all over it and this is especially true on the ends.

I really appreciate the attention to detail that the Roadster Factory puts into their parts listings and breakdowns. I have received some good parts from them. This just isnt one of them.

I'll report back on what they say and see what I get as a replacement. Has anyone had a recent experience with a good replacement bumper - say within the last 6 months or one year?

Thanks so much,

Jeff
J Delk

Jeff,

I would be very surprised if it turned out that the bumpers you get from TRF, Moss, Vicky Brit, Moss Europe, MGOC, etc... are all from different manufacturers. There may be production inconsistancies such that if you went to the warehouses for any of these dealers and looked at 100 bumpers, you might find some better ones, and maybe some worse ones.

FWIW,
Allen
Allen Bachelder

The latest Moss bumpers seem to be better than the rest. See Bob M's site: http://www.cibolas7.net/22801.html
Steve Simmons

I had the originals re-chromed, you can see the front on that site linked above.(Scroll down to grilles) It was not cheap but 10 years on they are still good, and I am confident they are authentic. When I made this decision the repros were coming in from Brazil, they were OK to look at when fitted but flimsy when you picked one up and the chrome had a poor reputation for longevity. I think they now come from China and from what you hear it seems come back Brazil all is forgiven.
Stan Best

The chrome coming out of China is absolute rubbish. After about one year on the car, the bumper horns started to pit of their own accord. I expect I'll need to get them rechromed sooner rather than later.
Adam Birnbaum

If you just don't have rechromable originals and have to buy repros, you be best off sending them straight off the the chrome shop to be stripped and rechromed properly and save yourself the work of putting them on the car and having to take them off again whenever they start to pit.

I have done this and had the chrome shop look at me strangely until I explain that the chroming is absolute crap - something they find out quickly as they strip them.
Bill Spohn

Hey Bill and others - the problem is that the poor quality is related more to the pressing - rather than the chrome (it may be bad too though).

The bumper has pressing ripples all along the top surface - especially at the ends.

Nothing they can do about that as it relates to the poor quality of the tooling used to make the part.

I am going to Atlanta Imports in Atlanta and see if they have an old one that can be straightened and rechromned.

Jeff
J Delk

Some of the rippling may be due to the bumbers being fabricated by rolling rather than stamping.
John H

This thread was discussed between 06/06/2007 and 15/06/2007

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