1982Trans Am

Over this past winter, I've been doing repairs and improvements on my 82 TA after the driver's front corner had a very close meeting with a guardrail. I thought the original front bumper was toast, and the fender had been rolled inwards and bowed out.


I couldn't find any 82-84 front bumpers in the local junkyards, ebay, or craigslist, so I turned to Classic Industries. I ordered by phone, and asked them if the front bumper cover was a direct bolt on replacement. They said it was, and that nobody had sent in a fitment complaint. So I ordered it, it arrived pretty quickly. I was impressed with the quick delivery.

The bumper itself looked to be pretty good quality, there was maybe 1 or 2 spots where the plastic wasn't thick enough and a hole was there, but those spots are hidden by the grills. Foolishly, we didn't do a test fit, and sent it to our body guy (A personal friend of ours who owns a repair garage, he's never done us wrong). And from far away, it looks pretty good:


But, the fitment was terrible. They had to paint a sand the cover 3 times to get it to look smooth, and there are still indents in the paint. And that's just the paint.
The fitment of the cover itself is sub-par. The giant metal bracket that bolts the cover to the car would not line up with more than half of the holes at a time. The body alignment wasn't too good either. This is the driver's fender, AFTER the body man spent several days realigning the damaged fender to match the lines of the bumper:


Here's the passenger fender, which was not realigned more than what was able without messing up the paint:


As you can see, the fitment is not too good. And then there is the compression of the bumper cover in front of the headlights:


And the compression bulge between the driver's fender and the front of the cover. This was AFTER the 5mph crash brace was shaved down to accommodate the depth of the bumper cover, I'll try to get a pic of that up later.

But, those are all little things that one would notice if he or she knew they were there or the car was being judged for perfection. Overall, it looks pretty ok, especially the farther you stand away from the car .

Also over the winter, I set about replacing the rest of my factory suspension. I had already replaced the shocks, Swaybar endlinks, and shock towers with factory spec replacements 3 years earlier, and the car understeered... except in a light snow fall, then it oversteers on straight roads into guardrails .

Anyway, I added a Top Down Solutions Wonderbar, and replaced the factory 21(3)/12mm swaybars with Top Down Solutions 36/23mm swaybars with poly bushings. I also replaced the tierods/connectors with Moog replacements and added a double adjustable Founder Panhard rod. And the results are superb! The handling is nuetral in the dry and wet, but it'll predictable power-over in the rain. I would definitely say the majority of the changes came from the new swaybars and wonderbar.


Summary:
Top Down Solutions provided excellent service, and their Wonderbar, Sway Bars, and bushings are top notch, would buy from him again anyday. TDS Sway Bars and Wonder Bar gets 10/10's

Classic Industries provided ok service, but their product and live description of the product could be greatly improved. I would recommend either fixing one's current damaged bumper or going a small bit out of one's way to find a factory replacement before buying an aftermarket bumper from Classic Industries. I'd give their Front Bumper Cover a 4/10.

Hopefully that review was coherent and conclusive enough .

t-top havoc

iTrader: (3)

Nice ride!
I wonder if it would be possible to ( for future endeavors ) to carefully heat the fender mating areas & roll the top edges outward? Maybe that would allow the fender edges to conform & raise the " droop in the light area pockets " to raise up to where they should be?
Just wondering. I don't know body work or how to fix the neoprene // rubber.

82tarecaro

iTrader: (4)

I almost bought that bumper cover from them. I am glad I stuck with my original. I think member Mantaguy on the boards had a similar issue.
BTW - love the car.

ghost91

Weird. I was happy with Classic Industries bumper cover. Granted its not a Firebird bumper, but the quality was nice and have no fitment issues. I can't believe the imperfections on yours though...I would've sent it back or at least called them back about it. Unacceptable from a oem replacement company. The only problem with mine is a slight hood gap. But I'm not gonna stress of it. Glad you gave a review on TDS stuff. I have future plans with some of that stuff.

brakebleeder

Wow....That is one beautiful Trans Am.....love it

actarnoff

iTrader: (1)

Was yours a repop? Up until a few years ago, Classic sold both repop and GM bumper covers, for roughly the same price. For my recent accident I went 100% OEM, because when it came down to it, the extra prep to get a aftermarket part to fit would end up breaking even with the cost to repair a used OEM part.

ghost91

It is a reproduction. The only complaint I have about classic is the lower spoiler..quality could be a little better. Nice piece though.

Classic1

Hello Everyone,

I am the Merchandising Director for Classic Industries. As a sponsor of ThirdGen.org, we appreciate and value the feedback we get from our customers, both bad and good. It lets us know what we are doing right and when improvements can be made, we do our best to get them made right away for the good of our brand and the good of the hobby.

We would like to thank 1982Trans Am for taking the time to shoot all of these pictures and for posting a review of his experiences. We are going to review both of the products mentioned in this post.... the nose and the spoiler and see if we can determine if there are any issues that would cause the poor fitment issues shown in these photos. If there are issues, then we will correct it immediately, even if it means re-tooling.

However, I think it is important to note that when you have a vehicle that has been involved in a collision, there can be hidden damage and misalignment with the substructure that can cause alignment issues. These urethane parts by nature are very flexible and they are designed to simply cover up the less visually appealing bumper support and impact bar. When you have bent or warped substructure that is designed to support these bumper covers and you are unable to get the substructure restored to original specs, you can end up with misalignment and the bulging like you see in these photos. Because these nose panels are made in the USA and have all been through rigorous test-fitting and quality control, I would bet that there is some hidden damage on that car that is causing these alignment issues.

There was also some discussion about the nose needing to be painted and sanded three times to get it to look smooth. I would say that it is completely normal for any body panel, whether it is urethane, fiberglass or steel to require priming and sanding to achieve a smooth final result.

In regards to the trouble Mantaguy had a while back, remember, that his nose had been painted prior to fitment on the car and there were other issues with an ill-fitting fender that he felt may have contributed to his issues.

We highly recommend that all fitment be done PRIOR to refinishing. This allows the installer to get all necessary adjustments made and any required modifications completed without concern about damaging a delicate fresh coat of paint. Fit first, then when you are happy with the alignment, remove the bumper cover, prep, prime and paint it, then re-install.

If anyone would like to contact me directly to discuss these parts or any other parts further, please PM me here and I will respond to any questions or comments. Thanks a lot for everyone's interesting feedback.

Ray Yager - Merchandising Director
Classic Industries
www.classicindustries.com

1982Trans Am

Thanks for the response, Mr. Yager! I can honestly say that I wasn't expecting a response from Classic, and it's nice to see that Classic Industries has a good customer service like this.

While you are right that there was hidden damage, the entire front end was pushed towards the passenger's side, the frame was corrected at the garage before they started fitment on the bumper. I will say with confidence that the frame is straight on my car, and that is just how the bumper fits. I may have just gotten a bad bumper, but so it goes.

Classic1

Thank you for your response and additional comments. I do have a few questions if you do not mind answering. Do you know what the temperatures were in the shop when this install was being conducted or if this job was done during winter or in cold weather? And, do you know if the paintwork was done before or after fitment to the car? You may PM me if you prefer.

Regarding the possibility of you getting a "bad bumper", we highly doubt it, due to the nature of these products and the type of fitment issues that we can see in the photos. These noses are injection molded urethane and each nose is made from the same tool. So, the shape of each item manufactured will be identical in shape. Sometimes, we might see minor warpage that occurs either during transit or when these are stored off of a vehicle, in a box for instance, in a cool place, but a few minutes in the sun or warm weather and they will almost always very easily snap back to their original intended shape. Urethane, by nature, has memory and will become very flexible in warmer temps. In fact, we recommend a few minutes in the sun prior to install, to allow for greater flexibility while fitting and to allow the nose to return to its original molded shape. Additionally, each piece is Quality Control inspected immediately after manufacture, again at the time of delivery/receipt and then again prior to packaging.

We will do an inspection of the tool and conduct a test fitting of a random control sample from our inventory onto a vehicle from our R&D fleet that is known to be straight and collision free. When we have those results, I will contact you here to let you know the results. Have a great weekend and please contact me any time here at ThirdGen.org should you require any additional assistance.

Ray Yager - Merchandising Director
Classic Industries
www.classicindustries.com

LA Cars

Fitting new stuff to old cars has to be a pain for manufacturers so its good that Classic is willing to look at these situations. I recently bought front and rear covers from them for my Camaro and the fit was great.

3rdgenparts

iTrader: (8)

Should have contacted me,I have a **PILE** of 1982 trans am front bumper's !!!


Dave