Grille and bumper cover replacement 2005 with fog lights

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amerbeauty97

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Hi all! You all are said to be the experts so here we go. Please help!

1. Looking for some guidance on whether I can use any other grille to replace a cracked one. They are far and few between plus really expensive. If not, how do I repair it? Most of the top clips are busted and there’s a crack on the right side.
2. Is the front bumper cover replacement really as easy as it looks in YouTube videos? Mine has gapping holes.
Thank you!
 

Johnny O

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Hi all! You all are said to be the experts so here we go. Please help!

1. Looking for some guidance on whether I can use any other grille to replace a cracked one. They are far and few between plus really expensive. If not, how do I repair it? Most of the top clips are busted and there’s a crack on the right side.
2. Is the front bumper cover replacement really as easy as it looks in YouTube videos? Mine has gapping holes.
Thank you!
Bumper cover is super easy to do. Either get a junkyard donor, or pay the bucks and buy new- they are readily available online for affordable prices. I suggest buying a package of replacement clips online. I recently got a bag of 75 for 14 bucks on amazon....has all clips and the plastic pop rivets except for the running board cover clips. You will find most of your clips will be very brittle and will break as you pull panels and such.

As for the grille, I have seen them for around 200$, since they are just plastic, they are fairly easy to repair if you want to try it. However, you may find the scrap yard is your friend.

I suggest a two part epoxy resin like Apoxy Sculpt for filling gaps and divots and such. JB Weld will not work well on the plastics they made these from- I learned this the hard way- it just peels right off after curing. The tricky part is bonding the cracked sections together. You will need to sand the surfaces on the interior side with coarse grit and give a good rough surface. Then on the exterior, one will need to get wicked with the painter's tape and duct tape and "clamp" everything where it belongs.
Next, using a dremel or very sharp craft knife one will need to "bevel" the interior edges on each side of the crack. Next, bond it with an appropriate cyanoacrylate GEL. You may find a cure accelerator like Zip Kicker, will make this easier. Once the super glue is cured, mix up some Apoxy Sculpt and roll it into a noodle about twice the diameter of the bevels on your crack. Lightly mist the roughed, beveld crack and gently work in the noodle with a wet finger before the Apoxy cures (takes a bit)

use the sculptor's secret: since Apoxy can be smoothed and contoured with water... So cut a bit of coarse cloth or window screen and with wet fingers work it into your bead over the crack. Then quickly add another noodle of Apoxy over top of that and work it into the cloth and the roughed up areas of the plastic. This creates a permanent hard "bandage"

Allow everything to cure at least 48 hours, then protect it with a coat of plastic compatible paint like 2x Painter's Touch Paint and Primer in One for Plastics in the chosen color for your grille. On the front side, you may need to use some Apoxy to fill gaps and such, then will need to get creative with the fine grit to smooth it up for primer and paint. DO NOT use automotive prime on plastics- it will dissolve and weaken the polymers.

This is the easiest DIY method. The other would be friction welding with a dremel, but this takes a pretty high skill level and some knowledge. I recently used the above method to repair/restore a fender, three interior door panels, and my front grill. It was less trouble than friction welding.

You can get an idea from my build thread in the Member's Build Journals section on here.

I challenge anyone to find the cracks in the grille which I didn't cover with bedliner!
 

amerbeauty97

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Bumper cover is super easy to do. Either get a junkyard donor, or pay the bucks and buy new- they are readily available online for affordable prices. I suggest buying a package of replacement clips online. I recently got a bag of 75 for 14 bucks on amazon....has all clips and the plastic pop rivets except for the running board cover clips. You will find most of your clips will be very brittle and will break as you pull panels and such.

As for the grille, I have seen them for around 200$, since they are just plastic, they are fairly easy to repair if you want to try it. However, you may find the scrap yard is your friend.

I suggest a two part epoxy resin like Apoxy Sculpt for filling gaps and divots and such. JB Weld will not work well on the plastics they made these from- I learned this the hard way- it just peels right off after curing. The tricky part is bonding the cracked sections together. You will need to sand the surfaces on the interior side with coarse grit and give a good rough surface. Then on the exterior, one will need to get wicked with the painter's tape and duct tape and "clamp" everything where it belongs.
Next, using a dremel or very sharp craft knife one will need to "bevel" the interior edges on each side of the crack. Next, bond it with an appropriate cyanoacrylate GEL. You may find a cure accelerator like Zip Kicker, will make this easier. Once the super glue is cured, mix up some Apoxy Sculpt and roll it into a noodle about twice the diameter of the bevels on your crack. Lightly mist the roughed, beveld crack and gently work in the noodle with a wet finger before the Apoxy cures (takes a bit)

use the sculptor's secret: since Apoxy can be smoothed and contoured with water... So cut a bit of coarse cloth or window screen and with wet fingers work it into your bead over the crack. Then quickly add another noodle of Apoxy over top of that and work it into the cloth and the roughed up areas of the plastic. This creates a permanent hard "bandage"

Allow everything to cure at least 48 hours, then protect it with a coat of plastic compatible paint like 2x Painter's Touch Paint and Primer in One for Plastics in the chosen color for your grille. On the front side, you may need to use some Apoxy to fill gaps and such, then will need to get creative with the fine grit to smooth it up for primer and paint. DO NOT use automotive prime on plastics- it will dissolve and weaken the polymers.

This is the easiest DIY method. The other would be friction welding with a dremel, but this takes a pretty high skill level and some knowledge. I recently used the above method to repair/restore a fender, three interior door panels, and my front grill. It was less trouble than friction welding.

You can get an idea from my build thread in the Member's Build Journals section on here.

I challenge anyone to find the cracks in the grille which I didn't cover with bedliner!
Thank you so much! I think I’ll go for it with both the replacement of the bumper cover and trying to fix the grille.
 

John246

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ON LINE GOT GRILL WITH FOR MY 2005 READY TO PAINT W/ INSERT LESS THAT $200.00 SHIPPED TO MY DOOR IT
 

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