oem or aftermarket bumper cover
 

the aftermarket on ebay are unbelieveably cheaper is there a reason i shouldnt go the ebay route is it worth the hundreds more for oem? is it gunna look like garbage or something?

wavy, warp, OEM FTW

Well, my dad works at a GM dealership and I am now in need of all that bumper stuff too. I asked him about going aftermarket and he said I should stick GM because the aftermarket stuff doesn't always line up or fit as well.

damnit wtf that sucks ughhh lol i wish i could do body work this is gunna cost a fortune the first shop quoted me 800 i literallly laughed in this guys face.

might as well get a kit while you are at it, dont bother with OEM :D

Tom, don't bother posting in this thread. :)

umm...SCREW YOU GUYS! I'M GOIN HOME!

If u go aftermarket, be warned some stuff out there doesn't fit for shit

what do bodyshops use oem or aftermarket generally speaking that is?

depends where you go. the shop i worked in over summer used parts off of wrecked cars. unless they could find aftermarket parts cheaper. its a matter of price. if you tell them specifically you want one or the other they will meet your request. as long as they arent crooked that is...

most bodyshops around here have contracts with local scrap yards to lift good body panels off and reuse them...

so maybe go find a junk yard with a good bumper you can have?

how do u take the cover off is it just some bolts underneath or is it very complicated?

depends which one youre talking about. both are fairly easy, but the front one has quite a bit more holding it on. rear just has some (maybe 6?) push in type fasteners along the trunk opening and under the taillights i believe, and then a few screws holding it to the wheel well area if i remember correctly. the front has the same push in type fasteners at the top, then a bunch of screws holding it to the wheel well liner and underneath. and if theyre rusted, its next to impossible to get them out .

here is my word on aftermarket vs OEM

i`ll start with OEM, of course a factory bumper is going to fit perfect, but if the tech lets say did pull the car correctly and one rail is still swayed over or down, or the core support is still over, a factory part will fit like garbage

but nothing beats a factory part

the aftermarket is huge with factory remanufactured parts, companies like tong yang<no lie, keystone, just to name a few, and here locally is a company just like keystone that takes factory we will keep this on bumpers, fixes them strips them and you get a factory cover that is repaired and in primer

the tong yang stuff forget it!! that is a company that produces aftermarket crap, nothing fits, if you put a bumper on after its painted look out!! even though the painting process is correct, the bumper was made poolry and will crack the paint, due to the lack of a factory mold at this tong yang company

parts from the company keystone, they have factory stamps and molds and all their stuff is capa certified=oem fit, but keystone also takes a dmamged factory bumper repairs them and sells them in primer at a cheaper cost but yet maintains a factory part and factory finish, if us tech do our job right

insurance companies like i will say giegco, to keep cost down and their low labor rates will use a aftermarket part, to keep cost down, any insurance company will use aftermarket parts first, and then if nothing fits, or it cracks then we get the oem part

using oem parts will up that estiamte mix that in with all the other parts and labor and tax and a car can total in a heartbeat

hope that clears some stuff up

lol you sounded just like the body shop i went to :) thx

Holy shit now thats a reply!

i dunno if you know but im a tech of almost 20yrs
glad to help

o man in that case lemme ask u this its a hole the size of a quater on the front passanger side no damage behind it just that hole can it be fixed without replacing ?

i need a picture

I find that if you have a Maroon (what did they name the color?) Alero, the rubber grey bumper actually looks a lot better than a paintmatched bumper. Go OEM and do it yourself. I slapped one on because I hit a deer and it really ruined my front end so the only thing I cared about was getting a new cover on there. The headlight is still busted, my fogs are gone, but damnit, that pseudo-twotone looks pretty darn good. Cheap, but good.