Cadillac & LaSalle Club Discussion Forum

Cadillac & LaSalle Club Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: Hankk17 on November 02, 2011, 08:42:04 PM

Title: good quality ABS plastic bumper fillers?
Post by: Hankk17 on November 02, 2011, 08:42:04 PM
OK I'm on a hunt for decent quality ABS plastic bumper fillers.  The ones my lousy bodyshop ordered are - according to my resident caddy expert - shoddy.  I've recently ordered another set that was also sub-par.  Where can I go?

this would be for my '76 deville btw.

thx!
Title: Re: good quality ABS plastic bumper fillers?
Post by: Mike Josephic CLC #3877 on November 02, 2011, 08:53:46 PM
The products from USA Parts are good -- I've used them on my '73.
See their website or look at their ad in Hemmings.

Be forewarned however that wherever you buy these they will require
some minor fitting (some trimming with a Dremel tool) to get the exact
fit.  There are a number of people selling ABS replacements for these old
polyurethane panels -- however, they are all made by the same
manufacturer.

Mike
Title: Re: good quality ABS plastic bumper fillers?
Post by: 76eldo on November 02, 2011, 11:35:10 PM
Here is some valuable info:

www.sheffieldgarage.com/fillers.htm (http://www.sheffieldgarage.com/fillers.htm)

I created this web article a couple of years ago for Eldorado owners, but the DeVille fillers are about the same and the procedure is the same.

Good luck.

Brian
Title: Re: good quality ABS plastic bumper fillers?
Post by: R Schroeder on November 04, 2011, 07:58:51 AM
I did have a problem with E & K fillers. Also known as S & K
The first set they sent me were VERY bad. I did get them to send me another set which fit real good. I don't believe there is just one company that makes these , as the first set didn't look anything like the second set. Different dies all together.
You will have to work with them a little for fit, but they should be close. My first set I could not even get to fit on the car. The 76 should be a lot easier to work with than my 78.
Roy

There are several companies for these fillers. I have bought parts from this company too, but they too had to be fitted. These were for around the license plate area, and the wood grain piece on the steering wheel. The steering wheel piece fit very nice , but it was slightly off color on the wood grain.
http://www.autobodyfillersusa.com/servlet/StoreFront
Title: Re: good quality ABS plastic bumper fillers?
Post by: 76eldo on November 04, 2011, 08:46:47 AM
The quarter panel extensions have a lot of room to adjust by over drilling the holes and/or grinding down the steel backing supports that go inside the filler.

The 77/78 Eldorado parts that run directly under the trunk lid are not too bad either.

The hardest ones to fit properly are the 76 style Eldorado's because you have not only the overall fit to deal with, but every set I have done requires work to get the tail light openings to fit properly and allow the chrome molding to go back on under the tail light.  Luckily, the tail lights have adjustments on the mounts for up and down, and in and out.

Sure would be nice if any of these guys came up with a true bolt on piece for our cars.

Brian
Title: Re: good quality ABS plastic bumper fillers?
Post by: Hankk17 on November 04, 2011, 10:14:54 AM
Thanks guys!  So it's safe to say that sometimes the abs molds aren't always a perfect pull?  I'm assuming these are made via vacuum injecting like a huge plastic model.

You'd think with all the market there seems to be for these that there would be one quality place to go for them..  you can't swing a dead cat around a cruise night without hitting someone who needs a set.
Title: Re: good quality ABS plastic bumper fillers?
Post by: TJ Hopland on November 04, 2011, 12:18:13 PM
One place I used to work did deal with some plastic molded stuff and I remember being amazed at how expensive the molds were.  We had one part that was not quite right but it was easier to modify the 'wrong' parts vs. get a new mold made.   The part we were dealing with was a pretty simple part that would fit in your hand and I seem to recall it was something like $10,000 to have the mold made not counting all the paper and computer design work.  We also had some issue with the way they were making them at this particular facility and their machines could not handle the material we decided we wanted.  Problem then was our mold would not fit the type of machine that would handle the material.   It was a similar volume piece to these parts so we just could not justify making the new molds.   
Title: Re: good quality ABS plastic bumper fillers?
Post by: Hankk17 on November 04, 2011, 03:06:36 PM
makes me wonder what happened to the original castings that GM obviously had to make in the 70s for these cars... where's Indiana Jones when you need him?
Title: Re: good quality ABS plastic bumper fillers?
Post by: Hankk17 on November 04, 2011, 03:32:42 PM
How about these guys - anyone use them?

www.rubbertherightway.com

http://www.rubbertherightway.com/1976-cadillac-restoration-parts-body-37554-prd1.htm

Title: Re: good quality ABS plastic bumper fillers?
Post by: R Schroeder on November 04, 2011, 03:51:12 PM
The way mine were made , and I assume all of them for the 77 , 78 , 79 , etc are in two pieces. They then mold the two together. The steel mounting bracket has to be cut in half and ground down in a lot of the area, because the new pieces have a big radius inside. The stock mounting bracket will not go in , on the 77 on up.
My first set was put together wrong and made them very narrow. No way were you going to mount them. They also were a 1/2 to short in length. One of them had a bad twist in it. They were nothing like the second set I got, and I still had to do some fitting.
So, if they are not close send them back.
Roy

I think if I remember right , "Rubber the right way" , was more in cost, but I dont know about there quality. Its a crap shoot.