Urethane or Fiberglass?

[RJAY]

Whats the difference between a urethane bodykit and a fiberglass one? Which is one is stronger?

[Platinum Panda]

Urethane is stronger and won't crack as easily as fiberglass.

[z6joker9]

GET URETHANE, DONT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE

[TRDtuner]

Urethane will flex alot more before it will break. However the Fibreglass is easier to fix once it's been broken. L8r

[Mistrimeat]

'thane

[oo_snoopy]

don't get fiberglass, if the quality is bad it cost a lot just to put on.

[nccelica]

urethane more durable
fiberglass alot easier to repair

[DeMo00CeliGT]

I'd highly recommend urethane! I have a f/g kit & its the biggest hassle.

[XYRCNCP]

URETHANE!!!

[Chris25NJ]

i just dropped off my buddy club kit to get painted/installed, the guy at the shop said he prefers working on fg cause urethane is much harder to work with. just as long as i don't hit any curbs and smash it up i'll be happy

[celwin]

Take it from someone who ran up a curb. Urethane is preferable. I only cracked the bumper at the bottom after running up a curb with my Urehtane bumper. If I had the fiberglass front I would have split the bumper in two

[Chris25NJ]

i donno, the guy at the shop has been installing body kits for 10 years. he said he recommends fiberglass, cause the kits are cheaper, and they are easier to paint, install, fit and patch. he said urethane is a bitch to work with, cause it's harder to paint, plus materials cost more (special primer) so he charges more, and if the fit isn't good they are imposible to get to look good.

Plus i have seen many of the urethane bumper cover kits in person. (like rmm) and I think that if you don't want to pay $$$ to get it molded then you are better off with a fiberglass full bumper kit. the seams on the bumper covers look rediculous! However, i'm sure it comes down to the person installing it, but if i paid that much for a rmm kit, I would be really pissed if you could plainly see all the seams and gaps around the lip. The only full urethane bumper that you can get is kamanari, right?

[QWKsilvr808]

there ARE fibreglass kits out there that are very flexible and can withstand a good impact. They just don't come from Hong Kong.

Also, keep in mind that urethane kits are considerably heavier than fibreglass.

[Chris25NJ]

don't you have that backwards? I would think that urethane is lighter than fibreglass

[QWKsilvr808]

Originally posted by Chris25NJ
don't you have that backwards? I would think that urethane is lighter than fibreglass

Uhhh I think you should go to your local body shop and compare. Fibreglass is just a fibre impregnated with a resin (and often gel-coat)... while urethane is basically a big rubbery plastic mass. Usually very bulky material, while fibreglass is only a couple mm thick. Glassing methods in Japan create an even lighter, yet stronger and flexible fibreglass, with some being VERY comparable to urethane at less than HALF the weight.

But you don't have to take my word for it. One trip to a shop to test lift a Kaminari urethane front vs. even something from VIS should be very "enlightening". ;)

[Chris25NJ]

wow, i've never seen a kamanari kit that wasn't already installed. So It was just a guess. I thought my buddy club front bumper was pretty heavy. Just imagined the kamanari front to be like about the same weight as the stock bumper. I'll have to see one uninstalled and take a good look at it from behind.

[coOOlcelica]

go with urethane.........

i agree urethane is heavy than fiberglass after my experience with kaminari front!!

[QWKsilvr808]

hehe well here's a little food for thought... I ordered the whole C-ONE kit, but went with the front lip spoiler instead of the full front bumper. My friend however, DID order the front bumper, and we got them all in the same shipment. When I took his front bumper out of the box, I could lift it with ONE finger. How's that for light? Hey and I'm not talking straining here at all. :) He also ordered a Kaminari rear urethane bumper, and it wieghed about the same as the stock one (which of course was much heavier than the C-ONE bumper). Some of the fibreglass pieces in the shop my friend runs were quite a bit heavier than our JDM pieces, but still much lighter than urethane pieces from WW, which were also lying around all over the place. Still, if I had a urethane lip, I'd drop the front of my car a little bit more because I wouldn't be worried about bonking it around at all. Even if it does flex, I still worry about my kit... prolly because it cost me so damned much. :(

[pokgai]

got any pics of your kit????

[2002GT_Celica]

I myself am getting a fiberglass kit. What is the problem with fiberglass if you don't plan on running into things? I am extremely careful when I drive to make sure I don't go over small hills and bumps too fast so I doubt that it will be a problem. Fiberglass is cheaper and the other day my friend ran into a curb with a fiberglass kit and the bumper fell off, but did not crack at all.

[kuruptgt]

my shop won't even work with FG cause they got to patch it all the time. he just told me today about this older guy with a fG bumper on some kinda car and hes real careful and hes been back like 5 times already to get it fixed. urethane is the way to go who cares if its cheap you get what you pay for. see my crash pics and you can see how well the urethane side skirt barely got messed up. http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraida/p2640a6c0281e1e4b75d8a91e40d2408d/fddaa170.jpg