Bumper Boys any good?
 

I see The Bumper Boys at all the Springfield Oh swap meets. It sure looks like they do a lot of business. Do they do a good job and does the chrome last?

I have never heard anything positive, A freind had a cutlass bumper that peeled immediately, their customer service was non-existant.

Thay are NO F&CKING GOOD!!!! Liars and thieves. Both my bumpers peeled. A$$holes to deal with on the phone.

run search, plenty of details

Never heard anyone speak positively of them. Tri-City Plating in Tenn has had a lot of people speak highly of them.

The rear bumper on my '71 T/A was done by Bumper Boyz. Its exposed to the weather 24 hours a day from April-October and still looks the same as the day I bought it close to five years ago. No peeling, rusting or problems of any kind.

I think the thing with Bumper Boyz is that you need to physically inspect and purchase a bumper in person. Don't call them up and order over the phone.

Mine peeled after a year or so too.

Bumper BoyZ
 

Aren't The Bumper BoyZ (with a Z) out of California? I've seen them at the Syracuse Nationals for a few years now, said they travel all the shows and will bring your bumper to the show. Prices didn't look too bad $400-450 for my GP with a good exchange. Anybody else have bumpers from these guys?

The ONLY things I have ever heard from/about them have been negative.
They literally buy any scrap bumper, in any condition whatsoever, and refinish them using very cheap illegal-immigrant labor (that's why you can almost never get an English-speaking person on the phone). I know of people who have sold them bumpers that were so rusted you could poke your finger through the steel.
So, do you REALLY want to buy a re-done bumper, that started out with them in such poor condition?
No, thanks.

NO !

RUN don't walk away from their junk...:beerchug:

If you check them out at a swap meet,you'll believe the illegal comment.

I have a 67 GTO rear bumper I purchased 2 1/2 years ago. Very,very nice and no problems. The comment about them buying any junk bumper-they wouldn't take my straight core and it wasn't that bad. Sounds like their quality is hit/miss. Only seem to hear good things about Tri-city in TN.

MY neighbor used them for irreplaceable Maserati bumpers.
Sent them back 3 times and finally they came back OK but not great.
He didnt ask me first I would have told him to use TriCitys.Ive had good luck with them and they do speak Englese.

Is phone the only way to talk to TriCity? They wouldn't answer any of my emails.

FritzCat, I've had the same experience. I'm in Iraq, and I cannot get an email reply from Tri-City to save my butt. I ended up finally just paying too much on ebay for a front bumper that was already rechromed. At least that will be sitting at the house waiting for me when I get home for a visit.

You only want to do this once. Spend the extra hundred and go to a shop with a good reputation.

My 68 GTO rear bumper was done by DG plating in Cincinnati. Absolutely beautiful. They even straighten them as part of the service.

I also had the front bumper from the 68 Firebird done there. Its been on the car 7 years now. I know you're local to me; stop over and I'll show you their work.

Bob Trimpe

I got my rear bumper for the '64 LeMans from Bumper Boyz. It is beautiful, and gets a lot of comments from people asking if it's a brand new bumper. It also sat out in the weather for several years before i had an inside place for the car.

The first one sent got damaged in shipping, but they had it picked up, and sent another in no time at no extra cost to me.

Must be something with the EPA, but i bought a Plymouth a few years back that had both bumpers redone by a big re-chromer in the area, and the finish was visibly different....i've been told that they can't do chrom like they did in the old days, and the chrome doesn't have the same look. Bumper Boyz are located really close to the border, so it makes me wonder if they are able to get away with things that others aren't as far as old techniques go. And yes, they are Mexican guys. not just their workers. They strike me as old school "Low Rider" type guys.

customer service definately could be better.

Here's the bad experience:

My buddy called ahead to have them bring one for his '68 conv to one of the events they come to locally - they "forgot" to bring it, so they offered to send him one when they got back with free shipping....so he paid there, and gave the address. next week the owner called, and said that he owed for shipping. my buddy explained what happened, and said that they offered to ship free for the mistake. the guy on the phone said that he didn't care what deal was made at the swapmeet, and that he wasn't shipping until my buddy gave more money. my buddy was furious, but paid it because he needed the bumper, and the repros weren't out yet.

the reason i put "forgot" in parenthesis was that we had a sneaking suspicion that they brought it, but sold it before we got there to pick it up to someone else, planning to throw that offer out there if we showed up.

BTW, the quality and finish on the '68 bumper was also excellent, and gets a lot of compliments.

My experience with them was a couple of years ago when I was working at a high profile Nascar affiliated body shop. I was doing a restoration on a very rare 57 Dodge Hemi car for none other than Ryan Newman. We had ordered both bumpers from Bumper BoyZ. One was fairly decent and the other totally unacceptable, dents were never worked out and the chrome wasn't anything to brag about on either bumper. I have seen Tri-City's quality and has all others beat hands down. IMO there are times when you can get bad products anywhere but when top quality is considered on a $200,000 car you have to get the best you can, not just what you can get.

sounds like they are hit and miss with quality, and spot-on with the poor customer service.

best bet is to see the itme before purchasing i guess....but then that's how i am with everything anyways.

I can say that the quality can't be any better on mine....I know the quality of chrome on repro mirrors compared to original, so i'd take my chances on getting an original bumper re-done compared to gambling with a repro.

For those wondering you can also reach Tri-City Plating at www.tricityplating.com or 800-251-7536
218 E. Mill St, Elizabethton, TN., 37643.

Had them do my front and rear 57 Chev bumpers and last fall they did front and rear 61 Catalina for me. They do a nice job and turn around is reasonable but don't expect show quality metal finishing and plating. Their prices/workmanship are in line for nice driver cars but not top show cars. Don't get me wrong, though, I'm happy caused I didn't want to spend $5K for show chrome. Also, they're happy to plate your cores and return your own bumpers back.........just mark them on the back side
JWW

Bumper Boyz
 

About 5 years ago, I had them do pair of 69 gto tail light bezels. I took them to Carlisle and showed them to Carlos who seems to be running the operation. They were pitted as they all are, not terrible but pitted. He told me they could make them look like new. What a joke- they buffed one a little bit and then plated them with all the pits in place. I called and someone told me that was as good as they could do, and if I could send them a pair with no pits they would plate them for no charge. No refund and I have never found a pair with no pits just out the money. Never again for me. Good Luck with that company.

Purchased a triple-plated bumper for a 69 GTO from Bumper Boyz in '95. It took a while to get it and they sent it to the wrong damn address. Luckily it was in the next neighborhood over and the resident was good enough to find me in the phone book.

However, the quality was excellent and still is 12 years later. Guess I was one of the lucky ones.

Must be like Injuntom says (hit are miss).

I purchased a set of bumpers from bumper boyz back in 1998 for my 71, they looked great then, and still do.

Oh and they even made it to the right address.

Same here the 63' Bumpers are about 5 years old now and looking great!
So I have nothing bad to say.

I am cringing!!! My best friend in college once told me about a FLAKEY girl I was dating in college. "If you want to inflict pain on yourself just come by after school and I will kick you in the nuts and youwon't have to worry about your girlfriend!" Bumper boyz are very bad. Not the same as they used to be, If memory serves me correctly they farm out all of their work now. Don't quote me on that one. But my best friend had to send his 70 chevelle bumpers back 3 times. Yes he had to pay shipping each time. Yep I could have kicked him in the nuts for free!

Seen the display at AC auction. The bumpers on the table still had clips on them that were chromed over. The backsides were all pitted real bad. Keystone does good work. Dave K.

no way man. bumper boys are horrible. buddy of mine had his "redone" bumper less than a month and it rusted thru. will never use those guys EVER

bumper boyz
 

Stay away from the bumpers boyz ....my friend had two done.... they came out fair and after one month they had "dogleg" cracks all along the edges and said you didn't ask to have the dent repaired.....a small one the size of a quarter ! WOW..

3Chiefs, being near Cincinnati, you shoudl call DG Plating. They're in town. I have two excellent bumpers from them. Not cheap. The Firebird bumper is nearly 10 years old and still looks great.

They recently did some bumpers for the shop where I work. They look like crap. I wouldn't have them chrome a door knob for me.

Two thumbs up from me!

My rear bumper is from them - you would be hard pressed to find a flaw in it. Looks perfect. I've had it for 5 years (as I remember). no pealing, no issues.

It sounds like Bumper Boyz quality has gone down hill. The rear bumper on my '71 T/A still looks great after five years and it's exposed to weather all the time. As a matter of fact, its getting rained on right now!

Sucks!

If in or around WI, Northstar Bumper (or plating) does fantastic work!

I cast my vote for Tri-City Plating in Elizabethton, TN. Top quality work- mine looks like new, it's been on the car 8 years

Best for chrome bumpers is tricityplating.I used them 7 times for cars and always awesome job.

I had good luck with the Boyz but it was 9 years ago now. Used my own cores since they were in real good shape. Bumpers still look great.