'10-14 Exterior Modifications Place to discuss all 2010-2014 exterior modifications

Can bumpers be modified?

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Old Oct 10, 2014 | 11:37 AM
  #1  
2012White5.0's Avatar
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Can bumpers be modified?

Question for those of you that know a thing or two about body work.

Is it possible to have the gap left by the 2013/2014 tail lights on a 2010-2012 mustang filled in? I thought maybe fiberglass could be used.

Excuse my ignorance, but I know very little about body work. I would love to convert to the newer tail lights. I would prefer to keep the 2012 bumper, becasue I like the look of black rocker panels, and diaper on the rear bumper better.


I would have reflectors cut to fit the shape of the 4 indents in the diaper of the 2012 bumper.

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Old Oct 10, 2014 | 11:48 AM
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Originally Posted by 2012White5.0
Question for those of you that know a thing or two about body work. Is it possible to have the gap left by the 2013/2014 tail lights on a 2010-2012 mustang filled in? I thought maybe fiberglass could be used. Excuse my ignorance, but I know very little about body work. I would love to convert to the newer tail lights. I would prefer to keep the 2012 bumper, becasue I like the look of black rocker panels, and diaper on the rear bumper better. I would have reflectors cut to fit the shape of the 4 indents in the diaper of the 2012 bumper. [/IMG]
Anything can be done for a price. A good body shop can actually heat up the bumper until it's pliable, and massage that indentation to be flatter. It will never be perfectly flush, but it would be better. Then you could essentially glue in strips of ABS plastic to fill the gap, bondo, sand, bondo, sand, until smooth, paint over and it would look OEM. That is probably $1500-2000 in labor though (rough estimate with my time at a high end audio shop doing fiberglass sub boxes, which is essentially body work).
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Old Oct 10, 2014 | 12:13 PM
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What about doing some custom reflectors to fill the gap?
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Old Oct 10, 2014 | 12:41 PM
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Originally Posted by CCTking
What about doing some custom reflectors to fill the gap?
It would ruin the look of the lights, IMO.
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Old Oct 10, 2014 | 01:05 PM
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It probably wouldn't run you much more to just do a 13/14 rear end swap.
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Old Oct 10, 2014 | 01:08 PM
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Originally Posted by MDkid92
It probably wouldn't run you much more to just do a 13/14 rear end swap.
This lol. But I prefer the black lower pieces of the 10-12 cars. It visually "lightens" the heft of the car. I also prefer the 10-12 front end, especially with the Boss fascia but I love our lighting elements and my hood vents.
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Old Oct 10, 2014 | 02:06 PM
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Originally Posted by laserred38

This lol. But I prefer the black lower pieces of the 10-12 cars. It visually "lightens" the heft of the car. I also prefer the 10-12 front end, especially with the Boss fascia but I love our lighting elements and my hood vents.
Ok, how about a 13-14 rear bumper with the California Special diffuser?
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Old Oct 10, 2014 | 02:16 PM
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I went through this myself. had the 13 taillights on for about a year and a half and I filled in the gap with a plastic strip (made from a plastic binder) to make it look OEM.

tried to use reflective tape to fill it in, but it looked like ***. someone else used carbon fiber tape and it looked just ok. someone else on this board got a body shop to fill it in and it looked good, but not worth all the work in my opinion.

I was happy enough keeping it as is, but got a good deal on a 14 bumper cover and the only way I would consider installing it was with the CS/Boss 302 lower diffuser. now I think I have the best of both worlds.

if you search the board you will see pics of all the stuff I'm talking about.
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Old Oct 10, 2014 | 07:31 PM
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Originally Posted by laserred38
This lol. But I prefer the black lower pieces of the 10-12 cars. It visually "lightens" the heft of the car. I also prefer the 10-12 front end, especially with the Boss fascia but I love our lighting elements and my hood vents.


I love the front especially with the cdc chin spoiler I have on it. The 2013+ tail light look much more refined. I don't unstand why they put the kink in the 2010-2012's
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Old Oct 11, 2014 | 12:39 AM
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http://www.americanmuscle.com/raxiom...trim-1012.html

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Old Oct 12, 2014 | 03:34 PM
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On a white car, I bet it looks hideous. On a black, awesome. On a red, or blue... eh.

Gonna depend greatly on the car, those things, Gary.
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Old Oct 12, 2014 | 04:14 PM
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Originally Posted by houtex
On a white car, I bet it looks hideous. On a black, awesome. On a red, or blue... eh. Gonna depend greatly on the car, those things, Gary.
Just paint them to match.
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Old Oct 12, 2014 | 05:21 PM
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Looks like they just released! As long as the accountant (wife) approves I would get these a paint them white.
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Old Oct 12, 2014 | 08:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Getportfolio
Just paint them to match.
Yeah, that smaller gap between that filler and the bumper will be totally acceptable...
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Old Oct 20, 2014 | 01:04 PM
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I'm starting to think I may be one of the few people who likes having red taillights. I love the LED outline of the 13-14s but wish they were a tinted red... not basically black.
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Old Oct 20, 2014 | 01:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Krohn
I'm starting to think I may be one of the few people who likes having red taillights. I love the LED outline of the 13-14s but wish they were a tinted red... not basically black.
When I first got my car, I got red Lamin-X tint for the centers of the tails. I loved the look, but it rendered my reverse lights useless, so I pulled it off. I may add it back on and make some kind of LED backup light solution, but down the road.
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Old Oct 21, 2014 | 10:40 PM
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Originally Posted by laserred38
When I first got my car, I got red Lamin-X tint for the centers of the tails. I loved the look, but it rendered my reverse lights useless, so I pulled it off. I may add it back on and make some kind of LED backup light solution, but down the road.
This thread may interest you:
https://themustangsource.com/forums/...cement-533424/
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Old Oct 21, 2014 | 11:27 PM
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Originally Posted by VIP1
I've been watching
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