Swapping out bumpers

[Clancaster23]

I have an '06 SLT with the chrome bumpers and grille. The rear bumper needs replaced, has a couple holes and rust spots and I think it's slightly bent since the tailgate touches it and has worn two small scratches in the paint. Plus the cover on it is kind of warped so I want to replace it. Front bumper is good aside from a bend around the middle on the bottom half where it meets the black filler piece. Grille is in ok shape, a little faded where it meets the hood but is flaked on the inside corners. All of this and just to add that I'm not a big fan of chrome.

Found a picture of exactly what I would like to have it look like in the end and this is the same color I have now: http://gtcarlot.com/colors/car/45395341.html

The grille I'm not worried about, I can get one and paint it to match but wondering what I would need to look for to swap out the bumpers, particularly the front. For example if I took off the front chrome bumper would I be able to put something like this right on in place of it?
https://www.carparts.com/details/Do...ABCZhdv8cZyK6empuNxoC0yIQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I'm guessing the rear bumper wouldn't matter, just get one that is primed and paint so basically what do I need to replace my existing chrome front to the sport body color type?

 

[HemiLonestar]

I know with the 02-05's you need to swap the bumper support for the sport bumper, I don't imagine it being different for the 06-08 but hopefully someone who's done the swap will chime in here.

 

[Clancaster23]

So no one has done this conversion?? I find that hard to believe.

By the way, love that truck.

 

[HemiLonestar]

Thank you
And not really, more people convert the 02-05 front end to 06-08 than swapping bumpers around within the 06-08's.

 

[Red_Sled]

Does anyone know if a 4th gen rear bumper will fit on the 3rd gen without major modification?

 

[HemiLonestar]

It will not

 

[Fishstickz]

Apologies for being late to the party, but you're basically wanting to swap from the chrome & metal bumper to the sport bumper cover right? If so I can tell you its relatively easy. I had the metal bumper on my truck and "swapped" for a paint-matched cover. I say swapped but you'll literally just install the painted bumper cover over your chrome bumper. Its been awhile since I did this swap so bear with me some of this may be a bit inaccurate lol

1. First thing you'll have to do is take that top plastic piece off of the chrome bumper. Depending on the truck its either black or matches the trucks paint. IIRC, theres 1 or 2 bolts on each side, the middle snap-in bump-step thing on top, and about 4 screw-in plastic retaining clips underneath. Then you should be able to pull it right off.
2. Once you have that off, you'll have to do something with the fog light holes. I personally don't have fog lights so I can't tell you how to go about this part. You'll have to remove the fog light shrouds, and you may end up having the remove the fog lights for now as well. You'll put em back later.
3. In front of the two front tires, there two bolts on each side going into the chrome bumper. Remove them for now.
4. With all that done, you should be able to drape the new bumper cover over the chrome bumper relatively easy. To hold the cover in place, reinstall the snap-in bumper step pad and reinstall one bolt in front of each tire. Only one of the bolt holes will line up and thats alright for now.
5. Then you CAN put in the screw retaining clips. Personally my clips broke so I didn't reinstall these, and I haven't had any issues.
6. If you have fog lights, go on and reinstall them if you had to take them out. Don't reinstall the black shroud that goes with the chrome bumper though.
7. Last thing, If your cover seems to be "leaning back", reposition it so that it's level and then in the bumper cover's empty screw hole, you'll take a drill and punch a hole thru the chrome bumper for those two extra bolts so that the bumper cover sits level. It's kinda hard to reach in there to put the nut, but give it some patience and you'll manage.

After all that you should be good to go! I did this swap about a year ago and it brought a whole new look to the truck. One of my favorite mods

This was before. The chrome bumper had been “paint matched” poorly and had a lot of rust spots forming. I put plasti-dip over it but it didn’t stay for very long. Before I put the bumper cover on I made sure to remove the plastidip and covered the rust spots with something more permanent


And here’s after I got everything on the front end paint-matched. Definitely not my best pic, I’ll go out and get a closer view here in a little bit

 

[Checkster2008]

I have a 2008 with chrome bumper. I have looked all over for a black bumper cover for a chrome bumper with no luck. I know they are out there. Any ideas. Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[Fishstickz]

I have a 2008 with chrome bumper. I have looked all over for a black bumper cover for a chrome bumper with no luck. I know they are out there. Any ideas. Thanks in advance for any info.

They didnt make any bumper covers specifically for the chrome bumpers. To do what I did in the post above i used an ‘06-08 SPORT bumper cover and just installed it over the chrome bumper. With those steps above it was a perfect fit over my chrome-style bumper

I ordered my bumper cover off of amazon and just had a body shop paint it to match. Thats gonna be the easiest route because finding one thats already painted to your specific color is gonna be hard to find


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