Flipping rear diving board bumper over

[Conserv]

37 minutes ago, visionaut said:

Steve, so you think the top and bottom of the bumper got a different finish from the factory?

 

I’d have thought the full bumper got anodized (even the backside), and the aluminum surface prep was the same on the whole exterior of the bumper. Are you saying the pre-prep prior to the bright anodizing finish was only done on the tops?

 

Tom,

 

I’m not certain the factory systematically, from beginning to end of the square taillight bumper production, treated the tops and bottoms differently. 100% of the bumper was originally anodized. But I — before I got the re-anodization bug — assumed I’d simply flip the front bumper, which had 6 holes on the top from a pair of aux lights plus a pair of urban-sized light guards. The difference in top and bottom finishes was dramatic. Was it simply 40 years of waxing the top while half-assing the bottom? Maybe. Maybe not. But everything was originally anodized. Could they have a done a bit less pre-dip or post-dip work on the bottom? Conceivably.

 

On my re-anodized bumpers, tops and bottoms are identical, suitable for flipping, so to speak! The entire bumper gets stripped of old anodizing and is then polished — to eliminate defects — before it gets dipped. It then gets polished after the dipping. Perfect, and certainly requiring more attention than BMW could give the bumpers in 1976.

 

By “un-done side”, I was simply trying to imagine how the re-anodization shop could reduce the cost if one said, “just do the top”. If they didn’t strip the bottom, didn’t polish the bottom pre-dipping, and didn’t polish the bottom post-dipping, they could conceivably save a few hours of labor. But: a.) would the new anodization adhere in the same way without surface prep, and b.) would the shop share any labor savings with the customer who asked for such a “custom order”? Maybe. Maybe not.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

[Tom Daley]

Is it in a museum? 

[Conserv]

7 hours ago, Tom Daley said:

Is it in a museum? 

It spent some time at the BMWCCA Foundation’s Icon show, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 2002 (in 2018).

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

[Tom Daley]

Very Nice.