Metal Vs Plastic Car Bumpers...

Sep 26, 2003 3 Replies

Hi there does anyone has any info about the pros and cons of Metal and Plastic Car Bumpers? I have no idea where to get the information and I would like to evaluate those for a design project, we are currently trying to build an electric car based on a electric golf chasis, this is for a industrial design project, but we dont have much info at the university's library...



We are gathering the information on several books that we got from outsiders as well as the internet, magazines and visits that we are doing as part of the investigation (car dumpsters, driving wheel factory)...


any information on external articles (bumpers, mirrors, handles, headlights, rearlights, etc) would be more than welcome.



Thanks in advance.


Silly as it may sound, take a walk in a wrecking yard.

Kate

We've done this, I even have pictures, but I need concrete data on why one material is superior to the other...why metallic bumpers are produced less now than 10 years ago...

Cost. Weight. Ugly.

It's difficult to make a non-ugly bumper out of metal that meets the regs. It's easy to hide the metal and use styrofoam under a urathane plastic cover.

there's a metal bumper under that urathane, it's just ugly and only needs to be painted cause nobody sees it.

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