Hi all,

The plastic bumpers on my '92 3.0L XL shortie have finally gone brittle and are cracking bad. I've posted the pics in hopes that someone can help me to identify what bumper parts i need. I'd like the same exact ones, but on all these sites i come across, it says with and without molding and so on and so forth.
rear:
front:
I greatly appreciate any insight on this. Thanks in advance.

nick

 

the back bumper comes in three pieces. one long rear piece, and two shorter side pieces. they interlock together. the front bumper is one piece..i had to order a piece of the back bumper from ford 2 yrs ago. it comes without the 2 chrome strips i see on yours. thats the moulding they speak of. also it was all black, like the middle of your bumper. i painted the entire back bumper, leaving the middle black to match what was on it before.
the moulding is that chrome strip. there are two of them for each bumper,a top and bottom one. i used wheel well trim as a cheaper alternative on my back bumper. the pieces originally snap into holes, like the door panels.then tuck into openings at the end of the bumper,near the wheel wells.i would bet all the replacement pieces of the bumper come in all black. then you would have to paint the top and botom to match prev bumper or front bumper. mine is kindof a graphite gray...
i was in a fender bender last year and the body shop buffed out my front bumper, and repainted it ,they used dealer moulding for the two chrome strips, they are still bright and shiney, while the back ones are peeling...hope that helps some..
also ,i think the front bumper is available from j.c. whitney. the back is not, as far as i know.i bought one of the end pieces from the dealer, it cost about 80.00, but i have an extended aerostar. you might try a junkyard search...good luck rick


91 aerostar xl. ext
183 thousand mi. and going....

 

p.p.s.s. i looked at your picture again, i don't see the seam that seperates the pieces of the back bumper like i have, so maybe on shorties the back bumper is also one piece!! rick

 

thanks for the info. i'm going to look around and see how good a price i can get. i've got a place near me so i hopefully won't have to pay shipping. now, if they only have the parts. thanks again.

npasken

 

Shorties definitely have one piece rear bumpers......

 

I concur, as mine has a one piece.

 

Any idea what caused your bumpers to go brittle? I have an 89 and mine are as solid as the day I got the van.

Before you spend the money for new bumpers, you should check the local salvage yard. I was able to find an Aerostar (with no engine) that had a perfect body, including rockers. And you'll get them at a fraction of the cost.

David

 

The wife got rear ended (Hey, watch it....) 2 months after we bought the van. It was repaired with what we were told was OEM parts. The rear bumper was very brittle and started to crack about 6 months after the repair. My insurance people went after the repair shop and found out that they DID NOT install an OEM bumper. Bad one was replaced, no cracking on this one, 10 years and 2 months later.

 

the bumpers most likely got to be really brittle from sun exposure. I bought the van from a guy who kept up with regular preventitive maintenance, but left van to sit in sun (south florida sun) for long periods of time and never really took time to wash or take care of exterior that much. But overall, I'm satisfied...

npasken