I'm in the process of restoring my neglected 4Runner and going through a number of repairs and addressing deferred maintenance items. One of them is the front bumper.

My primary issues I am trying to address are with the lower valence and metal bumper face bar. I didn't know if others have attempted repairs or just picked up new bumpers. My goal is to keep a stock look, modified to meet the aesthetic of other enhancements to my truck. My bumper is currently removed and disassembled into its component parts (upper plastic valence, metal face bar, lower plastic valence). Truck is a 1999 SR5 Highlander in black. Face bar is body colored, plastics are unpainted and faded. My plan was to repaint the metal face bar. It's taken quite a bit of rock damage over the years and paint is pretty chipped. I was going to bedliner the plastic valences to match my bedlinered fender flares.

Structural Fixes / Repairs Needed

Metal Face Bar
Spot welds on one of the mounting brackets popped. Debating whether to buy a new face bar and paint it black since I was already planning on respraying my existing face bar. Trying to determine if it is more economical to re-weld the support bracket to the face bar or just get a new face bar, strip it down and repaint. My concern about re-welding the bracket on to face bar are that it could be out of alignment and cause fitment issues. My concern buying a used bumper would be all the prep required to repaint and difficulty finding a 1999-2002 bumper in good condition.



Lower Plastic Valence
Several mounting tabs have broken off. Some right behind the front license plate area. I think those will be fairly easy to fix with epoxy. Mounting tabs attaching the top part of the valence to the metal face bar have broken out and I don't have a solution identified I feel confident with yet. I'm debating trying to plastic weld with either a metal support screen or some other structural element. 2-tabs are torn out. I'm looking for better solutions if anyone has any. Here are the tab locations:



Debating if it is worthwhile to try and fix or source a new valence. I've seen some aftermarket ones for about $100 shipped. If I was confident they were quality replacements, I'd just go with a replacement. If I could source an OEM part at a junkyard, I'd consider that option - although I'd be concerned with broken tabs and damage I'd have to fix anyway.

Any thoughts from the brain trust here? I did a quick T4R search and didn't find a ton of info. I don't know if anyone has bookmarks linked or has better search skills than I do. Appreciate all the help!

I know it’s not exactly the same thing, but I just picked up aftermarket chrome pieces for the rear bumper (factory look). Seems fine. I’ll know more after the install (and post photos).

I’ve also noticed a lack of info on stock bumper restoration. I think a lot of people just live with a beat up factory bumper until they’re ready to get some armor?

I'm looking in to fixing up the rear bumper, too. I have some pretty significant dings in mine. I think the previous owners enjoyed backing into walls. My goal has been to repair or replace all wear parts / maintenance items bumper to bumper. So far I haven't made it past the engine bay.

What aftermarket suppliers have you found? I'm a little bit more in to quality than price these days. Any reputable?

Sounds like we have similar goals.

You can check out my build thread to see some of the parts I got (link in my signature). I prefer OEM for the most part on critical components/systems, but for the bumper chrome I just went cheapest on AMZN. They seem to look fine and fit. The middle section showed up with a very small dent near the bottom/underside, but not very noticeable, and a few of the mounting tabs were bent in transit, but not a big deal to me. Evan Fischer was the chrome supplier.

we replaced our front valance with a new one. the old one was cracked and pretty wretched. i looked into attempting to fix it, and realized that with the kind of wind it has to put up with, there's really no adhesive that would hold against that vibration. i could bracket and bolt it, and then i'd have ugly bolts showing... so got the new one from amazon and it was a perfect fit. arrived in about the largest, lightest box the UPS guy had ever seen, he said. i told him i bought 4 lbs of air. the exact one i got is no longer listed on amazon, but it sounds like you have located some.