Restoring the Bumpers on My Saab 900! 

For a former SAAB employee from Trollhättan ( Where the SAAB was born) it is heart warming to see your entusiasm for the brand. I am saving a ” dame Edna ” 2008 in my garage!

I vote for u putting the trim on! Reasons: 1. The holes doesnt look that good. 2. It matches the chrome trim on the doors and grille 3. The trims kind of separates the bumpers and make a nice cut in them so the lines of the bumpers appears much better! *Saab 9-3 -07 1,8t BioPower with MapTune Stage 1*

gotta put the trim on...for sure. nice work. looks good either way.

That chrome strip material is the same thing I bought at Advanced Auto. I took 800 grit and hand sanded the chrome before installation. It made it look just like the original strip, which I believe is plastic coated stainless steel. Looks great.

That looked like a LOT of work, but I'm sure it was very satisfying in the end. I vote for any solution that covers the fastener holes on the side pieces for sure. The idea of painting them black is cool. I find living with it for awhile usually makes the choice obvious. This car was a lot more work than you have done in the past. Kudos to you for sticking with it and reviving a classic. Thanks for taking us along. 👍🙏

Jacob, this is great man, I have the very same thing to do to my newly aquired Saab 900 Turbo Convertible so thank you for the video!! Put the chrome on, you can leave those holes. IMHO.

Looks great! And I definitely vote for putting the trim on. :)

Black trim get one of your mates to wrap them in dechroming tape before refitting. Now you're practiced, now you can have another go at the dash

Man that came out really good. And the trim will make it pop I just redid mine last week.

It looks great!

Yeah she's one sweet ride now! Classic cars in top condition are priceless. One tip on spraying with cans is to heat them up in warm to hotish water before spraying. You will get less splatters. Oh and look after those young lungs and wear a spray mask. Very good job though. Can't wait to see it when the paints done. Love the rare color. Regards from Downunder.

Add the trim. It makes it fully original!

I prefer it with the chrome strip.

Looks great, did something similar on my viggen bumper. I'd put the chrome piece back and paint it.

Add the chrome. Great work!

Great work bud! But go with the trim!

+1 for the trim. Saab said so. Nice work..

Looks fantastic!...90% of successful paint work is prep. I vote for installing the trim as it restores factory look & the body side trim has it.👍

Of course you should put the trim on. As a Swede, I have seen too many old 900s with broken or missing trim, looking sad. Your car will just look neglected without the trim. BUT the trim you got looks a bit too shiny. Perhaps ` Preamble has a good tip? Try out on a left over bit.

Look's nice

Great work! Trim ON pls!

I have an 06 9-3 and here's a trick for the body trim that runs around the car, a heat gun. Saw somewhere on yt and it works great, brings the oils to the surface and makes them nice and black again. I did the cowl piece too. How are the LED headlights you put in your 9-3, recommend?

Well done , it will be interesting to see how long it lasts . I think the trim goes back or take chrome strip off sides.

Great professional job. Would love to see a vid. on trying to restore faded paint too. I vote for no chrome strips.👍

needs spg kit!

Imm show was awesome I seen you there working on some video have to meet you sometime I'm in east mesa azgreat time at the show

Try to put the trim back , even if it not an original spare part. It was very common that these trims fastenings get rusted and fell off ( in Sweden with salted roads in the winter) The chrome trims in the bumper are , from an styling point of view, an extension of the trims on the doors. Keep on the good job!!

I'm not a fan of chrome in general, but I think in this case it really needs it because the fittings are there.

If you like the chrome strip black, get some black vinyl wraping and do a chrome delete. 😉👌 About sanding. The correction of scratches you have to do with like 180 or 220 grit. The 300/600/800 grit is not ment for scratch correction, they are for to smooth away the stripes from the bigger grits. Like the 300 grit smooth away the 220 stripes, the 400 smooth away the 300 the 600 smooth away the 400 and the 800 smooth away the 600 and so on. You dont start with the smaller grits before you are done with the big grit scratch repair... 😉👌

Love your contet but what do you think of the NG 900's? I am restoring a 97 turbo se that sat for 6 years outside and had mold and half of a moving truck worth of trash I think they are pretty neat.

What about painting the trim in the matching paint?

What color did you use for this, I see the primer as 69673 but what is the top coat?

Looks Sooooo much better! Btw, What is that Song with the intense violinlike sound that starts at 5minutes?

Good job. QUESTION? I am painting my 1987 900 bumpers. They came off really easy thanks to your video. Was it easier to put the bumpers on first Or the side facia? In what order did you find it easiest or best. Thank you 👍

With Cr!!

Trim for sure and maybe paint the mirrors with same paint

I just picked up a 1987 900. 2 door. I just ordered sem bumper paint. But in black. Didn't see a option for grey.

Got to say some gloss black trim would look great and cover the holes....ti would be worth measuring its width as I know it is available sticky backed in various Sizes....chrome would be a no no as there is very little chrome on the car except the grill......those are my thoughts anyway 👍👍👍

I would do the trim , maybe the side definitely

There's a SEM bumper (flexible) white primer I used that acted like a filler for the fine scratches. Saab used a clear coat on the bumpers that look really bad with age. Like others said you can use black trim to make it unique. The trim has square holes on each end for mounting with the spring retainer clips. I'd be interested to know how people create square holes.

I wan't to tune my 9-3 1.8t 5 speed manual 2003. I wan't to change the exhaust, intake, sport clutch upgrade maptun? And flywheel also maptun? What do yall recommend? Are the maptun clutches any good? Especially the sport clutch i am thinking about buying the 500nm one it cost around €500 and the flywheel around €500 the you also have a few parts ofcourse which cost around €200-300 i plan on doing the clutch first. The car is already tuned it has around 200pk and i think 260-280 maybe more nm i bought the car already tuned so i don't know the number i plan on going to a dyno soon. Can you guys help me out so i can bring this Saab car the life way better than it has ever been?

A set of super aero wheels would look great on this car

Hmmm, if you dont like trim, you could find some kind og Black Line instead?😊

Chrome trim helps break up the "rubber baby buggy bumpers" look. Say that phrase three times fast.

Do you still have the car? Malachite green is awesome: my favorite 900 color

Is this car for sale?

Paint the trim the same color before installing it 🔥

Well....if it etches into steel....it'll bite into that aged plastic like heII! 🤣

Paint the chrome strip black or same color as the bumper

Put the trim on like it should be from factory.

On with the crome. There are plenty of cromed details on the car anyway.

Olive oil

Put in the trim. Looks unfinished without it.

Got to say some gloss black trim would look great and cover the holes....ti would be worth measuring its width as I know it is available sticky backed in various Sizes....chrome would be a no no as there is very little chrome on the car except the grill......those are my thoughts anyway 👍👍👍