In a message dated 5/7/00 6:23:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
ktaylor@PREMIER1.NET writes:

<< 've got a '91 Westy Multivan with the black fiberglass bumpers.
 Someone rearended my van.  The replacement cost for a rear bumper at the
 local VW dealer is nearly $500.  This dealer also maintains a VW
 'wrecking yard,' and they told me that it's very rare that they ever get
 these bumpers in on wrecked Vanagons because in an accident, they're
 typically the first thing to be destroyed.  As it is right now, the
 bumper is in one piece, but appears to have torn areas in it, none of
 which are near an edge.  The largest tear is about five inches long.
 They are not 'holes,' but are long abrasions with a little fiberglass
 fabric showing. Anyone have any luck removing a damaged bumper of this
 type and repair it by patching it from the rear for structural purposes
 and filling in the abrasions on the front for cosmetic purposes?  Also,
 is the type of black paint needed to paint fiberglass bumpers available
 in aerosol cans? >>

yes, you can fix them..its pretty easy.  remove bumper, massage cracked areas
back into place, abrade backside of bumper, and repair w/ fiberglass resin
and matting cloth.  repair face of bumper w/ bondo, and sand. repaint.
chris