So yeah, I bough my car back in July and a few weeks ago I was joyriding down some backroads in Michigan. They had just poured down some gravel to strengthen the asphalt a few weeks earlier and I was driving like I do around here where the roads are well-maintained, i.e., I realized I was supposed to turn a little too late, hit the brakes and tried to make a hard turn. The car didn't slow down much and only turned slightly, so I ended up running into a ditch and getting in a fight with a stop sign (I won!). The only damage the car took was to the front bumper and the right light housing has a few loose pieces of reflective stuff that shattered, but everything else is fine. Everything is in good shape and runs smoothly and works well, exceot the bumper, which looks like absolute shit. It looks and sounds a lot worse than it is if you actually bother to look at it (hitting the stop sign snapped my bumper in just the right place, preventing the bumper from hitting the airbag sensor... you can see it through the crack... haha).

Any idea how much this will cost to replace? Is it possible to do it myself without knowing much about tinkering?

 

if it's just the bumper cover it's easy to replace. if you have to replace the metal bumper itself underneath then it would be a little more work. the headlights and bumper covers are fairly easy to replace though. the bumper cover is only held on by plastic clips really. comes off in maybe 20 minutes or less. the headlight maybe be a little bit of a pain to get to all the retaining bolts, but it shouldn't be complicated at all.

SSTS

 

bumper off 5 min

 

If you car landed inside a ditch, you should have the car inspected for bent chassis.

 

The car's fine. I had it checked out. It's literally just the bumper cover and the light housing and honestly, the lights work fine (it took me 3 weeks to notice that they were slightly damaged), so that can wait till I save up some more money. The ditch and how I drove into it was funny, so the accident and the damage was weird, too... it could've been a lot worse if I'd been just inches over... just one of those freak accidents where things seem worse than they end up being

I can see how the cover's clipped on to the car, but how do I loosen the bolts to get it off and replace it? I hate my car looking like shit... especially after buying it a little more than a month ago

 

how do you loosen the plastic clips? well when you look at it, take a flat screwdriver and stick it in the slot on the side of the head of the clip. pop the center piece out and when you do that it relaxes the inside of the clip and the outer sleeve should come either on it's own or just lightly pry it out with a screwdriver.

the bolts for the headlights i'm not too sure about. if you poke around the engine bay though you should be able to find them.

SSTS

 

Had to have the front bumper replaced on my 02 TL a couple of months ago. Someone backed into me in a parking lot. Cost at a bump shop was about $900. If you could find a bumper in your color at a used parts place I bet you could save over $500.

 

yeah, I'm lookin for a bumper on eBay (looks like it'll only be a little over $200 including s&h)... the question now is, how do I go about painting it? I know I need to order primer and blue paint from Acura/Honda and rent an air brush, so, not including paying my friend to help me out, any idea how much the rest may cost? Also, any idea on the best way to go about painting the bumper?


looks like next weekend's gonna be the 1st time I get to really tinker with my car... I'm gettin AEM CAI next week, too...