One of the challenges of driving in Saudi Arabia (besides avoiding the terrible drivers), is avoiding road debris. I was doing a pretty good job of it so far, but yesterday the road debris won. I still don't know what I hit (was distracted by the sun in my eyes and reaching for my sunglasses so wasn't really watching the road), but i think it got caught under my wheel and pushed the bumper up and out of place, creating a big crack in the middle of the bumper, and a nice gash on my A-Spec front lip.

See pics below. I'm guessing this can't be repaired but I'm not an expert so who knows. What am I looking at in terms of cost for a new bumper and A-Spec front lip?

 

FWIW, I have had a similar insult to my front bumper. Price for a repair (not replace) here in Northern VA. was $550.

 

Hey thanks for the info baby_igor. If I could get a repair done for that price I would be satisfied. I'm gonna take it to a body shop tomorrow to see what they can do.

 

Message ack05tl a type s aspec will run you about 280 in the box. Not sure about the bumper. But he he can get you what you need

 

The A Spec lip can be repaired by grinding, fiberglass and some Maxim, but if someone were to do the job, it's easier to just replace with another, especially when the lip comes painted. Bumpers can be repaired in a similar fashion, but if the repair is in a high stress area, better to replace as the OEM is only $318/$238, although your location could be the deciding factor.

 

And there's the problem. I'm not sure if I can get a new bumper and lip shipped out here, but I'll definitely try. If it's not possible, it's nice to know that it can be repaired.

 

I bet you get all kinds of looks over there! As I imagine there are not a lot of TL's there.?

How's the overall road quality?

 

Exactly what I was thinking as well.

 

I feel for you man, even the roads here in the US have gone downhill. Just yesterday on the freeway I had a frikkin flattened soda can tumbling towards the center of my front bumper, other days it gets worse.

 

Wow a TL in Saudi Arabia...

I bet you don't see a lot of those there!

 

An Acura TL in Saudi Arabia! I don't think too many are over there!


Sorry about the bumper.

 

 

Cool to hear about a TL in Saudi Arabia-sorry to see the damage though.

 

Fix that as soon as possible lmao

 

The highways are ok, but the main roads are hit or miss, mostly miss. There's a lot of construction throughout the city of Riyadh (Saudi Arabia's capital and where I'm living right now) so you sometimes find a lot of debris on the road. You also have to worry about the other drivers who don't respect the rules of the road. White-kuncle driving at its finest.

I have been living here for a year and the only other Acura product I have seen is an Acura MDX, owned by an American diplomat who had it shipped over from the U.S.

I constantly get flagged down by Saudis and others living in the region, to ask me about the car. They know nothing about Honda's luxury division. I always have to use the Toyota/Lexus and Nissan/Infiniti comparisons to make them understand. It's cool to have everyone admire your car, you'd think I was driving a Lambo or Ferrari. If only they knew it was nothing more than a fancy Honda Accord lol.

Lol. I'm on it!

 

 

Deff fixable. Post up some pics once its done!

 

Will do! I'm on vacation right now so It'll get fixed when I get back.

 

I'm not sure about Saudi, but I'm pretty sure they have Acura in the UAE.. or maybe I'm wrong. Pretty awesome that you imported your new TL-S over there. They have no idea what a glorified Accord is lol.

In regards to your bumper, your best bet is to get it repaired locally. Shipping costs will be insane for a bumper coming halfway across the world (has to come from U.S. or Canada), that is if you can even find a dealer willing to ship it.

 

Did you pass by any guys doing this?

 

Well my Saudi friend, let me share a short story. About 10 months ago a goddamn TURKEY came streaking across the highway leaving me with three options (1) slam on the brakes and get rear ended (2) dive in to the opposing lane for a head-on with opposing traffic, or (3) take 'em out. So I took him out. In the process, the bumper bore the brunt of the impact and the fowl was laid to waste. I have almost precisely the same fracture on the driver side.

It can be cleanly filled and repaired using a 3M two-pair flexible repair epoxy, which runs about $20. The rest of your bumper is fine and will fall back in line with the attachment points once you seam the fracture back together by hand. On a WDP, once the fracture is aligned, it's only noticeable from 20ft on in.

 

There's no Acura dealer network in the Middle East. There are few importers in the UAE who ship some Acuras to the region, but there are no Acura dealers. I've seen a couple of NSXs and a MDX in Dubai, but that's it. I thought about buying a car in Saudi, but my employer agreed to ship my car out there so it all worked out. As for the bumper, I'll just get it fixed here. It'll probably cost too much to ship one from Canada or the U.S.

Lol. I see a whole bunch of crazy driving in Saudi

Ok thanks! I hope the repair comes out OK. For the record, I'm not Saudi, I just got shipped out here for work. One more year before I return to Canada

 

As requested, here are the pics after the repair, all done for 650 Saudi Riyal, or about 175 USD. I'm very pleased with the results.

 

That looks great although it may need to be pushed a little further into the clips under the headlight if possible. It looks a little far out even at the grill?

 

Thanks! Already took care of it, everything lines up perfectly now.

 

looks good, you can't even tell it was damaged before.

 

cool to see a TL in Saudi

 

Talk about utter disregard for safety. They didn't even use a torque wrench to tighten the lugs to the proper spec!