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So I was leaving my apartment complex (~5mph) and hit an icy patch which made me slide into the median of the entrance. My car went up over the curb and hit this giant ass rock in the front of the median and pushed it forward. Immediately I began to scream obscenities. Of course this happened as some guy was pulling in on the other side. He stops and rolls down his window as I am assessing the damage, and goes "Daaaammmnn, you just hit that rock! That was a nice car too." I won't repeat what I said to him. Anyway, I just wanted to get your guys take on repair estimates. Could this be fixed to look OEM again or will I have to replace the whole bumper?
Thanks,
~Extremely pissed off guy that hates snow/ice
Here is the view from the other side. Notice how the black honeycomb part is disconnected. Shit.
Last edited by Steven Bell; 02-25-2015 at 07:00 PM.
Reason: Merge Posts
Considering the price of an OEM bumper the body shop is going to be cheaper most likely.
How much is an OEM bumper anyway? All I know is that if you diy that bumper fix you might end up spending around 110-120$ in material s ( 2 cans of paint, 1 can of 2k clear and some other things like sandpaper and bondo). I've never asked for a quote to have a bumper fixed and painted but I can't imagine it being under 250$ since there's some stuff that needs fixing. So it all depends on how much the bumper costs. A used one from a scrapyard could be a viable option too.
How much is an OEM bumper anyway? All I know is that if you diy that bumper fix you might end up spending around 110-120$ in material s ( 2 cans of paint, 1 can of 2k clear and some other things like sandpaper and bondo). I've never asked for a quote to have a bumper fixed and painted but I can't imagine it being under 250$ since there's some stuff that needs fixing. So it all depends on how much the bumper costs. A used one from a scrapyard could be a viable option too.
Around $300 US I believe, if you do buy and swap it yourself (which you should).
I can't really see fixing yourself going over a $100 though.
Around $300 US I believe, if you do buy and swap it yourself (which you should).
I can't really see fixing yourself going over a $100 though.
Having paint mixed is around 30-35$ if I recall. You can buy only one if you want but running out of paint is such a hassle that I'd personally buy 2 in order to get 3 nice and thick coats before applying your clear.
The quality of your paint and clear is important too. You can get the dupli-color garbage paint for 15$ a can but then you're gonna have a horrible color match (the duplicolor one is a lot more beigeish than the OEM color on a SSM TL for example).
You can also get 1k clear for 10$ if you want but then your clear will be a lot less glossy and it won't ever harden as well as a 2k clear would. For example, you can force down on 1k clear with the edge of your nail and you can leave an indentation, weeks after applying it. Hardness is especially important on a bumper since it'll be hit by debris/small rocks often. Also, 1k clear gets trashed by UVs from the sun. This is a little less important on a bumper.
All in all, you can manage to spend as little as 50$ if you want, I just personally wouldn't do it.
Ohh and I almost forgot, you might need tiger hair if the holes/cracks are too large. That's another 20$
I purchase painted bumper covers for 2004 TL and Nissan Maxima and they both look great. Cost for TL cover using Amazon and from MBI Auto was $315 with free shipping. The Maxima cover was only available on Ebay but again was from MBI.
I could be wrong but have more confidence with paint holding up with a new bumper than repairing and painting the old bumper. I would think that a good repaint would be fine but I have had issues with cars that I bought used that had repainted bumpers.
Prices that I got from body shops were somewhat more than I paid for above covers, especially if there was any body work involved.
MBI did paint all of the front of the bumper instead of leaving areas grey/primer (?) like the stock unit had. If you have special painting instructions they are easy to contact and talk to. I left the bumper all red but prefer the stock two tone.
Last edited by Timthetoolman; 02-24-2015 at 08:51 PM.
Real answer: Just contact your insurance if you have a low deductible. Done.
You'll need a new bumper cover since this one is cracked, plus paint, etc...so probably $600-ish at least around here.
new type s bumper cost me $259.** but i got dealer discounts otherwise its 325$ or so.
the bumper i got was already painted from factory. call dealer and see if they can order you one painted ASM i believe thats the name of yours. if you can get a new bumper painted. even 350$ is much better than having this one fixed. you will spend at least 200$ at a good body shop as just to paint the bumper with no work most start at 200$ and go up from there. paint isn't cheap these days nor is labor.
then get the type s a spec front lip and call it a day
BTW OP don't feel bad, my daughter just did the exact same thing to her 2006 TL I gave her less than 30 days. The car was just detailed so I'm heart broken.
Sorry guys I've been super busy with work lately. Some of these replies got me cracking up..the monty python reference, lol. I might have hyped it up to be more than it was, but the damage is still cringe worthy in my opinion.
The reason I don't want to put it on my insurance is because I don't want any 'accident' to be on the carfax report, and I have a $500 deductible.
If I had a $0 deductible like my brother does on his 2006 TL, I might consider it. He 'hit' a deer (minor scratches - didn't even look like he hit anything), and they fixed $1400 (quoted amount) worth of damage for free. It wasn't his fault, the deer hit him, says his insurance company. So he literally got every single scratch on his car fixed without spending a penny.
As for me, my front bumper is still in the same condition unfortunately . Yeah yeah I know... priorities right? I am thinking if I can get the front bumper replaced for under $300 (my roommate works for Leith so discountz), I will do that instead of paying close to that with a body shop just fixing it. BUT I have still yet to get quotes ..yada yada etc..
02-24-2015, 10:40 AM
. Yeah yeah I know... priorities right? I am thinking if I can get the front bumper replaced for under $300 (my roommate works for Leith so discountz), I will do that instead of paying close to that with a body shop just fixing it. BUT I have still yet to get quotes ..yada yada etc.. 
