Alternative auto body repair

[REWahoo]

A few days ago I had a large rock jump out behind my right rear bumper while I was backing out of my daughter's driveway. I know those things are unpredictable, especially in the wild, and I should have been watching out for it, but by the time my back-up alarm went off it was too late. The resulting damage was a blown tire, scratched alloy wheel, plus a scraped and dented bumper.

I replaced the tire and polished the wheel to the point you have to look close to see the damage. I then took my car to a couple of body shops to get an estimate on repairing the dent and scratches. Yikes! They want $1,500 to replace and paint the damaged bumper. Yes, I have insurance but cringe at forking over my $1k deductible to pay for my stupi... uh, momentary lapse of attention.

Looking for alternatives, I ran across a guy who has a business repairing plastic bumpers. He's been in business for almost 20 years and has very good reviews. He says he can repair and repaint the bumper to match in 2-3 hours to a "looks like new" condition for $300 and will come to my location and do the work in my driveway. Really tempting.

Anyone have any experience with plastic bumper repair?

 

[Gumby]

You can order the proper plastic bumper covers (that is what is damaged on yours), pre-painted in the matching color, from Amazon. I did my front bumper cover a few months ago . It looks great and was very easy to install. I'd bet they have one to match your vehicle. Lesonal was the vendor.

 

[Texas Proud]

Sounds like a deal to me....


Even if not perfect it would look much better than what you have...



I assume the rock died... or did it survive

 

[REWahoo]

You can order the proper plastic bumper covers (that is what is damaged on yours), pre-painted in the matching color, from Amazon... I'd bet they have one to match your vehicle.

Sadly, no. They have 2011-2014 unpainted rear bumpers, but no 2015.

 

[REWahoo]

I assume the rock died... or did it survive

Barely a scratch...

 

[Bamaman]

Bumper covers are not expensive, and there's a big side line business selling used covers and new Chinese knockoffs. It's finishing the paint that costs.

Dealers have specialists come to their place of business all the time fixing scratches. They just bondo and sand the scratches. Good body men can repaint the bumper covers where they look like new. The EPA a couple of years ago started limiting the amount of paint such guys can spray without having a down draft spray booth.

For $300, go for it.

 

[ERD50]

For under the car like that, I'd just try rubbing some of the colored wax kits in to make it less noticeable. I'd bet that for $300, a guy with good reviews like that could get it really close to unnoticeable even if you were looking for the damage. Probably well worth it, since it bothers you. You'll be reminded of that aggressive rock every time you see those scratches.

-ERD50

 

[NW-Bound]

Ah, I would just paint over the scratches on the bumper myself with those little bottles of touch-up paints that look like bottles of women's nail polish.

Or I would just let it be.

 

[Texas Proud]

Barely a scratch...

They are hardy little buggers, aren't they....

 

[brucethebroker]

At least it isn't on the driver side.

I would look at any repainting that did not involve remove or replace-which is always pricy. I also like the cost of the $300 guy....you might have to have it redone if it fades in 5 years, but you could afford to at that cost.

BTW, good idea not to turn it in to ins. co. Bumper scratch repainting plus one future accident might be enough for your ins. co. to dump you.

 

[foxfirev5]

For under the car like that, I'd just try rubbing some of the colored wax kits in to make it less noticeable. I'd bet that for $300, a guy with good reviews like that could get it really close to unnoticeable even if you were looking for the damage. Probably well worth it, since it bothers you. You'll be reminded of that aggressive rock every time you see those scratches.

-ERD50

I agree. With the scratches that low the driveway repair should be fine. With the significant cost difference I would try it

 

[ncbill]

just had a one repainted that had much more damage than the OP's.

under $400 total

but if that's all the damage, yeah, i'd try the touch-up paint first.

iirc, there are plenty of youtube videos to help.

btw, that would normally be the bumper cover, not the bumper itself.

 

[Tom52]

Due to the low down location of the scratches, I would definitely go with the $300 driveway repair. I bet it will look good when done. Forget cobbling it up with do-it-yourself touch up paint. That would look like crap. Those scratches are too big for that type of repair.

 

[REWahoo]

Forget cobbling it up with do-it-yourself touch up paint. That would look like crap. Those scratches are too big for that type of repair.

Yep, several of those scratches are deep.

I've scheduled the guy to do the repairs. Will post before & after pics.

 

[DrRoy]

That's what I would do.

 

[Midpack]

Yep, several of those scratches are deep.

I've scheduled the guy to do the repairs. Will post before & after pics.

+1. That's what I would have chosen, hope you're happy with their work. They have good reviews http://expressbumperrepair.com/

 

[braumeister]

I think white duct tape would have been fine. You're in Texas, right?

 

[REWahoo]

White? Oh, please - how gauche...

 

[Walt34]

I think white duct tape would have been fine. You're in Texas, right?

White? Oh, please - how gauche...

Perhaps gauche, but also consistent with LBYM values....

I'd go for the $300 driveway repair.

 

[FIREmenow]

I think $300 is a small price to pay for you to let all of us know if it worked. We'd all thank you.

As a matter of fact, you could likely collect enough $5 contributions from folks on here, interested in finding out how it works (me included), to pay for it. Its likely that nearly everyone will need this at some point.......

 

[braumeister]

White? Oh, please - how gauche...

Please forgive me.
Of course I meant Deep Polar Ice.

 

[Koolau]

$300 sounds cheap NOT to have to mess with it yourself. YMMV

 

[Gumby]

As I reported earlier, I did my front bumper cover about 4 months ago. It cost me $225 for the pre-painted part from Amazon and about an hour of my time to take the old one off and install the new one. No problems, and it looks nice. Would the hassle of not doing it myself have been worth $75? Probably not, but then I like working on my car. REWahoo says they don't have his part, so it's immaterial in any event. I am interested in how it turns out.

 

[johnsope]

Heavily scratched rear bumper

Hi,

I also had a large rock jump out behind my sisters Toyota Yaris while reversing it in Cornwall, UK last month - I was grumpy for a couple of days!

However, I was pleasantly surprised to find a local garage shop that filled the fairly deep scratches and repainted the black plastic bumper perfectly as far as I could detect for around $130.

Peter

 

[REWahoo]

As promised, before and after photos.

The repair isn't perfect but it is darned close. You have to get down on your hands and knees and within 12-18 inches of the repair to see some very minor surface imperfections. Those small areas aren't visible in this photo, anything you see is a reflection.

For $295 vs. the $1,500 the body shop wanted, I'm very, very happy.