try getting hit from a nissan pathfinder that is going 45mphs when ur at a deadstop, it doesnt feel good and it cost like 10 g's to get fixed

 

like i said let me see i should be getting a ss/sc bumper in about a couple weeks if i get i'll put it on and give you the one i have like i said its basically brand new and no sratches and its black to match your paint, if i can help a buddy out i will i'm sure i wouldn't want that to happen to me.

 

when i get hit from the back my paint all cracked and chiped off so i just thought they would fix the bumper like just paint it. but every body shop i went to said i needed a whole new bumper so im like ok w.e it isint comeing out of my pocket.

 

Go to a detail shop and they normally have the phone numbers to things like bumper repair, minor dents and window chip repair people thats about the easiest and see what they will charge also a car wash will sometimes have connections on your issue

 

ZeroShinohara that bumper is an easy fix. I'm a bodyman and even if it has a hole in it, as long as its not half the bumper missing its still fixable, you would be supprized what can be fixed when it comes to plasic, but i bet your energy absorber is damaged and also needs to be replaced. Even possibly your rebar. The bumper will have to be taken off to be repaired so they will see if theres any other damage underneat.

I would phone around and find a reputable bodyshop and they can give you an estimate. Dont forget that getting an aftermarket bumper will also mean you need to get it painted and thats usually the expensive part of the repair, here in BC Canada our paint rate is 109.64$ an hour including materials.

I've been trying out some new ways of fixing bumpers lately. A typical repair usually involves some type of filler to make the bumper perfectly smooth but lately i've been spending more time with my heat gun and comming out with perfect fillerless repairs, unless theres a hole in the bumper of course. Hopefully your bodyshop can also do that for you if they have good technicians. Good luck!

 

Your paint labor rate is 109.64 an hour in Canada!!! Damn. They limit me to $66/hour in Texas. We do a lot of plastic repairs and these 3 items will help you out the most. A heat gun (which you are already using), a product made by 3M called TPO Plastic Repair, and a product made by evercoat called "Polyflex." Polyflex is a flexible filler that will not crack. It is some really cools stuff. We use it at my shop all the time.

An aftremarket bumper would not be your best bet. By the time you spend the money on the bumper, have it painted and installed it could be over a $1000. With aftermarket bumpers, they never fit like the factory one and modifications/fabrication is usually required to get them to fit half-way decent. That can send the cost way high depending on how much work is involved to make the aftermarket bumper look right. I am speaking from experience, stick with the factory bumper. You will have fewer headaches with that.

 

Oh, thanks for the info guys. And it's like I said, I can't really check on this until tomorrow after my test ( depending on this thing to keep my grade high enough ). I'll definitely keep you all posted on prices and info on this, so that someone who's got a similar problem can use the topic for reference.

My beef is that I didn't know it could be fixed, since it's plastic and all, but now that I know it's not much of a deal, I'll definitely go with that idea.

@Grimsaviour: Thanks for pointing the absorber thing out. I'll surely have them check that out when I get there. I just hope it's not that damaged, since I'm still not sure if their insurance is going to cooperate with me.

And oh, just as a little info here, I called Geico ( my insurance company ) yesterday and explained the situation to them. What they said is that, to activate MY insurance, I'd have to put down the Deductible first, have the car fixed, and after everything was settled, they would try to get that dedictible back from 21st Century ( their insurance ). The process could take from 6 to 12 months, and there'd be no guarantee that I'd have the money back after all. My best hope now is that their insurance pays for all the repairs and I don't have to go through all that pain in the ass.

If I do have to, I'll probably have to leave that bumper as is for a while.

@djblass :

Alright, thanks man. Hopefully you'll get those SS bumpers, I think they're hot.

 

The absorber is just a peice of foam, ive havent seen one over 50$ unless it was a jaguar or something, so not too much to worry about.

And i really hate the way private insurance works in the states, it all seems a major pain in the ass, here We have ICBC (insurance company of British columbia) and its the only insurance company. We do have "private insurance" but they still have to go thru ICBC. Their only role is that the "represent" you in front of ICBC and give you a cheaper rate, but also screw you around when it comes to getting a rental. Also sometimes it takes like 2 weeks for us just to get a goahead on a job when we have to deal with them. But still in the end it doesnt take 6 months to get your deductible and most of the time its simply waived if its not your fault.

Kenhebe:

Yea but our paint rate includes materials, and also ive tried all of those products that you speak of. I'm not a big fan of polyflex at all, it never really dries like regular polyester putty(stays gummy) does and really to do a proper repair techs should only be using plastic repair material such as that 3m product you mentioned. We use Duramix and Kent plastic repair at the shop for tears and major gouges. And for the rest like i said i've developed my skills in order to do Fillerless repairs. It's much faster than using fillers and is guaranteed to never crack. The only stump when it comes to fillerless repairs is if you are working on a thermoset bumper. They dont work nearly as well as Thermoplastics. Thank god theres a much higher percentage of thermoplastic bumpers than thermoset. The Cobalt happens to be a perfect candidate for such a repair.

Anyways, GL Zero.

 

The energy abosrber is 91.33.

By the way Grim, the paint labor rate here in Texas does include materials. That is why I am astonished at the rate they pay you in Canada.

 

Wow you guys are getting screwed, or paint must be cheaper in the states or something, even with the exchange rate we still get more $. But then again i hear reading american autobody web sites that insurance companies there are really good at decreasing labor rates by promising volume. Here ICBC actually gives the shop owner raises and earned authority on suplements upon good behaviour.

Our shop happens to be in the top 400 in north america out of about 9000 bodyshops. We really have a top notch crew and we output a lot of work for a medium size shop. We got the Autochex custumer award this year and a Buisness exellence award 3 years in a row now.

I've also heard strange things like insurance not paying for blends unless they have a pic of the blend masked ready to go in the booth. It seems like a very alien system, here when we need something we can supplement up to 2000$ and get an approval within two hours, and if they dont have a chance to approve it after 2 hrs its automaticaly approved. (this is done online)

Also the only time we get a road estimator is on near write-offs. Most of the time all the estimates are done in house and some come from the claim center. So we get really fair labor times. All i see on autobody web sites is technicians that bitch whine moan and complain about insurance giving crappy time and forcing the use of bad fitting A/M parts. Thats an another thing, here if it dont fit we get a refusal number and fill out a sheet and send it in. That gives us a OEM part and also removes the bad fitting A/M part off the list of parts that ICBC will use to repair cars. anyways.... /rant off.

 

If you want to see any good amount of money ull need to hire a lawyer.... insurance company will offer you like 1000 bucks or 2000 at the most.... Also if u want to try to claim pain and suffering, u better be taking ur ass to a Dr and chiropractor.

 

Getting rear ended is not a winning lottery ticket. I do not know why everybody thinks that. Just be honest and ask to get back whatever it is you have lost. If your car is wrecked, simply get it fixed and ask for a rental. Mental anguish and all that other B.S. is why insurance rates are as high as they are. They would be a lot cheaper if people would quit falling out of there car screaming "I can't feel my legs" when they just got tapped from behind.

 

i completely agree with that statement. Its people that want to claim their life got ruined by getting tapped that make insurance rates so high.

 

if its a whole.....then it can be fixed....its very hard to do.....but theres no guarantee the paint will hold to the patch....i had the same problem with my front liscense plate holes...got all 3 fixed but the paint bubbled on 2 of them each time they fixed it...which ibelieve they made three attempts at it

 

Hey, I say you use this as an excuse and get yourself a nice body kit.

 

Where ever you got it fixed was probably using a urethane adhesive to fill the holes and then putting body filler over top to smooth it out, And as soon as they bake that it swells up because the urethane isnt compatible with body filler. What it boils down to is they got their training out of a cracker jack box. I could fix those holes for you and guarrantee it for life, and so could a lot of places that actually know what they are doing. They are using their incompetence as an excuse because this is a VERY simple repair.

 

I concur with that statement. It is nice to have somebody else on the board that understands this stuff.

 

no it wont. unless insurance is different in north jersey from the rest of the world.

if shes at fault, and he has all of her information, he wont need to worry about his deductible.