Replacing front bumper

[OnTheRoad]

A wind gust snapped a medium-sized branch that fell onto the road just a few feet ahead of my car while driving 45 MPH or so. Really bad luck.

Worth replacing now, or wait a year or more to see if the bumper gets any more dings?

Unfortunately, at the dealer, the bumper is just over $300, painting it is $100, and then install cost is another amount I'm waiting to hear back on. My insurance deductible is $500. Anyone know if coverage cost would go up from that kind of claim?

 

[MerlintheMad]

"Act of God." I don't think the rate could increased because of this "accident". But excessively frequent claims always make rates go up (and if frequent enough, can get you dropped). If you think/fear you are some kind of projectile "magnet" and your car is going to get targeted by more debris, perhaps a Humvee is a better vehicle!? If you can live with the damage, then wait and see. I couldn't stand it, myself.

 

[SteveCo]

A repaint of a new bumper cover for 100 dollars seems very, very low - especially if that's a pearl (3 part) color. Labor isn't that much to remove and install, but swapping all the parts over from the old cover will take some time.

As a possible upside to whole ordeal, if you were considering a different badge for the front, you might want to look at pictures of cars that removed it entirely. If that's something that appeals to you, now is the perfect time to do it and have the holes filled on the cover before painting.

 

[OnTheRoad]

A repaint of a new bumper cover for 100 dollars seems very, very low - especially if that's a pearl (3 part) color. Labor isn't that much to remove and install, but swapping all the parts over from the old cover will take some time.

As a possible upside to whole ordeal, if you were considering a different badge for the front, you might want to look at pictures of cars that removed it entirely. If that's something that appeals to you, now is the perfect time to do it and have the holes filled on the cover before painting.

 

[OnTheRoad]

Ended up going with that suggestion, thanks!

 

[MerlintheMad]

@OnTheRoad Dang, but that scares the crap outta me! I hope that your adventures all end well.

 

[OnTheRoad]

@OnTheRoad Dang, but that scares the crap outta me! I hope that your adventures all end well.

It has been more of a pain than I would have liked so far, but it has worked great when not causing some problem or another.

I'll be going back to a hitch on my next ride.

 

[SteveCo]

Ended up going with that suggestion, thanks!

Nice! A clean look, and looks like a nice match on the paint as well.

Well done!

 

[perfpump]

Ended up going with that suggestion, thanks!

View attachment 42041

I just came out of the post office and found someone has smashed and crushed my front bumper on the drivers side. Don't want to go through insurance and google search brought me here. How did you go about replacing your front bumper cover? Do you buy one, have it painted (or is it already painted) and then stick it on? I've removed mine before to install the front splitter on the underside and also install snorkels behind the grill so I'm familiar with how to remove it and put it back on (done it several times). But really don't want to go through the expense of taking it to a body shop if I don't have to.

 

[Snicklefritz]

Replacement parts come unpainted. The body shop has to do the painting. It is more than $100 that's for sure. You'll have to ask how much. The part is probably less than $400. Mine was $317 for OEM cover. Sounds like once painted, you intend to do all the rest yourself.

 

[perfpump]

Replacement parts come unpainted. The body shop has to do the painting. It is more than $100 that's for sure. You'll have to ask how much. The part is probably less than $400. Mine was $317 for OEM cover. Sounds like once painted, you intend to do all the rest yourself.

Just got one estimate, $463 for the OEM cover, $1200 for painting, and $480 for body labor.

 

[Snicklefritz]

"Body labor", what the heck is that? If your cover is new and painted, there isn't any body labor. To charge $480 to put the hardware stuff on the new cover seems like a rip off. Otherwise, Ima guessing that the cover is about a hundred bucks too much, and the painting is probably high as well because of the other two costs being too high. I bet you can get the painting done for under a thousand. Obviously, with your experience you will save all that anyone would charge to put things back together.

 

[perfpump]

I've removed the bumper cover before and can do that, but never needed to swap all the other pieces from one to another. Is that something that's uncomplicated to do? Or am I better off to just find a better price (than the previously stated quote) and let the body shop take care of it, since it's the bumper cover and the painting that makes the bulk of the cost? Thank you in advance!

 

[Snicklefritz]

I had my bumper cover off in December, to install a replacement lower grille. The shop charged me for one hour, even though it took them a bit longer than that. It was their first Stinger bumper cover removal, so, subsequent bumper cover jobs would go quicker I suppose.

 

[Paladin11]

Can’t you just buy the bumper cover painted already?

 

[Snicklefritz]

Can’t you just buy the bumper cover painted already?

No.