Damaged rear bumper

[TypeRD]

While hand drying my car today, after its first wash in awhile, I noticed my back bumper is a little F’d up. I’m pretty positive it must’ve happened while my dealership had it in their possession for a few days back in late Oct (troubleshooting a CEL). A couple of weeks have passed and I’ve driven it another 250 miles (mostly highway) since then. Otherwise, the car has been in my garage as usual. There’s no way I can prove they did it and I’ve already accepted that I’m screwed.

Yeah…I’m super pissed, but that’s not going to fix my problem. From now on I won’t drive away from the dealership without looking it over with magnifying glass.

Anyway, the damage is very slight. It appears that someone bumper tapped my car. There’s a small indentation along the top edge of the bumper, accompanied by some super minor scuffs. Upon further inspection the top of the bumper now has a slight wave in it and isn’t smooth/flat like it should be.

Does anyone have experience with getting something like this fixed?

1. I don’t see any creases in the plastic and the paint isn’t cracked. Has anyone had luck with PDR on plastic? If so, were you satisfied with the result?

2. My next (maybe best) option is to have the bumper stripped, reshaped / bondo’d, and repainted. Any drawbacks to this? Any idea what this would cost?

3. Last option is an all new bumper. I really don’t think this is going to be necessary, but I’d rather be prepared. What would this cost? I could only find the JDM bumper for $520. I assume the US version is probably around the same price? From there I can kind of guess what paint and labor would cost, based on option 2.

4. Any other options I haven’t considered? Aftermarket bumpers? Maybe I should just (painfully) live with it as-is and wait and see?

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[Jester04]

While hand drying my car today, after its first wash in awhile, I noticed my back bumper is a little F’d up. I’m pretty positive it must’ve happened while my dealership had it in their possession for a few days back in late Oct (troubleshooting a CEL). A couple of weeks have passed and I’ve driven it another 250 miles (mostly highway) since then. Otherwise, the car has been in my garage as usual. There’s no way I can prove they did it and I’ve already accepted that I’m screwed.

Yeah…I’m super pissed, but that’s not going to fix my problem. From now on I won’t drive away from the dealership without looking it over with magnifying glass.

Anyway, the damage is very slight. It appears that someone bumper tapped my car. There’s a small indentation along the top edge of the bumper, accompanied by some super minor scuffs. Upon further inspection the top of the bumper now has a slight wave in it and isn’t smooth/flat like it should be.

Does anyone have experience with getting something like this fixed?

1. I don’t see any creases in the plastic and the paint isn’t cracked. Has anyone had luck with PDR on plastic? If so, were you satisfied with the result?

2. My next (maybe best) option is to have the bumper stripped, reshaped / bondo’d, and repainted. Any drawbacks to this? Any idea what this would cost?

3. Last option is an all new bumper. I really don’t think this is going to be necessary, but I’d rather be prepared. What would this cost? I could only find the JDM bumper for $520. I assume the US version is probably around the same price? From there I can kind of guess what paint and labor would cost, based on option 2.

4. Any other options I haven’t considered? Aftermarket bumpers? Maybe I should just (painfully) live with it as-is and wait and see?

Pictures of the damage to see what you have to deal with.

 

[Chilly613]

Pictures would help, but if the paint is still intact and the bumper itself is not cracked, I'd look into paintless dent removal. Probably cheaper than replacing the whole thing and having to respray a new bumper.

 

[TypeRD]

That’s what I’m hoping for @Chilly613. I’m pretty OCD with my car, but also try to be practical. It is a bumper after all. If PDR can get it even 90% fixed to where I can juuuuust barely see it or feel it, I think my mind can let the last 10% of imperfection go. Keeping my fingers crossed on that. I have a really good body shop guy I trust, so that super important base is covered. I just don’t have any experience with it.

@Jester04 and others, I’ll try to post a couple of vids. Photos would be too difficult to capture the problems.

This video is of the top edge of the bumper. I shined a flashlight on it. Watch the flashlight reflection along the edge as I pan the camera sideways. Minor, but I can see and easily feel it. It’s like a little divot.

 

[TypeRD]

Here’s a video of the top surface of the bumper. This is actually a much larger, but less obvious problem. This surface used to be totally flat and smooth. Watch the reflection and you can kinda see how it distorts as I pan the camera sideways. This is MUCH easier to feel than see, but hopefully provides a little bit better idea of what’s going on.

 

[Jester04]

Here’s a video of the top surface of the bumper. This is actually a much larger, but less obvious problem. This surface used to be totally flat and smooth. Watch the reflection and you can kinda see how it distorts as I pan the camera sideways. This is MUCH easier to feel than see, but hopefully provides a little bit better idea of what’s going on.

mmm I see, its really hard to see through video but it looks to me like the bumper was pushed enough to crease the plastic. I would take it to the body shop guy and see what he says. Especially if you have somebody you trust. CW paint is not too hard to match so you have that going for you. I’m super OCD too, and the little things start to bug me really quick.

 

[Fanatic]

Sorry to hear. Washing the car does end up better revealing all the blemishes and mishaps. Plus and minus, but glad you noticed this sooner than later.

Looks like you're heading in the right direction with all the advice here.

Good thing it's minor.

 

[TypeRD]

@Jester04 Yeah, stuff like this consumes my brain until I get it resolved. It really sucks. I wish I had found the problem sooner.

My dealership is nearby, so I guess the first thing to do is go back to them and see what they have to say. I won’t get my hopes up, but maybe there’s a chance they’ll help me out. Note : My car has some other minor, non-mechanical, problems (from the factory) that I’ve held-off getting checked out until my first oil change…which is about due. Maybe they can get creative and fix the back bumper “under warranty” along with the other stuff? Probably a stretch, but I know dealerships can pull strings sometimes.

 

[Jester04]

@Jester04 Yeah, stuff like this consumes my brain until I get it resolved. It really sucks. I wish I had found the problem sooner.

My dealership is nearby, so I guess the first thing to do is go back to them and see what they have to say. I won’t get my hopes up, but maybe there’s a chance they’ll help me out. Note : My car has some other minor, non-mechanical, problems (from the factory) that I’ve held-off getting checked out until my first oil change…which is about due. Maybe they can get creative and fix the back bumper “under warranty” along with the other stuff? Probably a stretch, but I know dealerships can pull strings sometimes.

Its worth a shot, they might push back but if the bumper has no physical damage or scratch might be able to pass it as a defect in the bumper. Don’t say that they caused it, just be like hey I noticed like a defect in the bumper. If not they will push back.

 

[TypeRD]

Its worth a shot, they might push back but if the bumper has no physical damage or scratch might be able to pass it as a defect in the bumper. Don’t say that they caused it, just be like hey I noticed like a defect in the bumper. If not they will push back.

Thankfully there’s no obvious scratches. There’s just the super minor scuff / rub I mentioned. It’s barely visible. The bumper is ceramic coated and I’m sure the surface blemishes will completely buff out ; 5 minute job for my detailer.

Yeah…without proof, I know I can’t definitively say the dealership is at fault. And it’s absolutely possible they did it and didn’t realize it. They can just as easily say it’s my fault too. There’s no way I could refute that without the best lawyer on the planet. LOL!!! So it’s best to just chill and not go down that road. It’s a small dealership. TBH, they’ve been good to work with, especially the shop. I’d like to maintain that relationship. Accidents happen and it’s fixable. It’s not even really about the cost to get it fixed. I just hate paying for stuff that I know I didn’t break.

If I can get them to accept responsibility in a roundabout way as a factory defect, that’s probably my best bet…especially in light of the other build quality issues with my car that I will also point out to them.

I REALLY appreciate your time and advice on all this! I feel I have a clearer path forward than I did before!

 

[Jester04]

Thankfully there’s no obvious scratches. There’s just the super minor scuff / rub I mentioned. It’s barely visible. The bumper is ceramic coated and I’m sure the surface blemishes will completely buff out ; 5 minute job for my detailer.

Yeah…without proof, I know I can’t definitively say the dealership is at fault. And it’s absolutely possible they did it and didn’t realize it. They can just as easily say it’s my fault too. There’s no way I could refute that without the best lawyer on the planet. LOL!!! So it’s best to just chill and not go down that road. It’s a small dealership. TBH, they’ve been good to work with, especially the shop. I’d like to maintain that relationship. Accidents happen and it’s fixable. It’s not even really about the cost to get it fixed. I just hate paying for stuff that I know I didn’t break.

If I can get them to accept responsibility in a roundabout way as a factory defect, that’s probably my best bet…especially in light of the other build quality issues with my car that I will also point out to them.

I REALLY appreciate your time and advice on all this! I feel I have a clearer path forward than I did before!

Happy to help my friend! I think you are approaching this the right way. Especially if there is no evidence of damage it could easily be passed as a manufacturing defect. Hoping for the best.

My car has a very small paint chip on the caliper in the front. And its been bugging me, but since I can’t really pinpoint where and when it happened I’m at a impasse. I think I will just live with it and just upgrade calipers in the future.

 

[TypeRD]

UPDATE : Skip down to *** if you don’t want to read my great story.

Just got off the phone with my dealership’s service department manager a bit ago. Paraphrasing, I said “I found an issue with my car. Can I bring it in so we can look at it together and come up with a good solution to get it fixed?” His response was a blunt, “No.” I was a bit thrown off by this and said, “…wait a minute…you don’t have any time to go over this with me?” He said, “No, lets just take care of this over the phone. Explain the issue for me.” This threw me for a major loop ; I had to gather my thoughts, especially considering how much I had built-up the problem in my head (+ reading bad dealership horror stories online) and considering the time that had passed since they had my car there in the shop. I went ahead and explained the problem to him and said that I believed it occurred while they had the car. He could tell I was super stressed about it and was laughing and said (paraphrasing again) “It’s no problem. We’ll take care of it. The difficult part will simply be coordinating things with the body shop manager. They’re a separate operation.” We went on to talk about it some more and I expressed how happy and relieved I was. He was like, “I’ve worked here for 20 years. I own a Type R too. It’s a car. There’s no need to stress. You seem like an honest person and we’ll get it taken care of for you.” I said, “You’re right. Had I thought the damage occurred while the car was in my possession I would not have called you. I’d have gone directly to the body shop.”

*** All is well. I now have an appointment tomorrow with the body shop manager to take a look.

My past experiences with the shop have been excellent and I feel bad for having such a jaded outlook. As the saying goes : Plan for the worst, but hope for the best. But…maybe try not to over-plan for the worst and keep a bit of faith handy.

Moral of the story : There are trustworthy, community-oriented, dealerships out there. Treat them well and they’ll treat you well!

 

[Jester04]

UPDATE : Skip down to *** if you don’t want to read my great story.

Just got off the phone with my dealership’s service department manager a bit ago. Paraphrasing, I said “I found an issue with my car. Can I bring it in so we can look at it together and come up with a good solution to get it fixed?” His response was a blunt, “No.” I was a bit thrown off by this and said, “…wait a minute…you don’t have any time to go over this with me?” He said, “No, lets just take care of this over the phone. Explain the issue for me.” This threw me for a major loop ; I had to gather my thoughts, especially considering how much I had built-up the problem in my head (+ reading bad dealership horror stories online) and considering the time that had passed since they had my car there in the shop. I went ahead and explained the problem to him and said that I believed it occurred while they had the car. He could tell I was super stressed about it and was laughing and said (paraphrasing again) “It’s no problem. We’ll take care of it. The difficult part will simply be coordinating things with the body shop manager. They’re a separate operation.” We went on to talk about it some more and I expressed how happy and relieved I was. He was like, “I’ve worked here for 20 years. I own a Type R too. It’s a car. There’s no need to stress. You seem like an honest person and we’ll get it taken care of for you.” I said, “You’re right. Had I thought the damage occurred while the car was in my possession I would not have called you. I’d have gone directly to the body shop.”

*** All is well. I now have an appointment tomorrow with the body shop manager to take a look.

My past experiences with the shop have been excellent and I feel bad for having such a jaded outlook. As the saying goes : Plan for the worst, but hope for the best. But…maybe try not to over-plan for the worst and keep a bit of faith handy.

Moral of the story : There are trustworthy, community-oriented, dealerships out there. Treat them well and they’ll treat you well!

Glad it worked out for you!

 

[Clark_Kent]

UPDATE : Skip down to *** if you don’t want to read my great story.

Just got off the phone with my dealership’s service department manager a bit ago. Paraphrasing, I said “I found an issue with my car. Can I bring it in so we can look at it together and come up with a good solution to get it fixed?” His response was a blunt, “No.” I was a bit thrown off by this and said, “…wait a minute…you don’t have any time to go over this with me?” He said, “No, lets just take care of this over the phone. Explain the issue for me.” This threw me for a major loop ; I had to gather my thoughts, especially considering how much I had built-up the problem in my head (+ reading bad dealership horror stories online) and considering the time that had passed since they had my car there in the shop. I went ahead and explained the problem to him and said that I believed it occurred while they had the car. He could tell I was super stressed about it and was laughing and said (paraphrasing again) “It’s no problem. We’ll take care of it. The difficult part will simply be coordinating things with the body shop manager. They’re a separate operation.” We went on to talk about it some more and I expressed how happy and relieved I was. He was like, “I’ve worked here for 20 years. I own a Type R too. It’s a car. There’s no need to stress. You seem like an honest person and we’ll get it taken care of for you.” I said, “You’re right. Had I thought the damage occurred while the car was in my possession I would not have called you. I’d have gone directly to the body shop.”

*** All is well. I now have an appointment tomorrow with the body shop manager to take a look.

My past experiences with the shop have been excellent and I feel bad for having such a jaded outlook. As the saying goes : Plan for the worst, but hope for the best. But…maybe try not to over-plan for the worst and keep a bit of faith handy.

Moral of the story : There are trustworthy, community-oriented, dealerships out there. Treat them well and they’ll treat you well!

Good to see this, but you've gotta wait until the vehicle has been repaired before you call it.

 

[TypeRD]

Glad it worked out for you!

Definitely off to a great start! The bar is set high. Keeping my fingers crossed that the follow-thru and finish will go equally well too.

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