Bumper damage and they didn't leave any details

[Keswick]

Had someone hit our front bumper today and damage it really badly - the bolt has also come out which holds it on. It was parked in a car park and they didn't leave any details. Dasterdly people. Anyone have any idea what the replacement cost is likely to be?

[mister munkey]

Sorry to hear that. Bit of a bummer.

Ebay price guide is around the £75 mark for a bumper but suggest investing in some bullbars too if you frequent places that are likely to attract damage.

Good luck.

[Keswick]

Thanks.

We do very little mileage in her and was only parked for a half hour Normal council car park. It's gutting. Even worse that I wouldn't dream of not telling someone it was my fault.

Are bumpers hard to fit? What I mean is, if we can source one in our colourway, will we need to use a garage to fit?

[francophile1947]

Don't suppose the council car park had CCTV?

[Keswick]

We looked and couldn't see any. Council were closed when we got home but I will ring tomorrow. There is nothing about CCTV on their website but I will still ask.

[You've Been Bongod]

keswick there are some on ebay buy now £50
i had to get one a couple of years ago and cost me £270 secondhand

9 bolts hold on front bumper half hour diy job

[dom_e]

How annoying

I've just taken our bumper off to rust-proof the beam behind it. Ours is also damaged (we inherited it like that), with some of the mouting points broken and buckled. I've pinned it with aluminium plate where requried.

The bumper is pretty easy to remove, but it's useful to have some spare nuts and bolts to hand since I had to drill out one by the wing due to rust. I found it easier to break away the plastic clip features (designed to hold the nut on the back and prevent the whole thing from spinning instead of undoing) behind the main front grill bolts. They'd degraded and didn't prevent the bolt from spinning when I tried to undo it from the front. Instead, just open the bonnet and use a spanner on the back side (reaching down from the top) and a ring spanner on the front. I found that a ring spanner with a slight bend on one end worked best. A socket set with an extended reach would be ideal to prevent fowling the bumper.

Good luck and I hope you find the scrote who cuased the damage.

Dom

[Keswick]

Thanks for the support folks. I know the important thing is that no one is hurt but it's really upsetting when you look after a vehicle just for others to not give a toss.

We'll have to order from ebay and it looks like we may be able to attempt the job ourselves.

Anyone know how I can be sure to buy the right colourway?

[mikeonb4c]

Sorry to hear that. Bit of a bummer.

Ebay price guide is around the £75 mark for a bumper but suggest investing in some bullbars too if you frequent places that are likely to attract damage.

Good luck.

...and if you don't like bullbars, fit FDBs instead.

V. sorry to hear of your crunch. Most (all? early model?) silver ones are Silent Silver colour, which might make it easier.

I managed to do a pretty good repair on a crunched rear bumper using a hot air gun, bunched cloth as a dolly, putty knife and some spare bumper type plastic for welding up splits, including damaged plastic mounting points. NeilT helped me (need more than two hands for heating, holding, applying) and we were amazed how well this plastic is able to be welded back together. There's a thread somehwere on here about it

Good luck & keep us posted.

[Bob]

Does make you mad, bad luck.

[bigdaddycain]

As Mike says, most bongo's bumpers are silent silver, freda's are (generally) Main body colour.

Sorry to hear that yours got (what souns like) a fair old whack. Hopefully his car came off worse...

I watched a lady whack into the rear quarter of a clio last night whilst at work,there was a queue of traffic behind her, she mouthed to me that she'll go round the block and come back with her details.... (yeah, right, i thought whilst memorizing her reg)....Two minutes later, she actually did return! ...And went looking in each shop till she found the owner of the car she'd hit! It almost restored my faith in humanity... almost.

[Keswick]

It was a nasty whack. It looks a bit towbar ish which is annoying (in that they may well have survived it in one peice).

Thanks for the colour help. We are a 1996 P silver model so I'm sure we'll have the traditonal colourway which helps a bit.

[bigdaddycain]

DOH! You were clonked by one of the "i have a towbar, so i'll reverse carelessly brigade"...

[helen&tony]

Hi
My faith in human nature is not destroyed after all.....most of 'em are right Ba*****s.....When you fit your next bumper, be sure to fit some sharpened steel spikes about one foot long. They are also very good at picking up wandering schoolkids that just walk out in front of you for the hell of it.....I nearly managed a couple the other day to adorn my BULLBARS......Yes..... BULLBARS BULLBARS BULLBARS......now I've been and gone and said it, i've had my daily fix of "non-P.C. -ness "
Cheers
Helen

[bigdaddycain]