You won't believe my luck!!!

[knvs]

Well, as most of you know, I've been having some problems with my car. I had everything fixed and seemed like everything was gonna turn around. I went to pick up my car this morning and drove home. I was really nervous bringing it home as it seems like I've been having some bad luck as of late.

So the drive back was a little tense and what not. But made it back home and everything was coming back to normal. I started to relax and familiarize myself with the car. Well I went to park and all of a sudden I heard grinding noise.... No biggie, its the bumper hitting the cement stopper on parking spots. Back out like I normally do and survery the damage.... Everything seemed fine until I got to the passenger side. The bumper ripped in half...... Yep now I need a new bumper...

I know they're about $1400 new from the dealer. Does anyone know of anywhere else that sells OEM ones, or at least non fiberglass ones. I know there were a few on ebay a while back, but I can't find who was selling them. Or if anyone knows of a good body shop that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg, that would help too.

I'm still stressed out and sad, eventhough I have my car back :(

[Ashkan's C280]

I feel your pain, I've been dealing with that kind of stuff for a while now... might be time to try a new bumper... lorinser is always nice

[knvs]

Originally posted by Ashkan's C280
I feel your pain, I've been dealing with that kind of stuff for a while now... might be time to try a new bumper... lorinser is always nice I don't want to change the bumper, and besides I really dislike lorinser. To rice for me. If anything a wald kit, but I'd have to change the sides and the rear too. i don't like things not matching.

[c55m8o]

argh....! :o :shock: :cry:

[knvs]

well here's the damage:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d60/djkev/DSC03198.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d60/djkev/DSC03199.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d60/djkev/DSC03200.jpg

I'm gonna sit on it for a while, but a walk front bumper is looking nice right now. I can get one for a little over $300 plus another $350 for paint.... better then forking out $2000 for an OEM bumper and paint... :(

[J Irwan]

damng :(


If you have to spent $1400 for the front bumper replacement I would personally go for WALD - if you want to try something different (then again, you must be extra carefull with WALD as they are made of fiberglass and more prone to ripped).
The WALD front bumper would probably best match for the rest of C43 kit, as C43 doesnt have the chrome trim and would blend with WALD front bumper.

I am surprise the OEM bumper were torn like that.



Regardz,

[KenzBenz]

damn...thats some major crack. could use some fiberglass to put it back together. Thats how big one of the cracks on my wald bumper was but i managed to piece it back together

[c55m8o]

dang, those are not the kinda pix I was hoping for... Man, I'm so sorry.

[knvs]

Steve, I know, those aren't what you were looking for.... I wasn't looking to take them either.

J, I don't know why it tore like that. It seems like my passenger side gets caught on things like parking cement blocks. usually dosn't do much besides scrape the bottom a bit. I need to learn how to be more careful when parking :dpress: The funny thing is that I have trouble parking into slots, but I haven't had trouble parallel parking lol
*runs and knocks on wood*

I really like the wald and it kinda flows with the C43, but looks alot like the 2000 W202 bumpers... Actually kinda looks like all # bumpers: C36 with the bottom lip, C43 with the roundness, and the 2000 W202 with the front air dam.

Oh BTW, you guys are gonna love this.... I got 3 parking tickets when I left my other car outside when I went down to pick up my C55 :mad: :( :cry: :dpress:

yeah great day for me.

[Ashkan's C280]

when it rains it pours... you know that, and what about the lorinser kit with the square fog lights?

[knvs]

Originally posted by Ashkan's C280
and what about the lorinser kit with the square fog lights?

once again.... I don't like Lorinser. Too rice for me. Looks cheap with all that mesh. I never really like their styling. WALD on the other had, is a little more subtle.

[sig425]

black duct tape work very well in the mean time. We hooked up a dude who broke his supra bumer in half like that. A piece on the inside might do well enough that wont even see the crack any more. It depends on how much tension is in there. We ended up with a couple of pieces on the inside and one peice on the outside. He left it like that through the whole race season until he found a cheap replacement on ebay.

[jnenad16]

the way I usually fix broken bumpers is by epoxying two or three ice cream sticks(depending on the surface area), clamping the broken pieces together with wide vise grip pliers for a few hours, then you just fill in the visible cracks with bondo, wait for it to cure, sand it and the surrounding area, shoot the paint to blend it and you are good to go. most of the time the blend isnt even visible when looking down on it.

nenad

[trymonlam]

there's the solution from nenad. i will remember that when my rieger set crack next time.

[ledrocnoc]

That's pretty repairable... If it was shattered in 100 pieces I'd be more worried...

Go to your local boating shop, get some fiberglass and epoxy, tape the pieces together on the front, reinforce the backside using the fiberglass / epoxy.

Go to your local auto paint shop (San Carlos Paint on Industrial in San Carlos in the Bay Area), get some filler that will work with the bumper material, fill in, sand... paint... (San Carlos paint can color match your bumper and put it into a spray can)... save yourseld mega $$$

DC

PS: What was wrong with your car? Still happy with Norman's work?

[knvs]

so you think I can fiberglass and bondo it? How hard would that be? How long is the process? I've never used the stuff before and sounds like it'll save me tons of cash. If I do that I'd want to have the whole bumper replace. Should I sand the whole thing and primer? How would the fiberglass/bondo hold up? I don't want it cracking, will it be as stong as before or will there always be a weak spot? ie: if I run over another parking stopper its gonna rip off again

As far as norms work goes, its ok. Great guy as a person, but it's take a while for them to sort everything out with the swap... Then my ranny blows (which isn't their fault) So I haven't been too happy with my car. On the other had, if everything went smoothly I'm sure it would be a different story. BTW they swapped in a 4.3L C43 engine into a W203 C240. Its in the Eurotuner May '05 issue. And they have a even crazier swap in the works (which I'm not allowed to say ;))

[ledrocnoc]

You should be able to fix it. Epoxy / fiberglass isn't that hard, and if you do it correctly it should be as strong (or stronger) than before. The only possible issue that I can think of is the type of material used for the bumper. Some polycarbonates are actually very difficult to make anything stick to it.

Best is to go to a bodyshop (Norm might be able to recommend one, or find any ni your area that works with the import crowd) and ask them how they'd do it (and how much they would charge).

Re Norm: Last I talked to him he had raised his prices on the engine swap to a point where it doens't make sense anymore (at least for me).

[knvs]

im in dais for school and the shops around here said it would be better to get a new bumper. I'll check some other places, if not i'll try doing it myself. Does anyone know of any shops in sac?

[rollinrealbig]

sacramento ?

yea ... i know this one place, my dad used to work there.

they fixed like all our cars. they do a very good job!!!

if you still want to kno where, let me know, and ... if u wanna sell that torn bumper ... let me know - ive been looking for one. ;)

[Abuimad]

buying a new bumper is the best solution, but if ur low on cash, maybe u should try what ledrocnoc has to say, this is how i fixed (or the dude in the body shop) fixed my other cars rear bumper when i tore it...