Rear Bumper cover replacement

[Triforceofcourage]

So the rear bumper is cracked and needs to be repaired/replaced. Looking to do it cheap and good if possible. Was thinking about ordering one from eBay presprayed to vin color and then paying someone to install. Any things I should be concerned about going this route? Is this a bad idea?

 

[master_shake_]

sounds like a good idea.

but most bumper covers are easy to replace.

you could probably do it yourself.

 

[PottedMeat]

you could probably do it yourself.

definitely.

it's so common there's a real good chance there's a few youtube videos of someone replacing their bumper cover.


if the mounting points are distorted/bent - it'll never fit right.


for cracks ive melted metal mesh into the back to keep it together - heh looked fine to me.

 

[SparkyJJO]

The prepainted ones from ebay probably won't be perfect and the color may be slightly off (can't really do an exact match without seeing the existing paint after all) but depending on the car and how much you care about that it may be just fine. I did that with a fender on my old car and while the paint wasn't exact it was still far better than the old fender that had a big hunk broken out of it from the previous owner hitting a deer.

 

[RLGL]

What is wrong with boneyard, may even match color

 

[thomsbrain]

At least on my Hondas, the bumper covers are nothing more than a few screws/bolts here and there, some plastic press-clips, and a variety of snap-on/snap-off fittings. You'll need to look in the edges of the wheel wells and around the bottom edges of the cover to find all the fittings. Once they are removed, you just carefully pull it out of the remaining hidden snaps. Less than 10 minutes to get one off or on even if you've never attempted it before. A blanket is handy to keep the new one from getting scratched on the ground.

 

[razel]

Bumper covers are just that. Plastic covers for the real structural bumper underneath it. Don't be surprised to find automotive styrofoam underneath. If you can change oil/tire you can absolutely replace it yourself. Just take a look online forums for your car or it's service manual. Many are available at your library for barrowing.

If it helps, on my 2002 Toyota, when I needed to replace bulbs in a corner light, I nearly had to drop the front bumper to replace it. On another 2009 GMC to replace the headlight bulb, we also had to move the bumper forward a bit to get to screws to move the headlight forward. Such a hassle, but it seems trivial to remove a bumper.

 

[BUTCH1]

I just got one from pick-a-part since mine was cracked when I was hit from behind, $40. They are held on by plastic clips with Phillips screws in the middle of the clip. I didn't find any screws that actually turned so I wound up pulling out the entire clip, you can buy a tool at any auto parts store that will greatly simplify removal. One more thing, they can be re-painted halfway decent with dupli-color, just wet sand with 1000 grit and use a primer coat first and also you will need new plastic clips/screws ect. since removing them usually means they get fubare'd in the process.