Hey guys,

I've been letting a friend use my car to practice driving and today she crashed it by backing into a tree that she didn't see. She made a fair dent in the rear bumper and broke the tail light cover and frame. I don't care much about repairing the bumper but I'm wondering how easy/difficult it would be to DIY repair the tail light frame and cover. If anyone has any knowledge or experience in this, I would greatly appreciate it.
I need to know:

-DIY possible?
-Difficulty level
-Tools needed for repair

Here are the pictures of the damage.

Damaged tail light

Note the frame damage

Would it be as simple as purchasing this and just swapping it?

Thanks

 

Why not just use the depot tail light? I mean... you're already paying for it.

lens swap isn't simple on the 01+ tail light. Requires a dremel tool iirc, not a simple bake like its predecessor.

 

Just replace it. Junkyard or OEM style aftermarket. Only two screws and two nuts, takes 5 minutes.

 

I doubt it will be 5 mins. With the damage around, getting the old one out will be a struggle and install would be difficult too. To get it watertight, reshaping of the bumper opening will be a must.

Once the bumper gets fixed, then it is a 5 min job.

There are shops who do bumper repair and if you provide them the replacement light, they will do the swap for no additional charge.


Salim

 

damn that isn't a small impact. I would get a used lens off ebay though. Or epoxy the old one back together and RTV seal it.

 

The bumper isn't related to the taillight mounting except that it may be in the way because it's been pushed up. If something actually needs to be reshaped though, it will be the quarter panel, which is what the taillight bucket is actually moulded into. The bumper can be pulled out of the way, but if the holes in the body are misaligned then yeah, it will be difficult to remove and reinstall.

 

I bought a tail light replacement and looked up on how to do the swap; looks fairly simple. I guess the problem from here would be to reshape the bumper and quarter panel so that the tail light bucket houses the light snug.

I'm going to see if I can reshape it myself first using a heat gun; if that doesn't work I guess I'll have to take it to the shop or just drive with a dented side panel and bumper.

Thanks for all of your replies and tips.

 

Everything around the tail light is metal. Just the bumper below is plastic. Just FYI

 

Yeah turns out it's not going to be as easy as I hoped. Tail light replacement is a breeze but the bumper needs a bondo to fill up any caps or craps then sanding it down for a new paint job. The worst is the quarter panel damage that requires drilling holes to try and pull out as much as I can, then using bondo to regain the shape.

The quarter panel itself is a $1500 min.
The tail light cost me $110 to replace.
The bumper will be $300 min.

In total it's looking out to be at least a 2k repair; definitely not worth it. I'm just going to repair the tail light, buff out as many scratches as I can, and call it a day. Probably will be selling the car soon but I really enjoyed working on and driving this car.

Appreciate everyone's tips and input.

 

Make your friend pay for the damage?

 

She felt really bad about it and gave me $200 the day she crashed it. She doesn't have much money nor a car (which was why she was borrowing mine to learn how to drive) so I'd feel wrong asking her to pay 2k for damages when the car itself is only worth 3k. Just not worth fixing up or claiming insurance so I'm kinda stuck in a crummy situation :/ It's okay though things could be worse, just a little bummed about my GS.

 

junkyard is your friend, or go on ebay used oem ones.