jarm

Hello everyone:
A good friend of mine has a LS 460 with minor damage to the rear bumper. There is a 1 inch crack and a small chip around one of the sensors. Can this be fixed or does he have to buy a new rear bumper? Or can just an body shop fix this? Thanks for any help


jarm

rominl

iTrader: (4)

fixing bumper (plastic) crack is not a very easy job. you can use abs plastic material to repair it, but it will take quite some effort to do it right

a lot of body shops when they see crack they just get a new one

AceVA

Guess it depends on how picky he is and what color it is. Most reputable body shops would remove the bumper anyway and a new bumper cover is "only" $300-400 - of course it will need to be resprayed as well, but it's quite likely it would for a crack repair anyway.

Johnny

Bumper fascias are made of thermoplastic olefin elastomer (not ABS - that's a much harder structural plastic), a very repairable material. On a previous vehicle, I was rear-ended and the bumper fascia suffered a one inch hole, and deep gashes. The body shop repaired and repainted it, and there were no apparent marks where the hole was. In fact it was so good, I was no longer sure where the damage was.

If you Google "bumper fascia repair", you'll find reams of procedures and materials, as this is a very common occurrence, and repairs are surprisingly simple.However, repainting must also be factored into the cost.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

good info burnaby, definitely very different from what i have experienced. the 2 times my bumpers cracked, automatic new bumpers.

flipside909

You can opt to have the bumper sent out by your body shop to be reconditioned or remanufactured. It's an accepted industry repair process. Bumpers with cracks or holes can be repaired. If the tabs are broken off, that's a different story.