Hit while parked... How to fix a bumper?

[slack]

Hey All,

Some jackass sometime last week at night must have smashed into my Crown Vic while it was parked on the side my house. Now there's a dent in the bumper and the bump stops are all sorts of wonky. They actually managed to push my crown vic into my Oldsmobile parked behind it but thankfully neither were damaged from that part of the collision.

Any idea if it's possible to hammer out or how to fix it?

Pics below:
Bumper dent (hard to see in pics):




Bumper pushed in:





Driver's side bumper mount:


Passenger's side:


Thanks in advance!

[GM_Guy]

Find someway to pull the bumper back out of the absorber and hope the internal spring is still springy and the bumper stays where it is supposed to.

Alex.

[gadget73]

The dent in the bumper itself you'll need to remove the bumper and the inner support to hammer it out. Its unlikely to ever be perfect though, the chrome is going to show absolutely every imperfection.

[87gtVIC]

I doubt you can even get that bumper dent to budge. If you do it will likely just make it worse looking. Id loosen up the bumper shocks from under the car and just try to get the bumper even and call it good. Pursuing it further may make things worse.

I will also say that this was a HARD hit. Whatever they were driving was fucked good.

[Mr Bean]

The dent in the bumper can be fixed using a shop press. I wouldn't hammer it because you will just leave dents and the hammer will need to be pretty large to even leave a mark.

As for bumper shock if it's compressed it's likely toast. You can try tying the bumper to a pole or a tree and backing up but usually if it's compressed it needs to be replaced. If you ever drilled or cut one of those shocks you would know that they are filled with some white foam type crap.

[WagonMan]

I have bumper shocks and I may have the center pad. I have hood ornaments too! WagonMan VEIGHTPETE@GMAIL.COM

[Rodentkiller]

You will need at least a bumper and bumper shock more like both as well as the plastic cover pices, that bumper is pretty well wonkafied.

[DerekTheGreat]

I doubt you can even get that bumper dent to budge. If you do it will likely just make it worse looking. Id loosen up the bumper shocks from under the car and just try to get the bumper even and call it good. Pursuing it further may make things worse.

I will also say that this was a HARD hit. Whatever they were driving was fucked good.

All of this, especially the last two sentences
It's a good thing these have the bumper shock absorbers, they sacrificed themselves big time. Could have been much worse. All in all, your bumper doesn't look bad at all. So until you find a replacement as well as new shock absorber you can try to pull it out like others have mentioned.

[slack]

I doubt you can even get that bumper dent to budge. If you do it will likely just make it worse looking. Id loosen up the bumper shocks from under the car and just try to get the bumper even and call it good. Pursuing it further may make things worse.

I will also say that this was a HARD hit. Whatever they were driving was fucked good.

I was thinking the same thing. Figured I'd post here before I tried forcing the dent out so I don't just end up making things worse.

Who ever hit me must have been driving a pick up truck. Any regular passenger car's bumper would have exploded in plastic and crumple zone where they hit me with how hard they did. I remember when I got hit in my '91 GMQ years ago the car that hit me was completely destroyed from the hit. I ended up driving the car for another year or so with the dents, but it was still drivable.

The dent in the bumper can be fixed using a shop press. I wouldn't hammer it because you will just leave dents and the hammer will need to be pretty large to even leave a mark.

As for bumper shock if it's compressed it's likely toast. You can try tying the bumper to a pole or a tree and backing up but usually if it's compressed it needs to be replaced. If you ever drilled or cut one of those shocks you would know that they are filled with some white foam type crap.

My friend might have a press we can use to give that a try. Sounds like that's the only way to really go to potentially get the dent out cleanly-ish. (Bumper has to come off anyway if the bumper shocks need to be replaced)

Didn't know that about the internals of the shocks. Thought they were like GM_Guy said with some sort of spring in them. Good to know.

I have bumper shocks and I may have the center pad. I have hood ornaments too! WagonMan VEIGHTPETE@GMAIL.COM

Oh! Awesome!! I'll send you an email tonight about them. Thank you!!

You will need at least a bumper and bumper shock more like both as well as the plastic cover pices, that bumper is pretty well wonkafied.

Hopefully I can get it presentable enough that my wonkafied (lol) bumper is "good enough" until I can find a cheap replacement. Not sure how many, if any, are left on the island that aren't rusted.

All of this, especially the last two sentences
It's a good thing these have the bumper shock absorbers, they sacrificed themselves big time. Could have been much worse. All in all, your bumper doesn't look bad at all. So until you find a replacement as well as new shock absorber you can try to pull it out like others have mentioned.

Yeah, thank god for them. Probably would have ended up with some weird fender/door alignments from bending if the bumper shocks weren't there or already compressed. Also, thank god my '96 Oldsmobile wasn't the one that was parked in the front and hit. A blow like that would have completely totalled it and I would be out of my winter daily driver. (Not to mention it's in great shape so it would be a shame all around)

Thanks for all the insight and help! I'll keep you posted on how things go.

[Rodentkiller]

Slack you can take the bumper to a bumper shop to get is repaird instead of trying to find a new bumper, try and find new bumper shocks wagonman has some yes the sticky wiket is the plastic covers for the bumper shocks good luck.

[GM_Guy]

Didn't know that about the internals of the shocks. Thought they were like GM_Guy said with some sort of spring in them. Good to know.

Give it a yank out anyway, if she is toast you will know it, if its got some spring left in it, you will also know it.

Alex.

[87gtVIC]

If you cant live with what you have there I have a re-chromed front bumper that uses just the bumperetts if you are interested. It is in immaculate condition.