Help! Dent in Front Bumper 2004 HCH
 

I recently got into a small parking lot accident and the left front bumper of my 2004 HCH has a melon sized dent in it....yikes!

the ohter car was not damaged at all so no need to go thru insurance....does anyone know how i can fix this?

can i take the bumper off and pop out the dent myself?

I appreciate any advice.

Thanks

Re: Help! Dent in Front Bumper 2004 HCH
 

Whose fault was it? If the other car caused the damage, you should have taken their insurance information and file a police report. Then go through their insurance company for repair. If it was your fault, you'll have to suck up the cost or try your hand at Bondo work or purchase a new bumper and have it painted. Can you post some photos?

Re: Help! Dent in Front Bumper 2004 HCH
 

If you are handy, invest in the service manual; remove the bumper cover (a good 4-6 hour total amount of work) carefully; push out the dent with your hand.

Now for the bad news...you may have damaged the styrofoam behind the front bumper-in which case, you have negated some of the crashworthiness of that bumper. You also have a good chance of cracking the cover when you push it out. You can fill it (not suggested) and then touch it up with paint. Also, you may see some white stress marks from where the plastic gave from the impact.

A new bumper cover will probably cost about $200-400 and then it will need to be painted and prepped.

Having this done by a reputable body shop (with painting) should cost between $800 and $1200 (based on what my Acura TL cost to repair for both front and rear covers).

Again, the key is that no damage was done to the foam and brackets.

Make sure to keep a container handy for any connectors, washers and screws.

This is not the job for anyone not handy or who hasn't been around cars for awhile.

Re: Help! Dent in Front Bumper 2004 HCH
 

A girl I know at work backed her brand new Jeep Liberty into another parked SUV last fall, leaving a dent similar to yours. She took it to a repair shop who only had to heat the plastic and gently press the dent back out. The bumper was good as new, and the repair cost ~$100. This should work if there is no paint damage, or if the damage is minor enough that you don't mind living with it. Break out the phone book and ask around about this method of repair, as it seems to be the best for this kind of minor damage to plastic bumper covers. Good luck!

Re: Help! Dent in Front Bumper 2004 HCH
 

$100? The bumper must be a lot easier to get to than on a Honda. New York shop rates are $80-100/hour alone...

Re: Help! Dent in Front Bumper 2004 HCH
 

I don't think they even had to remove the thing from the vehicle, and I doubt that there was anything to speak of behind this particular spot (corner of the rear bumper cover). It could be that the HCH repair is more complicated...all I know is that this particular dent in this particular Jeep was a cheap, quick repair.

Re: Help! Dent in Front Bumper 2004 HCH
 

Oo... ouch. I had to have my bumper repaired recently. It was covered by insurance, because the incident was not my fault.

The damage on my car was probably worse than your dent-- there was a small hole and the whole plastic cover was out of place. The original quote from the body shop was for about $500, and that was for repairing a small hole in the plastic and repainting-- it only covered what they could actually SEE. When they got inside, they had to replace some things underneith the plasic, so the total was more in the $700 to $800 range. I'm not sure all the bits they had to replace, but they talked to me about the possibility that several things could have been damaged: the styrofoam, the clips, etc.

I was looking online at Honda's part store (you can access that from Ownerlink-- go in like you're going to buy accessories and then click the "Parts" link) and they have bumper parts and a nice little diagram of everything that is underneith it. I'd link to that here, but it was through my ownerlink page (password protected), so I don't think it would transfer over... but try Honda's website if you're interested.

Good luck!
--A

Re: Help! Dent in Front Bumper 2004 HCH
 

I've tried that ownerlink site five times, but it always comes up with some error message. I can get into the accessory section, but not the parts section. Adelwyn... how recently have you been able to access that parts site?

Re: Help! Dent in Front Bumper 2004 HCH
 

Hmm, that's odd. I went through ownerlink this morning to see if I could... I did get to parts, at least to the screen asking me for my vehicle info or VIN.
Here's what I did... Signed in, went to My Vehicle. Then I clicked on "genuine accessories" and then, in the text, "Owner Link eStore". It opened a new window, and at the top left of the screen it said "You are currently shopping in our Accessories Catalogue. For Parts Click Here" So I clicked there, and it got me to the parts department.

Or, from the front page before you sign in to ownerlink, you can click on the "Buy Genuine Parts/Accesories" link. That opens a window where it really wants you to sign in, but if you scroll down there's a link to the eStore. I held my mouse over it and it said the link would go to http://estore.honda.com (after having said all of the above...) Maybe you can type that in without having to go through ownerlink!
;)
Good luck!
--A

Re: Help! Dent in Front Bumper 2004 HCH
 

I went there out of curiosity. Unfortunately the drop down menus for specifying your car model and year don't have an entry for the 2006 hybrid.