Cheapest Place To Get A New Front Bumper :(

[cduluk]

Hey guys

I had a little accident tonight...

All along the side of my girlfriends driveway is a stone wall, maybe about 2 feet high. I've been with my girlfriend for about four years, driven into and out of her driveway a MILLION times with no problems, but tonight i swear the damned thing moved.

I was backing up after dropping her off, and right when i started to turn, the front right of my bumper scraped along the wall. Apparently i was a little close on the right side...

So i got out to look, hoping it was only minor- but of course it wasn't. There was a 1ft long black/white scrape (right down to the plastic) accompanied by a nice tear. Thankfully it was pretty "low" on the bumper so i didn't have my girlfriend go buy me some spray paint so i could somehow hide it so no one would notice it on my way home

So yeah, i am going to need to replace the bumper. There's a good 3" tear in the bumper which i don't think can be repaired...

A few years ago i had backed up into another car in my Rx300 and the new rear bumper plus paint and labor was around $800, but i'm hoping i can score a better deal this time.

I've got a good autobody guy who could probably do the painting for about $200 w/o installation labor (i can install it myself) but i'd need to get the new bumper myself. And i'm ruling out after-market so i will need OEM.

Carson Toyota/Lexus/Scion online has a new front bumper for $327.63 down to $271.93, but i can't even imagine the shipping costs... And ebay at the moment doesn't have any used ones in good condition.

And, i'd rather pay for everything out of pocket rather than going through insurance... We've got a $500 deductible so it probably wouldn't benefit.

I swear, i am TERRIBLE while backing up. All of my accidents (by myself or with another car) have been while BACKING UP First when i backed out of a parking space into the side of a classmate's car (didn't see it behind me), then into a minivan driving behind me at a Target parking lot (again, didn't see it behind me...) and now this. And well there was that one time when i was parking at my girlfriend's house and scraped the entire side on a hydrant... That wasn't while backing up, but it was at my girlfriend's house so it counts :P

But yeah, i'm just thankful it wasn't with another car <_< I'd rather have this happen while going -3 mph with a stone wall- at least this way it's a lot simpler!

And i'm not really in any sort of rush to get this fixed... It really doesn't affect the integrity of the bumper, it's just a minor cosmetic issue. And it's low enough where a quick touch-up will keep me breathing until the spring But when the salt and sand from the roads washes away it's quite the eyesore :o I'll take some pics tomorrow for you guys to see too...

Thanks for any input and advice on the new bumper! :D

[lemon]

Without seeing it in person (and knowing exactly how bad or where the tear is) I can tell you that any decent body shop can repair plastic (as long as you're not missing a piece of the bumper). If they're good at what they do, you won't even be able to tell it was ever damaged. If you go to the dealership (or insurance is paying) you'll be told that it can't be repaired and you need a new bumper 'skin'. Let the body shop know it's coming out of your pocket and you want the plastic repaired.

[RX400h]

I totaled my first car (a Mazda RX4) at age 20, so don't feel so bad. Of course, I was racing a BMW 2002tii and the crash made the "Naugy Daily News", but that's besides the point. I've had a few back up mishaps as well, but the first accident in the RX400h was when it was less than one three months old. Some guy in a pickup decided to try to back out of a crowded gas station parking lot and put a big dent in the bumper. If I recall correctly, the damage was about $1200. Luckily, it came out of the truck guy's insurance.

My advice, pull a Tony Stark and install a scanning laser in the bumper. Include a digital readout of scanned object distances, along with a bar graph for quick reference.

This should prevent such occurances from rearing their ugly heads again.

[1990LS400]

http://www.parts.com/ shows the three variations of the 08 RX400h bumper cover at a retail of $327.63 and a sale price of $226.52.

You're always looking for a project so maybe you should surround your RX with parking sensors. ;)

[cduluk]

Here are some pictures :( The "tear" is right in the seam between the painted part and the plain plastic part below. Even if the tear could be somehow mended, they'd have to sand, bondo, and paint the lower black part (which is supposed to remain a textured plastic).

Plus, this bumper has been re-painted before. So this would make it the bumper's 3rd coat of paint... I just want the repair to look right <_<

And i've thought about installing parking sensors (i installed them in the Rx300 after my accident in the Target parking lot lol) but i haven't gotten around to putting them in the 400h. I don't think parking sensors would have helped me much this time since the point of contact was on the side, i guess i just need to watch out for rock walls on my left and right now lol

[lemon]

Oh yeah. That looks like it's in a bad spot. They'd have to replace the entire black plastic piece (if it can even be had separately) then do paintwork on the rest of the bumper.

When I bought my RX (it was bought used) the bumper was ripped (and I mean it was flapping in the wind) basically in the same area as yours, but higher up (so the black plastic was not damaged). I asked the dealer to deal with it or no sale. They actually had it patched from behind (I could see the patch when I took my bumper off to fix my front wiper sprayer pump) and then painted the entire bumper. Can't even see where the tear used to be. Don't ask me how (maybe they melt the plastic??).

[cduluk]

If the tear was in the middle of the painted area i can see a repair, but since my tear is in the crease, i don't think it can be repaired without having to paint the lower black half. I'm just going to need a new bumper :(

[SW03ES]

Take it to a shop to see...they really might be able to repair it...its hard to tell from looking at it.

For OEM the best route is going to be ordering it from Carson on your own and having it shipped to your shop directly for painting. Your car will need to be present so they can match the paint.

!Removed! like that happens buddy...to the best of us...

[cduluk]

Like 1900LS400 suggested, parts.com seems to have the best price. :D

Collision Catalog - 2008 - Lexus - RX 400 Hybrid

Front bumper, Bumper and components, Bumper cover, W/o radar cruise, Vacuum diagram 1 $327.63 $226.52 $0.00 $226.52

Sub Total $226.52

Shipping 33.98

Handling Fee: 2.00

Tax 0.00

Total $262.50

With shipping (33.98) it would be $262.50 which i guess isn't that bad for new OEM delivered to my door. Then i can inspect and take it to the body shop.

Well, in the time i was writing this post, i went through the procedure on the website to see how much shipping would be, and i bought it lol. So i feel better now.

SW, I think i'd rather just have a new bumper painted than have this one repaired. If i had it repaired, i'd never be able to look at it because inside i would know it was repaired... :(

And i know from experience with these websites, it takes like a week for the order to get placed, a week for it to get processed, and a week to get here. So whenever it decides to get here i'll give it to the shop with the car for a day and let them work their magic <_<

[Gryphon]

CD a long shot that sometimes works for me is to take an online price to a local dealer and ask if they will match it. If they can still make a profit they sometimes will sell it at your price. This would solve your shipping problem of course.

Tom