HELP!?? Cracked Astra front bumper cover, need replacement

[Dbdesign999]

Hey everyone. So today, I walked out of work and someone has backed their trailer hitch into my front bumper and put a square puncture/crack right on the front license plate screws.

Unfortunately, I cannot find a replacement Black front bumper cover for an Astra XR 3 door. Shot in the dark here, but anyone have an idea of where I can get one? This is the worst feeling, I just spent 4 hours cleaning and detailing my car three days ago, not a single mark on the paint, now this.

Dealer price was $290 unpainted, which will probably end up costing me around $100 in the end. Not trying to go this route, $1,000 for front bumper is ridiculous and I am not filing it as an insurance claim.

I have attached a few images below, two of my car and one of the damage.

Thanks everyone I appreciate it!

[nicolas_p]

I wonder is Phatfire would still have his old one laying around, I'll send him a text to come have a look at thread.

[Dbdesign999]

Thank you so much, very grateful for your help!
I appreciate it, man. Have a great night!

-db

[phatfire6]

phatfire here -

That mishap that happened to you is an easy fix. Not worth the time or money to replace the whole bumper fascia with a new one. Most repair shops should quote you something reasonable.

Basically the repair would be a flexible/plastic epoxy repair. I've done it multiple times with plastic bumper fascia covers, and it's crazy easy. I would remove the bumper, push the piece that is recessed out, use a Dremel to create a V recession along the square, blend it outward with sandpaper, mix and apply the epoxy, sand the hardened epoxy, paint primer on the epoxy and surrounding area, then finally send the bumper to the auto-body shop for paint (or in my case, paint it myself). Relatively, the expensive part is the paint. Repair - cheap. New bumper - not cheap.

The paint process shouldn't be too expensive either - they just need enough basecoat to cover the repair area. They should then scuff the entire bumper and spray clear coat over the entire surface. Clear coat is really cheap compared to the basecoat.

OR

You could just put a license plate in the front to cover it. Just sayin'.


Yep, Nic did text me to respond to this. I already sold my bumper to Dark-Divx who now has the only Saturn Astra Wagon (or Estate, as they call it) . Check out his awesome thread:

http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=172715

[Dbdesign999]

Hey, I greatly appreciate your reply. I got estimates from 3 body shops and they said it would not be worth fixing and I wouldn't be happy with the outcome. They all suggested to replace the bumper cover. Which sucks, the lowest quote I got was around $700 for the completed work.

I thought about buying one of those European front plates in all black and just getting "**** you" on the front. Confronted the guy at work who I thought (know) backed into my car, and he didn't man-up to it. His hitch fit perfectly. Check out the photo below.

Thanks guys. If anyone happens to have an old black front bumper cover laying around, please contact me!

[Dbdesign999]

Well I have decided to buy an all black custom Euro license plate to cover the front bumper. This is just temporary until I can either afford the $700 fix or find a used bumper cover. Sucks.

[darek_dade]

Originally Posted by Dbdesign999

Well I have decided to buy an all black custom Euro license plate to cover the front bumper. This is just temporary until I can either afford the $700 fix or find a used bumper cover. Sucks.

That sucks. I once backed into a wooden box on a parking lot and made some pretty deep damage to the bumper. The shop fixed it for 150$ which included painting part of the bumper. They also said I will not like the outcome and suggested to replace the entire bumper cover.

I can challenge anyone to find part of the bumper that was damaged. It's impossible.