Not for the faint of heart (front bumper underside damage) - what to do?

[NYHoustonman]

Hey all,

First post here. Have had my (our) BMW 135i for three months now, gave it the Dinan exhaust/peddles and a S1 upgrade - fantastic car.

To the point - what can I do to fix the damage shown below without having the bumper replaced (which I will do when it makes more sense)? I don't care overly much about the scraping, but the bumper is bent downward and I'd like to get it back to form before it gets worse. Body shop? BMW service center? Or is this too extensive to fix?

I live in an apartment complex with underground parking, which is great. What isn't so great is that in order to enter this underground parking I have to go down a steep decline that doesn't even out gradually at all and is flanked on both sides by concrete walls, leaving very little space for approaching this foul hazard at an angle. The end result is that unless I'm very careful, I get a fantastic 'SCRAAAAAAPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEE' every time I enter. I thoughtlessly assumed that this noise must be those little black scrape guard thingies, but turns out not so much:




This is ugly. I hate it and I feel like I've let the car down . I'll want to replace the bumper/front fascia at some point, but I feel like there's little point if I'm at risk of causing further damage every time I park (I can avoid this for the most part, but it only takes one time...). The scrapes I can deal with, but the underside of the bumper is actually deformed and bent downward, and there's a tiny crack near the center bolt.

So... Opinions?

[Lloyd]

I say just live with it. Until you move it's not worth fixing.

If you do get it fix, any auto collision shop can fix that.

[BrokenVert]

yep - they all look like that im sorry to say.

[ken1137]

if you are as OCD as I am...I did the following but I have some experience b/c my father used to do body work on all his cars. He was cheap and would buy shitty used cars all the time. He's worn off on me a bit b/c I also buy used cars, but in much better shape

I purchased paint (color matched), primer, and clear coat from the Paint express. I used 3M wet/dry paper and gator epoxy. Much cheaper than what a shop would charge and you can do it with the car jacked up or simply take the bumper cover off:

http://www.expresspaint.com/

Oh, your bumper...only a body shop would be able to fix (or you can buy a new one) so I would leave it alone unless you want to spend some $.

[NYHoustonman]

I am quite OCD, but I don't have the experience D:. In any case, I'm not really concerned about the scratches, just that the bumper itself is flared out a bit on the bottom, and cracked around that center bolt - I don't want this to get any worse.

I guess I kinda knew the sensible thing to do would be to 'just leave it,' but I'm proud of my lack of sense when it comes to cars (ex: I've considered backing in, and parking on the street outside - which is what a neighbor with a Porsche does). It at least makes me feel a bit better to know that I'm not alone.

I'm willing to spend some $$, but not much given that I'd like to replace the thing eventually.

[doublevanosrc]

Originally Posted by BrokenVert

yep - they all look like that im sorry to say.

Negative, mine is still immaculate. Gotta learn when parking to stop short of the curb.

[BrokenVert]

Originally Posted by doublevanosrc

Negative, mine is still immaculate. Gotta learn when parking to stop short of the curb.

That's not why it happens. It's from situations exactly like in the OP.

You're stuck going into a parking lot, or out of a driveway,or over a nasty speed bump and you scrape the bottom.

Although I'm guilty of nailing one of those parking things I the snow a few years back. It was covered and hidden - just didn't see it.

[135Pats]

Originally Posted by BrokenVert

That's not why it happens. It's from situations exactly like in the OP.

You're stuck going into a parking lot, or out of a driveway,or over a nasty speed bump and you scrape the bottom.

Although I'm guilty of nailing one of those parking things I the snow a few years back. It was covered and hidden - just didn't see it.

Yup, sometimes I'll enter an apartment complex/building that I've never been to, and discover the hard way that the bumps will cause rubbing no-matter the speed. DC houses tend to have some very steep driveway entrances too, that'll do it as well.

[BimmerEnthusiast99]

No way I'd fix it until/if you move (and I'm a bit OCD with that stuff as well). Only you notice it (which is bad, I know), but doubt that anyone else would unless you pointed it out to them.

[3lusive]

If you wanted you could put a sheet of hard plastic under the middle section so when it scrapes it won't be the bumper