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Bumper Damage - self inflicted

aggie76

Member
Joined
December 13, 2010
Messages
42
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0
City, State
Warroad, MN
Year, Model & Trim Level
2011 Explorer Limited
Damnnnnnnnnnnnnn! Son (home from college) had moved our new Explorer out of its garage spot and left it in the driveway in a spot it never sits in. I got into my F150 and backed out of garage and turned right into the right rear bumper. Dimpled the bumper creating about a 4" circle depression. I heard the alerts but always hear them from trees/bushes and didn't have mirrors unfolded nor was I watching rear camera.

I am hoping its not a full replacement, maybe they can "pop" it out, I tried going up from the bottom but its not reachable without disassembly and I am not that handy. Guess a trip to the body shop is in order on Monday.

Really is painful to be the one to damage my wife's new Explorer. Oh well, I knew something was going to happen sooner or later.
 



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Don't I know it. Everyone, even dog, seems to be pissed at me. One of the bad parts is having to wait till Monday to get it looked at, a challenge with living in a remote location.
 






Alerts, mirrors, rear camera.... :dunno: The only thing missing was the wife screaming STOP!

Try a paint-less dent repair guy. They are the specialist when it comes to pulling out dents.
 






Plastic / Urethane bumpers with dents or pushed in areas can be pulled out with a heat gun from the inside of the bumper. All you do is heat up the area slowly and work it out by hand, NO sharp objects. Sounds like you might have to take the bumper off to get to it. If the paint is not cracked it could look almost like new again for little effort.
 






sometimes you can use a heat gun from the outside and the dent will pop out to original shape. Not too hot ,though.
 






Search on You Tube for people that have fixed this stuff with a heat gun and/or dry ice.
 






while wife was in china last month and i took the op to detail her aging lexus inside out spending a whole day in the garage in florida heat lightly compounding the paint then glazing it then a coat of carnuba and kept it in the garage until she got back... man that thing was looking nice next to my new Ex ;)

first day back in the country and in her car, what does she do? not see a neighbors car and back into it!!! neighbors car no damage. wifes car... put a football size indent in it. broke my heart. but wasnt gonna let that thing settle in there. i jacked the rear so i can get my arm underneath and actually took a little leverage but popped the piece back. about a week in the florida sun and whatever little indent was left kinda heated its way back to original shape. good memory.

paint in that area was little spiderwebbed but better than taking it to lexus to do the whole thing.
 






Definitely try a heat gun, but don't over do it.
Worked for me on a Honda Pilot bumper (deer hit) that had a crease I thought would never come out.
 






Thanks for suggestions, got a buddy at local body shop who's going to give the heat gun a try this week.
 






Try a plumbers plunger it might work :)
 






while wife was in china last month and i took the op to detail her aging lexus inside out spending a whole day in the garage in florida heat lightly compounding the paint then glazing it then a coat of carnuba and kept it in the garage until she got back... man that thing was looking nice next to my new Ex ;)

first day back in the country and in her car, what does she do? not see a neighbors car and back into it!!! neighbors car no damage. wifes car... put a football size indent in it. broke my heart. but wasnt gonna let that thing settle in there. i jacked the rear so i can get my arm underneath and actually took a little leverage but popped the piece back. about a week in the florida sun and whatever little indent was left kinda heated its way back to original shape. good memory.

paint in that area was little spiderwebbed but better than taking it to lexus to do the whole thing.

I am puzzled with your post... how do you get to drive the new ex and your wife drives the old lexus? how did you pull that one off?:D
 






Damnnnnnnnnnnnnn! Son (home from college) had moved our new Explorer out of its garage spot and left it in the driveway in a spot it never sits in. I got into my F150 and backed out of garage and turned right into the right rear bumper. Dimpled the bumper creating about a 4" circle depression. I heard the alerts but always hear them from trees/bushes and didn't have mirrors unfolded nor was I watching rear camera.

I am hoping its not a full replacement, maybe they can "pop" it out, I tried going up from the bottom but its not reachable without disassembly and I am not that handy. Guess a trip to the body shop is in order on Monday.

Really is painful to be the one to damage my wife's new Explorer. Oh well, I knew something was going to happen sooner or later.

That's a bummer... In my case, at least it wasn't me, it was my wife who backed into the neighbors mailbox (yes we do have rear view camera) and put a bad dent on the tailgate right below the "Explorer" chrome bar:mad:
 






lol.. i was driving the older honda ody :( I was thinking with her doing all the driving our daughter around... how i got the minivan daily and she got the lexus :rolleyes:

but guess thats why i tried my best to rejuvenate the lex while they were gone. but ya know what it means... she's already got in her mind to trade.

next car though gonna make sure she has a rear view camera too and hope this doesnt happen again ;)



I am puzzled with your post... how do you get to drive the new ex and your wife drives the old lexus? how did you pull that one off?:D
 












Gosh, a good idea to try tonight.

to suck the thing out? lol.

good luck but i doubt it. it may be plastic but thick plastic.

i wedged my arm underneath the lex and pushed with all my might and some movement but the last big bump took my extension bar from my heavy duty car jack and luckily able to fit and use the gas tank for leverage to get a loud 'POP!' straight.
 






My wife backed into a fence post last week with ours. Gonna be about $1K to fix because she scratched the top painted part and the bottom non-painted part. The top peice can be sanded out and re-painted. The bottom piece has to be replaced though. Hope the body shop can find the paint color.
 






Update -- took a bit due to business obligations to find time but got the bumper off and popped the dent out. Not perfect but looks 110% better and wife is speaking to me again. Hoping that this continued heat wave will smooth out the ridges as the Explorer sits in the sun.

Certainly have been paying more attention to backing up using camera, mirrors and parking sensors!
 






Update -- took a bit due to business obligations to find time but got the bumper off and popped the dent out. Not perfect but looks 110% better and wife is speaking to me again. Hoping that this continued heat wave will smooth out the ridges as the Explorer sits in the sun.

Certainly have been paying more attention to backing up using camera, mirrors and parking sensors!

Glade it looks good! It could be worse if you know what I mean...

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=323232
 



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