2002 Pathfinder after a minor accident now with damaged removed bumper. What can I do now? ;(

[wildpig]

So my trusty 2002 Pathy was recently involved in a minor accident resulting in the front bumper being damaged with also some minor damages to the frame around the bumper. An indy place quoted $3000 to repair the damage. My Pathy probably doesn't even worth that much ;(. I would rather not have to give it up since everything else is still fine. The engine and coolant and steering systems have no damage and it's perfectly drivable. Just no bumper ;(

Please help. Really like to keep it ...lol

[04pathse]

Check out your local junkyards or get one off of ebay.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R ... =0&_sop=16

Bumper covers are usually just held on by plastic clips so you will need those too as I would assume they are all broken. You can purchase the plastic clips from a Nissan dealer.

[wildpig]

i don't really care about bumper cover and you don't need it anyway....lol... what is the problem now is that it has no bumper and that makes it not exactly legal to drive as well as getting insurance ;(.

[mdmellott]

You almost have that offroad look in the making. Here is what you need to complete the look.
https://www.coastaloffroad.com/product- ... umper-kit/

[mdmellott]

Skip all the Coastal Offroad options, except a couple of Cree LED lights, to connect to your fog light harness, and the radiator skid plate. You will be so impressed, you'll just have to get 35in tires (your current ones are overdue for replacement) and an Old Man Emu lift kit with shocks and struts. It will look awesome.

[Dbarry]

I would try the local parts yard first.

[wildpig]

Just trying to see what i can do to get some sort of metal bumper on there to get it street legal again so I don't get pulled over or have any problems getting it insured. lol...

MDmellott, so i guess even though your bumper height is above the legal limit, cops don't really care since it's like an offroad SUV? Wonder if they care as much if i have no bumper ...lol..

I just don't know how i can add the bumper back on since the frame attachment for the bumper is damaged.

[VStar650CL]

It looks like it's just the radiator core support and righthand bumper extension which are damaged. If the frame behind the core support is crumpled, you can slap a chain on the tow hook, wrap it around a tree, and back up to pull it straight enough to take new hardware. Core supports aren't generally expensive, usually under $200 online (or there's always Pick-N-Pull).

[Mike W.]

I'm not seeing it there on yours, but on my '03 Q, there is no bumper. There is a "support" which is almost a heavy gauge sheet metal flange sticking straight out to hold up the bumper cover, and a POS bumper cover which is just a piece of plastic, but no bumper.

If you have a way of supporting it, the big A has them for just over a hundred. https://www.amazon.com/Nissan-Pathfinde ... Pathfinder

Yeah, it'll probably be just black, so keep it high tech black or get some rattle can of a similar color, but it's not a fortune. Rockauto might have it cheaper and the metal support, but often kills you on shipping.

[wildpig]

I'm not seeing it there on yours, but on my '03 Q, there is no bumper. There is a "support" which is almost a heavy gauge sheet metal flange sticking straight out to hold up the bumper cover, and a POS bumper cover which is just a piece of plastic, but no bumper.



Yeah, it'll probably be just black, so keep it high tech black or get some rattle can of a similar color, but it's not a fortune. Rockauto might have it cheaper and the metal support, but often kills you on shipping.

So there is really no bumper but just a big metal flange? lol.. that's crazy.

[Mike W.]

So there is really no bumper but just a big metal flange? lol.. that's crazy.

I think it's crazy, but I guess Nissan thought it was good enough. It's along the lines of how much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood. How can it be a bumper cover if there's no bumper to cover?

Given that I bought it for offroading on vacation, I wanted to at least be able to push a rock out of the way if need be, so I fab'd up a 2x4 under there, pretty close to the cover so I could do just that if needed. My story on it. post6795700.html

[wildpig]

Here's some more pics of my pathfinder. So is this piece of metal what Nissan wanna call "bumper"? lol... That piece of metal can be found for like $100 or less. The problem is the mounting point for it is all bent ;(

[mdmellott]

So is this piece of metal what Nissan wanna call "bumper"? lol... That piece of metal can be found for like $100 or less.

It's an every vehicle manufacturer thing, not just Nissan. The decorative or stylized front and rear cover over the bumper is just for looks. The actual bumper only needs to meet the federal regulation bumper standard, which simply requires it to minimize front end or rear end damage from an impact at no more than 2.5 miles per hour. That's a bump.

[wildpig]

So is this piece of metal what Nissan wanna call "bumper"? lol... That piece of metal can be found for like $100 or less.

It's an every vehicle manufacturer thing, not just Nissan. The decorative or stylized front and rear cover over the bumper is just for looks. The actual bumper only needs to meet the federal regulation bumper standard, which simply requires it to minimize front end or rear end damage from an impact at no more than 2.5 miles per hour. That's a bump.

That is quite a low end expectation... lol.. anyway, so now i am just trying to figure out if it's even possible to somehow get the mounting points for the bumper on the affected side to get straighten out. Because the mounting point looks very bend on that one side.

[Mike W.]

So is this piece of metal what Nissan wanna call "bumper"? lol... That piece of metal can be found for like $100 or less.

It's an every vehicle manufacturer thing, not just Nissan. The decorative or stylized front and rear cover over the bumper is just for looks. The actual bumper only needs to meet the federal regulation bumper standard, which simply requires it to minimize front end or rear end damage from an impact at no more than 2.5 miles per hour. That's a bump.

I'm not sure, but I think Pathy's might be classified as light trucks and be subject to less stringent bumper regs than cars. However it also appears pic 4 shows much more of a bumper than my QX4 has. No battering ram, but more than an edge with a half inch flange on it whose only purpose is to hold up a piece of plastic.

A bit OT. Grrr to the forum software. I'm trying to paste an image and it makes it sooo hard, I've got to go into view image info, find the link and copy it to paste it here. From a pic hosted on this very forum? Brick to the head to whomever came up with that.

[fontana dan]

As far as the damaged mounting pieces; you'll have to replace them either by unbolting or cutting/welding depending on how they're attached to the car.
It'll likely be easier to just replace all of the bent pieces instead of trying to fix them. Otherwise you will have a very hard time getting things to line up correctly.