Front Bumper Dislocated...Question

[seasonalvoodoo]

I just noticed that on the driver's side, the front bumper is coming loose. There is a gap of an inch or two near the tire and a smaller gap near the headlight.

I am guessing it may have happened when I scraped the bottom of the car when driving into a massive pothole...but that was over a month ago and am wondering how I did not notice more quickly.

Anyway, when I take it to the dealership, are they going to charge me to pop ot back in?

What if it's bent or something and they have to do more than just move it back into place, will they charge me then?

I'm broke...can you tell?

[KimberKenobi]

It is plastic (or more technically a derrivative of) so it is not bent.

You can remove the grill and reach under the headlight and try to squeeze the bumper back into place (this takes small hands with lots of hand strength).

If a dealer is worth their weight, I'd say they'd not charge you (my dealer does freebees for the Camel all the time - installing wiper arms, trying to wash the undercarriage free of salt... basically what I ask that is doable...)

But you could try it first your self. A body shop will likely charge you labor hours to remove and realign the bumper (is there a gap between the bumper and the fender? because, if so, you may have broke that connective piece which is very easy to break. If so, the piece is ~$14 and you'll have to take off the bumper to replace it)

I have removed the Camel's bumper several times, but was not able to get it back on as tight as the body shop did when they had to fix my fender rub.

Hope that helps...

[seasonalvoodoo]

Yes, the larger of the two gaps is between the fender and the bumper.

So, then I am definitely going to get charged because of that piece? How much in labor do you think they'd charge for that?

And...how bad would it be to just not get it fixed for a while?

Also, you'll probably know what this piece is since you work on your car...when I looked under the car there is like a rubber piece with bolts that appears to be bolted on the underside of the bumper and that is kind of flapping off...as it has ripped from one of the bolts...is that an important piece?

Thanks for answering, btw!

[KimberKenobi]

that piece keeps rocks and debris from being kicked up into the engine compartment... Depending on how it is broken, you can jury-rig it back in place. I don't know how expensive that piece is, it runs up into the engine compartment as well... so it's bigger than it looks.