I bought my 2007 Prius in February. In the past month I've gotten into a number of dings and scrapes, the most recent cracking my front bumper about 2 inches vertically from bottom to top. I had it repaired but it's "recracking" along the same line (it's about 1 cm now). For a plethora of reasons, I can't go back to the body shop. I'd rather not spend the money to get it repaired again either, as the damage is relatively minor and actually underneath the bottom of the car. I just fear it'll continue to crack. Is there some kind of glue I can use that'll keep it in place? The break itself is clean.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crsgardner @ Apr 16 2007, 11:15 AM) [snapback]423985[/snapback]</div> try some silicone caulk - it will flex, and it's cheap.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(walt @ Apr 16 2007, 11:30 AM) [snapback]423991[/snapback]</div> This stuff? http://www.amazon.com/GE-Silicone-10-1-Oun...8050&sr=8-1 Would it be ok to stick on the backside of the bumper (assuming I can get to it)?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crsgardner @ Apr 16 2007, 11:35 AM) [snapback]423993[/snapback]</div> Why not use the stuff designed for flexible bumper repair?: http://www.paintscratch.com/cgi-bin/show_p...cgi?ShowItem=36 - Tom
Before you use any repair compounds, what youi need to do is find the very end of the crack (and make sure it really is the end, as quite often the crack does extend past the visible end), and then drill a small hole into the bumper. This terminates the crack so that it cannot split any further. After that, you can glue the crack back together without any fear that the crack will get bigger (unless you missed with the hole and the crack was actually longer).. On my 2001, the original owner hit a groundhog, which cracked the bottom of the front bumper.. He left it as is because it was basically invisible, but I just glued it with Loctite industrial superglue and it has held fast since then- I've even driven into a planter on the exact spot which left a couple of scuffs on the paint, but the glue never let go..
I took it back to the body shop today because the owner insisted he take a look. He feels the crack should hold but if its gets worse he'll fix it. I just bought this car and I'm still amazed by the fragility of the bumper This crack was from coming off the end of my driveway about 1-2 inches and touching the curb. I thought it would just leave scratches but it left a 2-inch tear. Prior to this, the bumper crushed in the second week I owned it after I hit a small snow pile on the side of the road (not the fluffy stuff -- it had been sitting there for a while). Granted, all of these incidents are my fault, but if I hit the curb in my old car (a POS Dodge Stratus from 1998) the worst I could expect is a few scratches.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crsgardner @ Apr 17 2007, 09:59 AM) [snapback]424616[/snapback]</div> I believe the line, "they don't build 'em like they used to" applies. More plastic and thinner metal seem to be the rule now. It is not uncommon to see other vehicles with scraped or dented plastic bumpers.
My bumper was broken, foglight and lower grill too, by a loose truck tire tread on the freeway. It also slapped my passenger door, which required $1300 (insurance) to fix everything. I've been attacked by the vicious tire treads, and it always polished out on my Subaru, and Eagle Talon, both of which use lots of plastic too. Also, the front airdam (1" black strip) is easily damaged by parking lot curbs, that almost every other car clears. I have a spare slightly damaged air dam from the previous incident. Fot such a smart car, the bumper could have been better designed, with some foresight to real world driving. You might expect such things in an exotic sports car, but not in the daily driver, freeway fighter, Prius.
