BG Auto: Dent in bumper

[Ketsuri]

I have a '02 Honda Accord, and I know pretty much nothing when it comes to cars. I have a semi-large dent in my bumper that is driving me crazy. One of my friends suggested that I try to take off the bumper and push the dent out. The only other option I have is to buy a new bumper. How difficult would it be for me to remove the dent myself? If it makes a difference, the dent is in the front bumper.

[Ksandra]

they have those things at carshops that can pop out the dent if you want. You could call and get estimates (never done it myself so not sure what they charge normally)

[Kazen]

Is there any way to get a picture of the bumper?

[Brill Weave]

If you know nothing about cars the best advice I can give you about fixing it is don't. Take it someplace and have it done for you if it bugs you that much. It's not an overly complicated task, but for someone with no car experience it's not worth the risk of causing further damage or damaging the structural integrity of the bumper itself. Let a professional do it.

[Elesirdur]

I'll echo Brill's comments about leaving bodywork to the professionals. Unlike a lot of mechanical work, there's a lot of skill and 'art' that goes into doing good bodywork. I've tried doing painting and dent removal on my own on my old car and it's a pain in the ass, especially when plastic panels are involved (which your bumper most likely is).

Do call around and get estimates, but check Yelp or your local BBB to see if any places are notoriously bad. Body shops do have a semi-justified reputation as places that will rip you off hard, but in my experience that's mostly been a small number of shady shops that ruin the industry image for the rest.

[Pikarya]

or your local BBB to see if any places are notoriously bad.

No, if anything the BBB will just lead you in the direction of bigger ripoff spots.

[Brill Weave]

Nah. The BBB isn't that bad. They are very hit or miss though. You're almost better off just googling the joint and checking out the user reviews. Usually they will tell you more than anything else.

[Amelya]

My ex popped out a badly dented bumper on a rental car once...he just got down on the ground and popped it back out with his hands while it was still attached to the vehicle. We weren't too concerned about the structural integrity of the bumper though...we just didn't want it to look so bad when we took the car back. Probably not a recommended method lol.

[archibaldcrane]

You're worried about a dent in the bumper of your 9 year old Honda?

Lower your standards.

[Jb1210a]

This ^

On a more serious note, I was a body tech for 2 years and I have to tell you that your options are to either do it as Amelya's ex did or deal with it. PDR (Paintless Dent Removal) is an option depending on the location and the severity of the bump. If there's paint missing as a result of the collision and you mess with the bumper without properly removing it, you could make a bigger eyesore than before.

[Ketsuri]

I can post a pic of the damage when I get home. There is already some paint that has chipped off, but that doesn't bother me as much as the dent. Yes my car is 9 years old, but when I got it 2 years ago it had 23k miles on it. It doesn't bother me enough to spend the money to fix it, but if I can fix it myself I will do that. My friend says he has removed his bumper "dozens of times", but his car also no longer goes into 1st gear because of his "working" on it. I always thought about trying to pop the dent out myself, but I didn't know if that would work.

[elison]

I'm a tech, so all this information is basically copy/pasted from OnDemand5.com that our shop uses. Bumper removal is fairly easy. I'm not sure how bad the dent is so I couldn't really help you out there until you post or PM me a picture of the damage.

Either way, here's some pictures for both Coupe and Sedan type Accords regarding bumper removal. It's very basic as long as you understand how to read the pictures (lol).

Honda Accord Coupe:

Spoiler: show

http://i53.tinypic.com/t8oqad.gif

Honda Accord Sedan:

Spoiler: show

http://i52.tinypic.com/302qmwn.gif

Any other questions feel free to PM me.

[Firedemon]

There was a dent in my hood before I purchased my car, and I got it popped out for 30 bucks. That's a shitton easier than taking the bumper off and doing it yourself.

[Zethren]

I've had a couple of dents in my bumpers in the past. Mine was in the back though, but I was able to 'fix' it by popping it out just like someone said. One tip that I will add is that make sure you heat the dented area if you try to pop it out. The material gets a lot softer and thus easier to work on when its hot. Also it will decrease your chances of cracking something.
I didn't have to remove my bumper to pop out the dent. I was able to stick something long from under it (while the bummer was still attached) and pop it out with that, maybe you can do that.

PS I used a space heater to heat the bumper.

[Ketsuri]

pics...apparently huge pics

Spoiler: show

[Melena]

I had a dent in a similar place in my old Cavalier. I was able to just reach under and push it in from the back. Was still obvious it was a pushed out dent, but that car I also couldn't give two fucks about either with all the problems I had with it.

[Fr34k]

Yea you can push it out, but like melena said it's going to be obvious that there was a dent there and you pushed it out. May end up with a crease in the bumper, or the shape won't line up like it used to. Plus all the cracked paint. It will look better than that, but it won't look anywhere like it did before.

[Mindfox]

I skim, so sorry if this has already been said but I had an old car that I didn't want to put any money into for esthetic purposes, so I've popped out many a nasty dent with a plunger. Seriously.

[*Shinzon*]

You're worried about a dent in the bumper of your 9 year old Honda?

Lower your standards.

Hey hey hey, I have a 12 year old subaru that only has 60k miles on it. Dents/rust spots drive me crazy and need to be fixed because they can corrode the car faster especially if it gets down into the primer. Also plastic tends to be easier to fix just have to know what you're doing. But if you don't a body shop that isn't busy could do it in 15 minutes or so.

[Dmitry]

You might as well recycle the car and buy a new one.