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Bodywork coloured bumpers

post #1 of 17
3/17/10 at 10:39am
Thread Starter 
are the worst invention in automotive history.

A couple of days ago I bumped the bumper of my GFs Fiat Panda on a towbar. It is split open slighly with some scratching.

Cost of a new bumper € 56.- (assembly seems dead easy)

Cost of a new bumper including paintjob and assembly, between 5-600 euro.

What are bumpers good for if not withstanding small hardly felt bumps?

The sad thing is, bumpers used to be perfect:

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post #2 of 17
3/17/10 at 12:30pm
1. They look better imho when the whole car design is good. 2. In the U.S. there is a franchise called BumperMan that has developed lower cost tech for repair. One of my brothers owns the Ohio franchise.
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post #3 of 17
3/17/10 at 12:33pm
The reason they are fitted is to stop any major component damage with small bumps. BCB's look a million times better than the standard plastic colour. If I did not have BCB's the first thing I would do would be to paint them!

Lesson for future, do not bump your girlfriends Fiat Panda
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post #4 of 17
3/17/10 at 12:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CDFS View Post
are the worst invention in automotive history.

The sad thing is, bumpers used to be perfect:


Yet you show a picture of a safety bumper on a later car.




For the record are you talking about the bumper cover or the bumper. 2 different things. The picture of the car you are showing has a rubber bumper cover. The rubber part is not the bumper. The metal piece under it is the bumper.
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post #5 of 17
3/17/10 at 1:15pm
Thread Starter 
I'm talking about a bumper, with or without cover, that will not fall to pieces by a slight bump and then cost 5% of the catalogue price of the car to replace

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dac View Post
The reason they are fitted is to stop any major component damage with small bumps.
Is that also the reason for painting them?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dac View Post
Lesson for future, do not bump your girlfriends Fiat Panda

It was all her fault, of course.
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post #6 of 17
3/17/10 at 1:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CDFS View Post
What are bumpers good for if not withstanding small hardly felt bumps?

They are meant to absorb the impact so other components of the car are not damage as that would have cost a LOT more than you paid. They also absorb the energy of your forward motion thereby reducing the impact to your body as well. If bumpers were hard you would have felt it a lot more and there'd be a lot more dead people in the world.
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post #7 of 17
3/17/10 at 1:31pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by J'aimelescravates View Post
They are meant to absorb the impact so other components of the car are not damage as that would have cost a LOT more than you paid. They also absorb the energy of your forward motion thereby reducing the impact to your body as well. If bumpers were hard you would have felt it a lot more and there'd be a lot more dead people in the world.
Again, even if this were true, is this also why they are painted? Bcb are a way to make more money from the person liable for the damage. More money is made with the same car. Let's say assemblage of he bumper is €100, which I seriously doubt, since most of the figure will go to the paintjob, but suppose. Then they upped the costs by 4 times while at the same time making the 1/10 times the cost option virtually impossible. IMO, bcb are stupid, as, I'm sure someone will point out, am I for causing the damage in the first place.
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post #8 of 17
3/17/10 at 2:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CDFS View Post
Again, even if this were true, is this also why they are painted?

Bcb are a way to make more money from the person liable for the damage. More money is made with the same car.

Let's say assemblage of he bumper is €100, which I seriously doubt, since most of the figure will go to the paintjob, but suppose. Then they upped the costs by 4 times while at the same time making the 1/10 times the cost option virtually impossible.

IMO, bcb are stupid, as, I'm sure someone will point out, am I for causing the damage in the first place.

Then, when you crack yours, just go ahead, get a non-matching one and paint it yourself - you can even use that black matte stuff that gives it a rubbery texture. Or send it off and have it chromed. All for a lot less than an OEM one.
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post #9 of 17
3/17/10 at 7:10pm
Thread Starter 
^Someone did not get my meaning.
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post #10 of 17
3/17/10 at 7:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CDFS View Post
^Someone did not get my meaning.

You were complaining/whining about matching painted bumpers being a scam to take your money, and I simply said you don't have to buy them.

Not too difficult there.
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post #11 of 17
3/18/10 at 3:53pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by akatsuki View Post
You were complaining/whining about matching painted bumpers being a scam to take your money, and I simply said you don't have to buy them.

Not too difficult there.

I do have to buy them, since I bumped someone elses. If it was mine there would be no problem. So you didn't.

Whining is as may be, but I'm right and you're less than polite.
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post #12 of 17
3/18/10 at 8:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CDFS View Post
I do have to buy them, since I bumped someone elses. If it was mine there would be no problem. So you didn't.

Whining is as may be, but I'm right and you're less than polite.

So how would it be different if you bumped into someone's Porsche/exotic. I just don't get the complaining when you are at fault for breaking something expensive. I apologize for the "whining" statement.
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post #13 of 17
3/18/10 at 9:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CDFS View Post
Again, even if this were true, is this also why they are painted?

Bcb are a way to make more money from the person liable for the damage. More money is made with the same car.

Let's say assemblage of he bumper is €100, which I seriously doubt, since most of the figure will go to the paintjob, but suppose. Then they upped the costs by 4 times while at the same time making the 1/10 times the cost option virtually impossible.

IMO, bcb are stupid, as, I'm sure someone will point out, am I for causing the damage in the first place.

Surely it's more a product of current automotive design evolution than function. I highly doubt that there are any conspiratorial intentions to steal extra money from you involved in the decision to paint the bumper.
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post #14 of 17
3/19/10 at 1:56am
I don't like them, though I hate the look of modern cars. My old car had an old fashioned metal bumper, I got rear-ended hard, didn't even leave a scratch. In my new car, I was rear-ended softly $2000 damage.
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post #15 of 17
3/19/10 at 4:20am
The whole reason is because BCB's look a million times better, as these illustrations show;

Boring, poverty spec Fiat Panda

Higher spec, MUCH better looking Fiat Panda;


Next you will be complaining that cars have any paint at all since people could just scratch it and the illuminati would be able to control the world via bodyshops. JOKE!
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