Messed up my bumper! Solutions?

[Antonio DiMarco]

Maaco are hacks

eeeew... maaco will NEVER touch a car under my ownership....

Yeah stay the hell away from Maaco. Better to leave the bumper alone than to have those hacks touch it.

 

[SBSPEED3]

little off topic but i recently scraped up the plastic bit under the lip, was mazda thinking ahead and made this piec easily replaceable?
since they are owend by ford i kindof think not lol

 

[Hank3]

If you have the right tools, it's not hard. Just a little time consuming.

 

[Antonio DiMarco]

little off topic but i recently scraped up the plastic bit under the lip, was mazda thinking ahead and made this piec easily replaceable?
since they are owend by ford i kindof think not lol

Mazda is no longer owned by Ford (only ~13%).

The part is replaceable as someone else here pointed out. You just need to drill out the rivets.

 

[SBSPEED3]

cool thanks.
i think ill leave it til it gets really bad, its not noticeable unless the car is on a lift

 

[zoomdoom]

I didnt drill out the rivits when I put my dg lip on just sheared them off with screw driver type tool and hammer. The tool had a sharp v to it though which made it little effort to break them. I suggest the home depot lip if you wanna cheap/easy cover up plus I think they dont look half bad!

 

[stevekt]

Thanks for the replies. Here is the damage. I went to the body shop at the dealer and was quoted $981.

 

[StealthWyvern]

ouch! It might be cheaper to get a new bumper skin put on and have it reprayed at that price.

 

[Hank3]

Ack - that's worse than I had pictured.

 

[SallySpeed3]

maaco cuts cost by basically not preping their work, and then shooting CHEAP paint. with is pretty much the worst combo ever. If you're that desperate to save money... do the work yourself, and shoot medeocre quality paint and a good clear. You'll end up with the satisfaction of a job well done, you'll have spent a little more (next time will be cheaper cuz you'll already have the paint gun, compressor, and tarp or whatever you used for a paint booth), and a car that will look good FAR longer than a maaco job.

Hmm, well crap, now I don't know what to do. I don't have any pics of it, but I could. The damage isn't really that bad, its actually the damage underneath that bothers me. The whole plastic thing that covers the bottom of the engine bay is slowly sagging and just looks a mess because of all the torn up screws. Is maaco really that bad?

 

[fred114]

Yeah, they are pretty bad. You could always just remove the cover under your engine. I never put mine back on when I put the CAI on, over a year ago. No issues

 

[Antonio DiMarco]

Yes Maaco is that bad

Hmm, well crap, now I don't know what to do. I don't have any pics of it, but I could. The damage isn't really that bad, its actually the damage underneath that bothers me. The whole plastic thing that covers the bottom of the engine bay is slowly sagging and just looks a mess because of all the torn up screws. Is maaco really that bad?

Better to jury rig it together and hold off until you have the cash to buy a new bumper than to have Maaco "fix" it. You'll be lucky if they come within a primary color of your cosmic blue and overspray onto your engine!

 

[UHATEIT]

crap thats a lot of damage. I know you dont want aftermarket BUT if you like lips, the GV replica lip covers that whole ****** up area. That would set you back $200 for the lip and $80 for painting. Much better than $981 you were quoted, then you'de have a lip on the front, if you like that sort of thing.

here is a front shot of my lip so you can see what it covers up and then you can see that your damage will not be seen anymore if you get this lip:

 

[Wagonbacker9]

crap thats a lot of damage. I know you dont want aftermarket BUT if you like lips, the GV replica lip covers that whole ****** up area. That would set you back $200 for the lip and $80 for painting. Much better than $981 you were quoted, then you'de have a lip on the front, if you like that sort of thing.

here is a front shot of my lip so you can see what it covers up and then you can see that your damage will not be seen anymore if you get this lip:

There is at least one more lip (more aggressive design) I've seen that should also accomplish this for you. In my opinion this is your best option. Cheapest, AND you get something else out of it!

 

[stiv444]

Is maaco really that bad?

http://www.my3cents.com/productReview.cgi?compid=576&product=Paint+Job

(google)

 

[PCspeed3]

gotta watch out for those crubs and fents, they'll get ya errytime....

 

[stevekt]

crap thats a lot of damage. I know you dont want aftermarket BUT if you like lips, the GV replica lip covers that whole ****** up area. That would set you back $200 for the lip and $80 for painting. Much better than $981 you were quoted, then you'de have a lip on the front, if you like that sort of thing.

here is a front shot of my lip so you can see what it covers up and then you can see that your damage will not be seen anymore if you get this lip:

That does seem like a good repair option. That lip is not too flashy. Does it extend below the factory bumber? I will sometimes scratch the black plastic railing under the bumper when going into my drive way. How is it mounted?

 

[SallySpeed3]

Where do you get that lip? I've found several group buy threads, but they're all closed now.

 

[zoomdoom]

(google) first one that popped up with search gv ms3 lip

http://www.nextmod.com/index.php?target=products&product_id=29807

 

[stevekt]

I got my bumper fixed for $350. The damage was repaired with steel mesh and liquid plastic. It looks good as new.