Bumper Reinforcement

The Disappearance of Bumpers

If you’ve looked at the progression of vehicle stylings over the last few decades compared with vehicles in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s, in particular, you will notice that bumpers have almost entirely disappeared. You will probably only find solid metal bumpers on a pickup truck or industrial vehicle. This is because Mercedes-Benz invented crumple zone technology that led to the belief that bumpers were kind of bad. Although the current automotive frames can self-destruct in a low-speed collision to such an extent that the car may be written off as totaled, any force absorbed by the vehicle saves the passengers from invisible shock waves.

Vehicles now have very soft front and rear fascias that are usually made of a molded plastic pieces. For high-end Luxury cars, it often costs more to repair the damage than even a new vehicle is worth. Because the frame is designed to flex and absorb the impact of any accident, it may be difficult to realign the subframe and put the vehicle back on the road. If the subframe is not perfectly aligned, the vehicle will perpetually gobble up transmissions from the unnatural stresses of perpetually running slightly askew.

Nevertheless, for the smallest fender-bender accidents, the absorption of the impact may limit itself to the bumper reinforcement bars that are located behind the front and rear fascias. These are the only thing standing in the way of a low-speed accident inflicting critical and permanent damage to your vehicle.

The damage is typically limited to the bumper reinforcement bar, grille, hood, and front fascia if you impact the rear of a truck in a compact car at speeds of 5-10 mph. The bumper is not that strong and will deform at these speeds. However, it does save your radiator, condenser, and subframe from replacement after a fender-bender.

Many vehicles actually have explosives behind the bumper reinforcement bar to further absorb the impact by countering the force of the impact with counterforce. Therefore, you should obtain the factory manual and ensure that you are following the correct procedures if you plan on replacing your bumper reinforcement bar yourself on late-model vehicles like Volkswagen’s.

When you need bumper reinforcement in Miami, PartsMax is your one-stop-shop solution. PartsMax has a large inventory of aftermarket and OEM bumper reinforcement parts to fit a variety of makes and models. They also have many other pieces you may need to carry out the repair if your foglights, headlights, radiator, condenser, and bumper covers were also damaged in the collision.

Replacement of Your Bumper Reinforcement in Miami

Although it may be difficult to access in some vehicles, the general repair methods require you to remove the front fascia, grille, possibly the headlights and fog lights, and some lower spoiler pieces before you can access the re-bar. If your reinforcement bar was damaged, the grille was definitely busted too. This is no big deal because the grille can be almost impossible to remove in one piece if the plastic is aging and brittle.

The reinforcement bar is usually bolted on with anywhere from two to four large bolts. You will need a socket wrench and extensions to reach them in many cases and possibly some small crescent wrenches to hold the nut in place while you loosen.

There is not a whole lot more to the replacement of your bumper reinforcement in Miami. The installation will be the opposite of removal. Be sure to torque the retaining nuts to specifications and to follow any recommendations of your repair manual.

Always disconnect the negative lead from the car battery before doing work on the front end. It is easy for the fan to turn on even when the vehicle is off which presents a danger to your digits. And remember, if you do disconnect the negative lead on a luxury auto, the computers may need to be recalibrated. Contact a local repair shop or dealership to find out if this is the case.