Guys - I need some help.

My wife rear ended a late model Malibu today. Wasn't her fault totally - Brake line ruptured and she couldnt whoa the 20 footer down in time.

Anyway - She pushed in the front bumper of the car and "wrinkled" the filler panel. Bumper is Ok and the front header panel is fine.

My question is - this car has the energy absorbing bumper brakets (like shocks) They did their job and compressed but is there a way to get them to go back without replacing them???

Please let me know! I want to get her back on the road so I can drive out to the Nationals next week!

GUY

 

You can probably drill holes in the bumper shocks and drain the fluid all the way out. Once the fluid is out, you can pull them back out to desired position and plug weld the holes you drilled.

 

That is a bummer! Hopefully nobody was hurt. I've heard of shops using chains and a hydraulic press to essentially "pull" the bumper away from the car when this happens. I don't know if this would work though. It seems it could damage the bumper. I would go with J's idea before I started chaining stuff to my bumper.

 

Hope noone was hurt and it sounds like damage was minimal.

What year is the car? If a later model it might be easier to just get new bumper shocks from the bone yard.
It sounds like they did their job well to absorb the impact.
If re-extracted, I am not sure how well they would function in a future crash...

 

Guys - thanks for the feedback. Nobody Hurt - Thanks.

Car is a 75 Delta 88 Conv. I checked some of the literuature I have but nothing in there talks about if they come back out.

 

They usually do not after big impacts. Although they can sometimes be forcefully pulled back out, they should be replaced then.

 

X2 they should be replaced, but in the mean time you can drain em and beat the crap out of them.

If they are not pushed in too bad, you can use body shims behind the bumper. My car came from the factory with 3 giant shims on 1 side of the bumper.

 

I used a block of 2x4 behind the bumper of my old Ford for awhile until I got some new shocks from a yard...

 

I have the same car and slammed into one of those poles at a bank drive through a few months ago and mine did the same, went in but not out, my mechanic hooked it to a chain and it popped right back out (hooked it to a chain chained to a frame machine and I slowly reversed) turned out fine, no charge, no drilling

just yank it back

 

I would say that if you have to drill it I would see about tapping the holes, filling it back up with fluid and putting a cap screw in it to seal it back up. Don't know if the metal would be thick enough for that though. Glad no one was hurt and good luck with the repairs.

Keith

 

I've dealt with the 5 MPH cushion bumpers before. If your in a pinch....drill, pull and do whatever you have to do. But in the end you need to replaced them for it to be right.

 

Replace them the next 5mph bump will be much worse as the car itself takes the shock.

 

did ya fix it? still going to the nationals? I started packing the convertible and took it out for the 1st time in a while to get gas, take a ride, can't wait to hit the road. It's running so nicely.

 

Guys -

Thanks for all the advice. Heres what I did.

I rented a come-along and hooked it to the underside of the bumper (under the bumper guard) - I attached the other end around my big oak tree.

The come-along worked great - pulled the bumper out to where it needed to be. I did one side at a time, nice and slow. The only remnants of the crash are the bumper filler scars in front. I am not going to have it repainted yet as it would stick out like a sore thumb against 30 year old paint.

See you at the nats!

PS: I go the brakes fixed too
: - )

GUY