Jidaran
New member
Recently got rear ended and pushed into the car in front of me. Insurance sadly has totaled the truck, offering me $3000. It’s been running fine so I want to take the money and fix it up myself.
Looks like I’m gonna need an entire rear bumper assembly, plus the reinforcement and valance panel from the front. The installation is easy enough, but I had some questions about sourcing parts, painting, and the order of operations.
It looks like my two best options are:
1) Put the truck back together with the parts I have (hoping I get it past MD post-salvage inspection) while I try to source the parts in the right color (Thundercloud). From the research I’ve done over the past week, it looks like it might take a few months (or more) to find some used parts in decent condition. This option is the cheapest and I assume the paint will match the closest because, while there might be slight differences, the paint on the bumper and the car should be roughly the same age.
2) Get used parts of any color and have them painted. I already found a good bumper set on CL in black for $225 on CL. I got a rough estimate for the paint job for $450. Obviously this triples the cost and also I’m worried that the paint might not match very well. I don’t care if it’s less than perfect but I’d hope it wouldn’t be glaringly obvious.
Beside choosing between those two options, I need to fix the floor, which is a bit buckled from the bumper being pushed in. The guy at the body shop recommended leaving the bumper on right now and using it as leverage to help bend the floor back into place. I figure I’m gonna need to bust out the hammer and wood blocks and some point, but I might need to wait till I have the new bumper ready to go. The bolts on the old one are rusted to the point where it looks like more than a few are going to snap in the removal process.
TL;DR:
How bad is a newly painted bumper going to mismatch my descent but 17 year old paint job?
How hard is it to find a 99+ front and rear bumper in good condition in Thundercloud (would be willing to pay for shipping)?
Any tips for straightening out a buckled floor?
Looks like I’m gonna need an entire rear bumper assembly, plus the reinforcement and valance panel from the front. The installation is easy enough, but I had some questions about sourcing parts, painting, and the order of operations.
It looks like my two best options are:
1) Put the truck back together with the parts I have (hoping I get it past MD post-salvage inspection) while I try to source the parts in the right color (Thundercloud). From the research I’ve done over the past week, it looks like it might take a few months (or more) to find some used parts in decent condition. This option is the cheapest and I assume the paint will match the closest because, while there might be slight differences, the paint on the bumper and the car should be roughly the same age.
2) Get used parts of any color and have them painted. I already found a good bumper set on CL in black for $225 on CL. I got a rough estimate for the paint job for $450. Obviously this triples the cost and also I’m worried that the paint might not match very well. I don’t care if it’s less than perfect but I’d hope it wouldn’t be glaringly obvious.
Beside choosing between those two options, I need to fix the floor, which is a bit buckled from the bumper being pushed in. The guy at the body shop recommended leaving the bumper on right now and using it as leverage to help bend the floor back into place. I figure I’m gonna need to bust out the hammer and wood blocks and some point, but I might need to wait till I have the new bumper ready to go. The bolts on the old one are rusted to the point where it looks like more than a few are going to snap in the removal process.
TL;DR:
How bad is a newly painted bumper going to mismatch my descent but 17 year old paint job?
How hard is it to find a 99+ front and rear bumper in good condition in Thundercloud (would be willing to pay for shipping)?
Any tips for straightening out a buckled floor?
