Rear bumper replacement after being rear-ended

[wintersilke]

My wife's '05 vibe was rear ended, causing damage to the rear bumper and possibly below it. <see pics>

How hard would it be to get an aftermarket part and to repair it myself and save on the labor? I'm an oilfield engineer and figure if I can do a timing belt on a Corolla at a friend's airplane hanger this shouldn't be too hard.

The major damage is the puncture to the bumper, the buckling of the fasteners on the left side and the shearing of the plastic where the bumper connects to the frame underneath near the muffler.

I got an error when trying to upload the pictures (Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached.) so posted the pictures on photobucket.

rear bumper
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l197/ ... c91c87.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

side
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l197/ ... e1f591.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The offending piece on the other car
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l197/ ... 3140d9.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[KITT222]

Youch! I've replaced the rear bumper on my own Vibe (twice, once replacing everything from the rebar mounts back), and it is really pretty easy. You just need the right fasteners, which probably broke in the accident. There's two on the bottom, attaching the bumper to some standoffs from the rebar, four nuts accessible by removing the trim around the latch hook, and tool carrier in the back of the car, a bolt attaching the bumper to the bumper at the tip of the bumper corners, and a fastener of some description holding the wheel trim to the bumper. Then there's two supports that clip into the car on either side, above the vents in the rear body. Make sure these, the little standoffs on the bottom of the rebar, and the rebar itself are okay, and get spare plastic clips. Because trust me, you'll break at least one when getting it off. When you get the new bumper, transfer the little studs that went into the body to the new bumper, and clip it into the side clips.

From Bumper Swap 2







Sad thing about that? The ruined bumper was less than six months old.