I went to my first auto cross this weekend, and I think I tried a little to hard.

I nailed a cone and it got sucked up into my front passanger side wheel well, hit my washer fluid tank and gouged it, cracked my side skirt and shot out leaving a scratch all the way down the side of my car.

The worst is the front splitter (grey part) which actually cracked on the side by the wheel. (where it kind of slopes up)

I went to the body shop and I guess even though it looks seperate its all part of the front bumper as a whole. So the guy said it did about 2 grand of damage to the car.

So im thinking a little super glue may be a better alternative. Anyone know if there is anything better to hold the pieces together with. Any different type of product?

At least I got one deceint pic out of all this

 

don't be cheap on the nismo with using super glue, just replace the front bumper. That way you know it won't fall apart in the future.

 

^+1

 

one crack is going to run me a little more than a $1,000 in parts and who knows how much for the labor.

If it really pisses me off by spring I might get it fixed, but if I get it fixed now with my luck ill hit a snow bank or something this winter.

The guy told me the bumper which is about 600 + then the thing under the bumper "flooring" or whatever its called is like 500, which holds everything together.

 

Umm, it will only cost around $500 to fix some cracks. A friend owns a shop, and my car has a small crack near the reflector due to a dip I hit too hard and it cracked my paint under my clearbra. To redo the whole bumper with new paint, remove my license plate plugs, and fix the crack, that is all it would cost me by a good shop.

 

I had a cracked bumper for almost two years. It wasn't caused by hitting a cone, but every time I would hit one with the passenger side of my front bumper, it would break my super-glue fix and crack a little further.

I eventually had to spring for a new bumper, paint and labor. But they did great work and it has taken its lumps out on course very well.

Most cone encounters are harmless and require only a little buffing to get the plastic "streaks" off the paint.

-Sorry your first autocross resulted in costly damage.

 

do what the drifters do: drill holes and criss-cross your zip-ties.

 

wow

 

If you can bear it, then do it. Hold out for a while, then replace the bumper after you've torn it up a bit more.

 

^ yea thats what I was thinking, especially since I am going to be doing some events in the spring.

I think the cone broke it because it was so cold out, between the cold plastic bumper and the rock hard cone, there was no give on either end.

Its really not something that can just be painted and buffed. It is being held on right now with electrical tape.

Heres a play by play of what happened, drawn in paint. The circle area is where the crack is.

 

^ The pointy thing is supossed to be a cone. Damn John Madden makes it look so easy

 

ha funny you say that. i just did on the driver side of my bumper, right near the reflector, about 2 hours ago

 

Madden would have thrown in "...and then BOOM!"

 

I hit a cone dead on and it crushed my bumper. The only difference is that the cone was in the middle of the highway, not a track, and I was doing about 80mph changing lanes and didn't see it until it was too late. If you're buying a new bumper, West Covina Nissan sells it on their site for $483.54 plus $150 shipping.

 

me at 2:08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npDQOHKaHsQ

 

Just so you know i dont think you will need the plastic piece under the bumper.... they will be able to re-use your existing one... The bumper when i checked the price is about 450 if you get it through the dealership... Good luck... I will be putting one on mine in the near future.

Chris

 

If you're going to keep autox'g it, there's no point in fixing it, honestly.

I have a couple dings here and there, and I'm just letting them go until I garage the Nismo and make it my sunday driver. Once it's just my fun car I'm going to touch up the body and repaint it.

 

^ Thats a good point, im sure I am going to hit something again. It really bothered me the first few days but now I'm feeling a litter better about it. If anything I will wait until spring .

I got 2 estimates and they were both about $750 to bond it back together with some new 3M product and repaint it.

To me thats not worth it. The new top half of the bumper which includes the part that is cracked on my car costs about $650 unpainted.

The body shops estimated that at about 1,400 all installed painted and 3M protected.

I really just want to put it together to make it a little less noticable and make sure it doesnt fall off. Thanks for the advice guys Ill try to take some before and after pictures when I decide what im going to do.

 

Honestly, I'd just get a new bumper and have it painted. You can use that one on a regular basis and just swap bumpers when you go to the track.

 

How long does it take to swap out the bumpers? Is it difficult? I don't have access to a lift or ramps. And Im about as handy with tools as....(insert sucky clever comparison)