# Rear bumper alignment off after small fender bender



## knoq2wice (Nov 24, 2005)

It pains me to say.... I got in a small fender bender in my 05 Frontier the other day (was backing up in a parking lot, keeping a close eye on some nearby kids running around instead of the car behind me). For the other car, it crushed the corner of their bumper. For me, there's no visible damage, other than a slight scuff mark... however, the alignment of my rear bumper is off a bit to the left now. It appears to have moved the whole bumper horizontally about a half inch or so. I gave it a strong push but it won't budge back in the right direction.

I was curious if anyone knows how serious this would be to repair? Can the bumper be "loosened" and just straightened back up, or is it likely that more serious damage was done under the surface?

Anyhow, thanks in advance for your advice


----------



## mcm4090 (Jan 20, 2006)

You should be able to just loosing the bumper and straighten it.


----------



## 05 NISMO 4X4 (Jun 4, 2005)

Or back into another car, this time on the other side! Should equal things out! Just kidding of course! It may have actually pushed one side in a bit and looks as though it's off sideways by a 1/2". Is the clearance still the same on both sides? Hopefully just loosing and realigning it will work. If nothing is noticable bent you should be good to go! Good luck!


----------



## knoq2wice (Nov 24, 2005)

Well I spent a good bit of time this afternoon laying beneath my truck trying to analyze how the bumper is attached and at what places it might be bent. I also had my neighbor who's a mechanic take a look. From what I can tell, the right corner of the bumper is, in fact, bent inward and upward a bit (on the unaffected left side, I can fit at least a full finger between the bumper edge and the body, while on the bent side it is almost flush with the truck body). The bottom edge of the bumper also wraps very closely around the edge of the truck body. The plastic part attached on top of the bumper is bent upward a few degrees in the corner due to the metal below being bent upward (though this doesn't seem to adversely effect the tailgate).

Anyhow, my neighbor said I could bring it to his shop and he could use a machine to gently bend it back in the right directions, though he advised me there's a risk of causing the metal to buckle if we try it. He said he'd do it at no cost since we're neighbors, though if it does buckle, I'm out a bumper (in that case, anyone know how much a chrome rear bumper for an 05 Frontier LE costs? haha).

Should I ask him to help me bend it back a bit? Is it likely it will buckle if we try? Is it better to bend it while attached or detached from the truck?


Oh yeah and.... since I had the camera out for the above pics, I couldn't help it haha.... a nice pic of my Frontier


----------



## Smitty272 (Dec 10, 2005)

Sorry to hear that! the best part about it is that your not alone! i did the same thing on saturday but i was going a little faster were it crunched there front quarter panel in and pushed my passenger side of my bumper into the back of my bed. its not to bad, i just want to kick my own butt for doing it!


----------



## Franko Manini (Nov 22, 2005)

knoq2wice said:


> Well I spent a good bit of time this afternoon laying beneath my truck trying to analyze how the bumper is attached and at what places it might be bent. I also had my neighbor who's a mechanic take a look. From what I can tell, the right corner of the bumper is, in fact, bent inward and upward a bit (on the unaffected left side, I can fit at least a full finger between the bumper edge and the body, while on the bent side it is almost flush with the truck body). The bottom edge of the bumper also wraps very closely around the edge of the truck body. The plastic part attached on top of the bumper is bent upward a few degrees in the corner due to the metal below being bent upward (though this doesn't seem to adversely effect the tailgate).
> 
> Anyhow, my neighbor said I could bring it to his shop and he could use a machine to gently bend it back in the right directions, though he advised me there's a risk of causing the metal to buckle if we try it. He said he'd do it at no cost since we're neighbors, though if it does buckle, I'm out a bumper (in that case, anyone know how much a chrome rear bumper for an 05 Frontier LE costs? haha).
> 
> ...



I had my chrome bu,mper replaced under wareranty since it started to pit. The dealer's cost was $440 Canadian.


----------



## Centurion (Sep 5, 2002)

You may be able to just remove the brackets and pound them out.


----------

