[wrongmark]

So following some scumbags attempting to steal one of my cars a few months ago, I fitted a couple of manual telescopic bollards. Up to today we’ve been extremely careful to lower and raise these. I was in a rush to get to a doctors appointment for my 2 year old and the neighbour was talking to me while I was trying to get him in the car, I jumped in and set off into the bollard.

I’ll put a pic up in a bit but the crease right down the middle of the bumper has got to be irreparable.

What’s best? A used bumper off eBay and get resprayed or pattern part? The genuine bumper new is probably in excess of £1,000 before paint so don’t really fancy that.

I don’t really want to go through my insurance.

[wrongmark]

Photo of the damage if anyone is interested. The bulge on the bottom lip is what I'm worried about. Taking it to a body shop that's been recommended to me tomorrow. They've seen some photos and think it is repairable.

[auburnf30x]

That does look repairable, and good idea getting it to them as soon as possible...

Deformed plastics can usually be heated and remolded back to original form. But, the longer you wait, the more 'set' the plastic gets into its new shape and the less likely it is to pop back. If there are cracks or splits in the plastic, that can present a problem but I don't see any on yours. I think they'll be able to get it back in place just fine. May still need some touch up paint.

[cfm56d7b]

Is the color Glacier Silver by any chance?

As auburnf30x mentioned, this appears to be repairable. I also suggest not to wait and get it repaired. The issue might be whether you expect a perfect outcome. It may not be.

[wrongmark]

Yes, Glacier Silver.

I've just returned home from the body shop recommended to me by a friend in the car industry. They are repairing it in a couple of weeks time. I've agreed with them that I'm going to remove the bumper myself and take it to them for repair and a full repaint as there are a few stone chips anyway. We have our E90 to drive in the meantime and we're still working from home due to COVID anyway.

I suppose I am expecting a near perfect outcome as they said it will be easily repairable, but we'll see. I will probably replace the kidney grills as they're a bit damaged and might as well get a new roundel as it's a bit corroded at the edges.

Also, the amount I was "told" for a new OE bumper from BMW was a bit off. Just found out they're around £500 primed.

[wrongmark]

So I'm a bit nervous to get the bumper back today. I took the bumper only to the body shop and I should be getting back today. I asked if I needed to worry about the colour matching the front wings/bonet, they said that they'd match it from the bumper itself, they then called me a day later to to confirm the paint code (A83). I get the feeling I'm going to get the bumper home to find it's not a good match as I've read that silver can be difficult to match and it's a 9 year old car.

[auburnf30x]

Silver is difficult to match...

But, I've had/seen silver cars pre and post-repair, and in certain lights sometimes you can tell the paint difference. But, it's been very mild and you'd have to know it was there to even notice it.

[wrongmark]

I refitted the freshly painted bumper yesterday. Took my time getting the gaps looking nice along the line with the bonet. I'm pretty happy with the job overall. The colour match looks very good to me. If I listen to my OCD, the metalic flake looks slightly different in certain light, but once I have the rest of the car detailed in a few weeks it might look different again.

[auburnf30x]

Looks good!

[Randy Johnson]

Looks good. What was the total cost?

[wrongmark]

Originally Posted by Randy Johnson

Looks good. What was the total cost?

I think I paid £300 for the repair and paint (I removed and refitted everything myself), then bought a new badge and genuine M-perf grilles and new roundel badge from ebay (probably another £100).