This is quite embarrassing, but hear me out. I was shuffling my driveway. My car was in the way, so I decided to temporarily park it in my garage until my dad comes home from work. My parents own a two car garage, so I, being the young one, get to park my car outside in the snow.

Long story short, the windshield on my car was covered with snow as you can see on the photos below. I got in my car and decided to pull in without scraping the snow off my windshield. While I though I was some 4 or 5 feet away from the nearest shelf (I couldn’t see because of the windshield), I really was 1 foot away, if that.

What happened next was completely devastating. I let go of the clutch to ease forward just a bit more, the car jerked because it wasn’t warmed up and BOOOOOM! I smacked into the railing of the shelf (hence the nicely-rectangular dent you see). That was the left side. The shelf is not symmetrical, so the right side (as the pictures depict) sustained a little more damage right around the amber corners area. The lens popped out and now I’m really disappointed and mad.

Any suggestions on where to get a new bumper fairly cheap and what to do next? I have a 99 super black SE. I don’t care if the bumper is original OEM. How much do body shops usually charge for replacing a bumper? Perhaps I can do it myself?

Thank you in advance everyone

 

more.....

 

that sux.. ebay sells the whole front for 360

 

...hmmmmm, I put "maxima front bumper" as search on e-bay and it only found those plastic bumpers for like $70. BTW, are these any good?

What's are some other places? thanks

 

Those bumpers are crap... their fitment is garbage... your better off finding one at the junk yard or used from a fellow orger and painting it.

Sorry to hear what happened... we all do stupid things sometimes... I can honestly say I have

 

sorry to hear what happened, but atleast you didnt knock out any of your headlights too, cuz they arent cheap. as far as the bumper i say go to a junk yard or look for a fellow orger who is parting out their car or somthing. i dont think i would trust ebay. good luck.

 

I almost did the same thing today. I had terrible traction and was fighting to get up my driveway for a good 20 min than i finally got some traction and was nearly in my garage and i shot right into the garage. But thankfully i slammed on my brakes in time from hitting the back of the garage. Ahhh i hate my tires...

 

LOL pretty funny story but sorry it happened. go to car-part.com and look under front bumper assembly, and find one of same color u want year 97-99. its very easy to change the bumper

1 take off both fender splash guards
2 remove 2 screws that attach fender to frotn bumper
3 take out headlight
4 pop out grill
5 remove screws udner grill and headlights

install is opposite of removal

 

At least you have an excuse to get rid of the stock amber corners and get the clears off ebay!

Thats too bad, but not too bad

 

That's why I have a 400$ POS beater for the winter (much cheaper on insurence, too). I got the bumper enveloppe (non-OEM) for 65$ Canadian. Brand new. And the black plastic looks damn nigh idential to my black paint.

 

just to be on the safe side, is it correct to assume that 97, 98, and 99 SEL bumpers are all exactly identical?

 

Yes, they are

 

Also, I found a relatively cheap bumper here: http://search.bcauto.net/cgi-bin/search.cgi

Can you guys please go to that link and see if I only need the "bumper cover" itself? There are some kind of reinforcements there and other stuff, but I don't really need those now do I?

 

Linky no worky

but either way, all you need is the bumper cover... the reinforcement is probably just the piece of metal behind the bumper... you didnt damage that.

 

sorry for that, here's what the website lists:

1997
Front Bumper Assy
Nissan Maxima R-NFORCEMENT e1386 NEW $146 B.C. Automotive USA-IL

1997
Front Bumper Assy
Nissan Maxima BUMPER COVER e1386 NEW $132 B.C. Automotive USA-IL

1997
Front Bumper Assy
Nissan Maxima COVER CENTER BRACKET -RETAINER e1386 NEW $79 B.C.

1997
Front Bumper Assy
Nissan Maxima IMPACT ABSORBER -POLYFOAM- e1386 NEW $56 B.C.

1997
Front Bumper Assy
Nissan Maxima BUMPER RETAINER LH -OUTER- e1386 NEW $18 B.C.

1997
Front Bumper Assy
Nissan Maxima BUMPER RETAINER RH -OUTER- e1386 NEW $18

 

Get the second item... thats the bumper cover
The other brackets and foam and things I doubt you need... I cant see the pics of your car though since I'm at work and most photos are restricted... but all those other reinforcements and brackets I highly doubt you need.

 

yeah jsut get the cover no need to replace the reinforcement,

you should also take off your fog lights and give them to me, u dotn need those either IMO

 

would you happen to have more detailed instructions anywhere on how to change a front bumper? thanks

 

this place sells the bumper for $82 shipped. stock urethane.

 

what eva u do, get OEM for best fitment

 

umm, what place would that be?

 

Check car-part.com. Where I live, we get a lot of snow as well. Everytime, no matter how lazy I am, I still clean the windshield before moving the car, even if I am just moving it 1 inch. I suggest you start doing the same.

 

Guys, I got a few bumpers on my list already. Most of them are original OEM factory painted black. Now my 99 SE is super black. Is this the same black? How many different shades of black did 97-99 Maxima SEs had? Anybody know? Are they all the same black? THanks

 

couldnt help you with the black color thing but do you have a advance auto parts or other parts store around you?? they should have a haynes repair manual for your car, only like 15-20$ and will def come in handy now and in he future. it will have all the instructions for you. if you read through them they actually make it sseem harder than it it, jsut give it a shot its easy as hell. if you learn to work on your car ourself it will save you a lot of $$ down the road

 

oops. http://www.aemporium.com/nissanfb.htm

this place sells them for $82 shipped. im about to buy one from them.

 

I cant find it right now, but I found a place online that sells front bumper covers for $160 PAINTED. I'm still looking, but when I do I'll post it. You can even send them you cas cap lip so that the paint is matched to your paint tint exactly......

 

aww man. its probably the same price to get it fix or get a whole new bumper right? if not more

 

I can't keep up, but I thought clears were out of style on the front again? If you notice, cars are starting to have led's in the front for turns, and they are yellow lenses with led's. Clears seem to now be 75/25 in the back, lenses are starting to go red again, but of course, more and more led's. Glad I don't live in CA where everyone has to keep changing things around on a 7 yr. old car.

 

thanks...........waiting for your post...

 

ouch... hope it works out for you!

Ant

 

damm dude.. hmm let me make a note to self.. never do this... best of luck to u

 

oh well shyt happens...unfortunate tho

 

this happend to me when i was a kid in 95 when my mom first bought the car. i was like 12 and i decided to TRY to park the car.. i cant remember what hapened but i folded the front lisence plate in half hitting the shelf in our garage.. sucked lol mom didnt notice after i bent the plate back tho.. nothing damaged like you! you look like you hit a bums grocery cart goin 35 mph.!

Go on ebay to get a new one, TRY to get OEM if you have the money...if not settle for aftermarket

 

Man that really suxs. At least the hood and the fender is still ok

 

I once backed up my parents car into a fence and tried to cover it up when I was 13... I had it in reverse and floored it...

 

thanks for all your responses guys.

 

since we're on garage stories i thought i'd go ahead and tell one as well...
i was 16 had my license for probably 3-4 months, at that time i had an eclipse. I always park my car in neutral in my driveway with the brake up. so one day my dad went for a ride in it for something or another, came home and i went out to use it...got in the car not thinking and cranked it...BAM! right into my garage door, my dad had left it in first with the brake down, the eclipse doesn't require you to engage the clutch to crank it...so a long story short i had to replace and paint 2pcs of the garage all for a stupid mistake.

We all have are dumb moments

 

I feel for you. The thing is it all happens so unexpectedly! grrrrrr

 

thats 3 people in like 2 days that have had prob with their garage. ouch