Bumpers Made For Bumpin’

If you have a receiver hitch these really work… http://www.sparebumper.com

I think that with modern technology they could produce a car with a real bumper without the side effects of maiming innocent civilians. I also think that if they would offer them on low budget cars people would buy them. Take a look at the toyota yaris, they were selling those without air conditioning, power locks, power windows, and radios for like $13,000. Same with the smart fortwo. Those piles moved off the lot faster than anything else. People would buy a car with a real bumper and a more “utilitarian” look.

If it hits anything at more than 2.5 mph, the car sacrifices itself to protect passengers inside and pedestrians outside. I don’t bump into things with my car or run over pedestrians, so I would rather just have a good looking car with no bumper, like the original Shelby Cobra.

I ran a 84′ Ford LTD at the dirt oval in the Enduro race for a year and a half!! That damn bumper stayed on there with minimal damage, radiator never busted, and the back bumper was also in good shape. I decided to switch to a 86′ Celica GT for the front wheel drive and it lasted 2 races!! hahaha no bumper at all so first major collison sent it to the scrap yard!

my 86 escort…totaled a 79 vette…BUT it was her fault also!!! T BONED and roasted it..

plastic bumper + snow + high performance tires + low brick wall = $1000 in damage for a 1 inch crack. Apparently that 1 inch crack also meant replacing the bumper supports, the foam (FOAM?) behind the bumper, and some of the plastic clips holding the bumper in place.

I had an Escort like that, except mine was a 1986, I scratched the front bumper one time, and at the same time destroyed a 2000 Saturn. That car shattered like glass from having plastic panels, in November. I remember where the plastic fell away from the doors it was stuffed with this black plastic stuff that looked like Hefty Bags. Yeah those Escorts were tough!

I recently “bumped” someone at a yield sign also. Going less then 5mph in my SUV, my plastic bumper held up great. Only scuffed it up a bit. The newer Malibu on the other hand, didnt fair so well. I did have the advantage of sitting up higher, but my plastic bumper did more damage then i expected. Broken taillight, cracked rear bumper, and damaged trunk on the Malibu.

Wow I hope I don’t run into 96 brougham on the road. Perhaps you should invest in one of those smaller vehicles with the new bumpers so you don’t keep destroying peoples crap all the time.

Actually, I had a 95 Eclipse which I bumped into someone in front of me with at a Yield sign. Probably a low 5 MPH impact, but enough of a force that I certainly thought I was going to incur damage on at least one of our cars. Fortunately, both my Eclipse and the Nissan Sentra I ran into were unscaved. Both bumper were plastic, but due to good shock absorption behind the bumpers, all was good!

lol…wat a waste of time.. im even wasting more time writing about wasting my time… why are bumpers made for bumping??? lol

its like saying black ppl arent ghetto

Actually Newer bumpers are built not for just one purpose anymore, and is intent is NOT to Make Money but to save lives…..

With older steel bumpers pedestrian injuries were high now bumper are “SOFTER” than the old steel counterparts…..

Its just a Side effect that they have little bump, and its maybe a few hundred in damages…

Yes, bumpers were much better then…but they also looked like ass.

modern bumper vs old bumper are working a cross purposes…

the modern approach is safer for pedestrians

properly directs energy in the crumple zones of the vehicle

uses a heck of a lot less metal

we asked for safety features and got higher costs as a result. it’s not exactly magic

Once saw an integra hit a chrysler van at around 5mph. DEVASTATION.

1975 Volvo, yo. Every modern car has a big steel beam mounted to the front of its frame to redirect the force of impacts across the entire front of the car, you just gotta crush ten inches of the front clip and you radiator to get to it. Volvos just had that on the outside, that’s all. A Scion ran into me head-on at a traffic circle once, I was standing still and he was going about ten miles an hour. The only damage done was to the black rubber trim, which got all scuffed and gouged and had nasty green paint on it. I found some new trim on Craigslist for twenty dollars and I installed it in fifteen minutes. Also my headlights got knocked out of alignment, so that was another ten minutes adjusting them. The Scion however had no bumper or grill left at all and a steaming radiator.

i bumped into a compact late model bmw last year with my 96 cadillac fleetwood which had the big crome bumpers on the front and back,of course my bumper only had a scuff mark but the bmw had to get their entire “bumper” replaced. also i destroyed the entire door of a 2003 cavalier trying to squeeze the big beast into a parking space i barely nudged the thing and it crumbled like a bag of chips. they dont really make bumpers like that anymore, thats why im never getting rid of my caddy

Ah, phooey. Learn to drive, but first, make better informed vehicle choices. You can see just by looking at it that a PT Cruiser is going to cost more to repair than a typical car.

Thanks Cardomain for using my tip! I knew Jen would like this video.

Technically, the bumpers in new cars are covered by….wait for it…
Bumper COVERS.

Bumpers went the way of the DO-DO because people thought they were ugly. People wanted areodynamic sleek looking cars. You cant get that with a big ole honkin chrome bumper.
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My Caprice and old Parisenne both came equipt with the same chome bumper with the rubber strip. Believe it out not, that rubber strip is whats saved me from shelling out hundreds of dollars on Chrome bumpers. I bumped poles and walls trying to squeeze into really tight spaces. So forget bumpers, bring back rubber strips!

I think the we need to redefine the word “bumper”.

I miss the days of strong bumpers. I had a 1979 Buick Century in College. I once backed into a power pole at about 5-6 MPH and all I did was knock some dirt loose from the pole and make a loud THUMP sound. That bumper was stout. My 1986 Dodge 250 3/4 PU also had a real bumper and I hit a tree backing into my yard (don’t laugh, it was raining and the yard was muddy and I alteast didn’t hit the house). I left a knot in the tree but the bumper was fine. Last winter my wife locked up the tires in the parking lot at work and slid the PT cruiser into a tree at about 5-10 MPH and it did about $5500 worth of damage. That plastic bumper just fell apart.