E55Freak

grr....I heard lots of people giving warnings to watch the parking blocks. Well I pulled in today at my Brother's job and I didn't hear my bumper scrape. I went to lunch with a co-worker of mine that met me there. He is a BIG person and I'm wondering if the extra weight didn't weigh the car down. I back out and heard a scraping noise but couldn't figure out what it was. I kept going and then he realized it was the underneath of my bumper catching on the block. I was like "oh great". We got to our destination and looked underneath it cracked in 2 places, one is about a foot long and hangin down about an inch. I was able to pop it back in place. I'm just disgusted that this happened and even though you can't see it, unless you bend down, I will know it is there. Anyone know if a body shop can patch it or do I need to start looking for a replacement?

Co 55 AMG

Bummer man!! I feel your pain.I am the same way,I know it's there even if nobody else see it,just remember it can be fixed and nobody got hurt.
Rock On!!!!

yuanja888

Sorry that hear that. Mine was cracked a while back. Same thing, drove forward on those concrete blocks... I didn't hear anything. Then when i reversed... I heard a crack.

Mine was once piece cracked off compeletly. it's basically the whole length of the lower lip of the bumper. A body shop fixed it by putting some reinforcements on the backside. cost was $400.

mtimmy

yeah., a normal body shop can do it ., at a resonable price,.

bondo it and repaint the bumper.., around a $200 to $300 kind of job. depends on how much they want to rip a mercedes owner off.

clkal

that's cuz you can't drive, james.....lol.

CLK430ROB

NEVER park your CLK (lowered or not) with its nose even close to the parking stops or curbs. If i see those parking stops, the *** of my CLK is gonna stick out. I also park about 2ft from the curb, so i dont jack my rims :P

Rob

loganboyd

24" is illegal! You're supposed to be withing 18".
Either you don't know how to use your mirrors or you don't trust your jedi senses. Take a saturday morning and practice, it's not hard to get close to the curb while still being far enough way to not scratch your chrome. It'll save you from someone knocking off your side mirror too!

mmgrad

nah... its cause Rob is asian, so he can't drive... haha...

i on the contrary, am asian & can drive... i park my car about 2" away from the curb (with the help of mirrors) so fools don't jack my wheels...

2ndly, anyone who parks their CLK head-in is a fool and deserves to have a broken bumper.. you need to either learn to gauge distance and never hit the parking stops, or just take that extra few seconds and back your car into the parking space... and if you don't know how to back into a space, then... oh wellz...

superflysocal

Would you guys believe I got a letter once from a lawyer trying to start a lawsuit against MB for the "faulty" design of the clk430 and it's propensity for damage to the front bumber. He wanted info on if you had similar problems with the bumber.

I don't think it ever took off though.

blast20

I feel for you....about an hour ago I did the same thing, did not hear anything when I pulled in the space, but I ripped the hell out of mine when I pulled out, cracked it badly in 2 places, and the underneath trim broke off and was laying beside the parking block. My car is close to mint other than this, which I really hate that I now have to even deal with. The only reason I came to this site today was to see what options there are and BOOM - the same thing happened to you. Wierd.

Steve

Co 55 AMG

Welcome Steve, Sorry to have you start here with a bad thing.You will find a lot of good info here. Good luck.
Rock On!!!!

E55Freak

What the heck is going on with the board???? I can't see Co 55 amg's reply until I hit the post reply button..

Ironmudd

I got the same letter. Seems like alot of people have this problem. It happened to me, too. I was driving in a storm one night and I hit a piece of metal in the road that knocked that middle piece loose. Then when I parked one day, pulled out and it scraped and that middle piece came off. I still have it and will probably try to fix it myself. The design of it does suck, they need to change that, what were the engineers thinking?.

WhiteTrash

add me to the list.
pulled away from a block and heard a "SNAP!"
cracked the lower part and popped out the insert piece.

dennism13

I back my car in too, and still leave some space so my back end isn't over the curb/tire stop. I'm just worried someone's going to ram the front and damage the engine instead of the trunk.

CLK43kaz

well add me to the list as well this happend to me tonite heard it cracking though but as i was backing up but it was too late to do anything.... it cracked in the middle and that center piece is just danging there and the middle is cracked on the top but the good thing is its not too noticeable... just sucks for it to be there when its a mint car

E55Freak

Bummer.

I used lots of superglue to hold it in place. It's been holding ever since.

mmgrad

wrong idea... if it broke, its a clear sign that its time to step up to an aftermarket kit...

thats what i did... hehe

E55Freak

Very true..I would love to get the Brabus front end but don't have the cash right now.

CLK43kaz

well it really isnt a whole lot noticable just for the ppl who knew it happend im gonna try to get it fixed because i may be trading it in soon

mmgrad

well.. the brabus front end is actually only a lip, and it meant to fit the CLK320 oem kit...

they don't offer this lip kit to the AMG kits on 430/55s, unless you change the entire bumper cover...

E55Freak

well then it would work perfect since the whole bumper needs replacing. the holders for the long insert is cracked as well.

myNAMESterry

i'm always sure that i park a foot away from anything in front of it. plus it makes my car stand out

mmgrad

forget about parking a foot or a yard from the stop... just learn how to back up into the parking space... then you won't have any issues and still stand out

CLK43kaz

thats true unfortunately the damage has already been done