Vetluver

I was sitting in traffic this AM and was about to go at a green light when I feel a jolt from the rear. Unfortunately I am familiar with that as I have been rear ended 2 times before. My Mountain Dew went sprayed out to the dash, my sun roof visor moved back 6 inches and I got a sinking feeling in my gut.

I jumped out expecting to see my rear end splattered and much to my dismay there was NO DAMAGE. I looked again and all that was on the bumper was the other guy's paint. The other car was a late model small chevy obviously with a soft bumper. The fellow was as amazed as I was.

These new bumpers seem to able to take a hit. Does anyone know whether they are truely 5 miles per hour bumpers? What's inside that bumper? Springs?

Man, I think I dodged a bullet. :p

jangy

Holy Cow!! Glad you are alright. And I'm glad the E is ok as well. I would be pis$ed!!

merc655

Wow, funny you say this. My brother was driving my car last Friday, sitting in traffic with my sister, ironically, and an 87 (no kidding) year old woman in a new civic 4 door. she apparently only tapped him at a few mph and her front bumper was already damaged from a week prior, ha, and it actually was falling off now. All that was done to mine is some scratches and gotta replace that backstrip. Got an estimate and the guy said 400, with painting my front grill black :v.

Sorry to hear about the accident, hopefully everything is fixed in a jiff.

pas

you might have damage that is not visible, the bumper supports might have been pushed in and might need replacement, and sometimes there is special foam under the bumper cover that might also be damaged. It might be perfectly fine but have it checked out just in case.

JJIII55

So just a little before Thanksgiving I had a total of 1200 miles on my new baby and had taken a friend to lunch for a little show and tell. On the way back I was demonstrating the in dash cd changer when I looked up and noticed the light in front of me turning red. I slammed on the breaks and per usual the car went from about 45mph to zero in no time but I heard breaks screeching from behind. I looked into the rearview mirror only to see a Mustang skidding toward my rear end. I took my foot off the break but could not go move forward as the traffic had started to cross the intersection. Bam! He crashes into me and both my buddy and I got snapped up by the seat belts. Then as our heads went to go backwards they were stopped by the (presafe) launched headrests. I felt sick thinking my new car was never to be the same. Much to my amazement as well as the other drivers there was only a slight scratch and small dent on the rear bumper strip. I took the car straight to the dealer and they reset my headrests with that long little tool that comes with the car and said I could order the bumper strip already color coated. I placed the order and in two days it came in for a total cost of under $120.00. One hour of labor and off to the races I went. No other damages what so ever! I couldn't believe it! So to read your post I am now thinking that maybe it wasn't just luck but that possibly they still build these cars with some "tank" characteristics. Who knows but glad to hear that you and of course the ride is still in tact! May it not happen again!

also I looked under the car while on the lift at the dealer and there is no foam or anything but a big steel bumper on two large piston type absorbers. Neither one had been pushed in and the plastic bumper coating is about 3/4 of an inch away from the steel bumper. The dealer didn't seem to be surprised by the lack of damage and said they replace the bumper strips all the time. The service advisor even knew the cost before I went into the parts department to order it.

eagleeye

Attention forum members! STAY HOME, DO NOT DRIVE YOUR E55's THIS WEEK!

I was driving down a residential street about 20-25 mph the other day when the Caddy CTS in front of me broke hard (as then did I) and immediately proceeded to put it in reverse and slammed into my front end. You know, that shocked, sickened feeling when you see those white reverse lights and cant react in time to do anything buy honk the horn and pray/brace. I thought my bumper was going to be off the car! Initial look......NO DAMAGE. But, his bumper was so dirty that the impact ground dirt into the finish leaving a few hundred tiny vertical scratches in the center portion of the bumper. DAMN!

Had a mobile auto body guy come to the house today. Compound, wet sanding, mechanical buffer, and amazingly you cannot tell at all anything happened. Bumper looks showroom.

The wet sanding made me nervous, but it worked.

I was really impressed with the toughness of the bumper. Impact was probably 5 mph.

pas

Good to know, thanks for the info, its nice to know they still make them tough. Nothing like a german car.

merc655

yep gettin it checked out anyway, besides the grill im gonna get some of the rock chips filled in.. damn road construction

Kev04C320

I vividly remember that dreaded feeling of seeing those damn white lights coming on. Bostonians are so used to doing that to get a freakin' parking spot.

eagleeye

You can do the stone chips yourself. I've done about 10 on my car in literally minutes.

www.langka.com

Great product.

xraymd

Ok, I survived a trip to the Detroit auto show unscathed. I'm going to go lock her up in the garage for the weekend. Glad noone seems to have serious damage, but I'm not taking any chances

jangy

Paint the grill??