99 boxster - Scraped front bumper on road debris - Recommendations on replacement?

[JoeFromPA]

Hey all,

Well, took possession of my 99 boxster on Saturday and today...road debris came out and scraped the driver's side of my front bumper fairly significantly (deep gouges, about 8-10 of them, spread across 8" high and 12" long).

Going to see if my comprehensive insurance will cover this.

Between the gouges and such, I'm guessing I'm going to need a whole new bumper cover. Which is fine, since it's had some scrapes on the bottom front from curbs.

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for replacement?

I can do OEM, but I was considering:

1. A 2001+ Boxster S bumper if it'll fit and work the same
2. Another bumper if it's cost-effective and fits the same

Looking for recommendations on how I can work this into a plus, hopefully spending only my deductible.

Joe

P.s. If insurance will do it, I'm going to work with Cavallo Auto Body in Newtown Square/West Chester, PA....they seem like the best in the area.

[pothole]

A Boxster S bumper wouldn't be a bad idea - you then have the option of fitting the central radiator for improved cooling.

[al83s]

+1 on Boxster S Bumper.
It Bolts right up and it cost me $50 used

[Kirk]

With as low as these cars are the front bumper is going to take a beating. Maybe you should relax, have a cold beer, and don't worry about it too much. Of course I would follow up with the insurance though to see if they'll give you some money to fix it. I'd then pocket the money and save it for later.... Maybe a bit of polishing and cleaning with some rubbing compound would make it look better.

I'm just throwing this out there as you're a new owner and probably want to keep your "baby" looking pristine, but if you're going to drive it daily, then you'll need to accept that it's going to take a bit of a beating.

If you do decide to go the route of a new front bumper, I'd recommend the Porsche GT3 MK1 bumper. It's basically the same as the Boxster Aerokit I bumper. It's a direct fit, looks a bit better, and has that opening for the center radiator. You can see pics of one on my car in my signature line below.

Kirk

[JoeFromPA]

Hi Kirk,

Thanks for your message. I am definitely fine with the front bumper getting rock chips, nicks, and even minor scrapes (the underside of mine is all scraped up already, even to the point of being visible from the front of the car). This road debris damage is, unfortunately, significantly marring to the side angle of the car. Some of the scrapes might be buffed out, but the damage itself involves some deep gouges. At the least, I'm going to evaluate my options....my comprehensive deductible is $250, and thus if I can get a new bumper cover nicely painted and attached for $250, I'll go for it.

I like that GT3 front bumper....nice aggressive look to it. Only slightly obnoxious, which means it's just right

Do you mind me asking how much yours was unpainted? Or do they come pre-painted?

PelicanParts won't ship the bumper cover, but they offer:

$590 for the OEM boxster front bumper cover
$610 for the 01-03 Boxster S bumper cover
GT3 model for around $1000-1200 (from another supplier)


Thanks guys....might just eat it at the end of the day, but might not....hard to swallow this one the 2nd day of ownership

[kpm]

Why not have it repaired ? Unless there is a huge chunk missing you should be able to have the gouges filled in with plastic bumper repair material and repainted.

If the shop is good, you'll never know it was damaged.

[Overdrive]

The question on my mind, and probably a few others is: what'd you hit to cause gouges in your bumper cover?

[Kirk]

Originally Posted by kpm

Why not have it repaired ? Unless there is a huge chunk missing you should be able to have the gouges filled in with plastic bumper repair material and repainted.

This sounds like the best and cheapest option to me...

Originally Posted by JoeFromPA

I like that GT3 front bumper....nice aggressive look to it. Only slightly obnoxious, which means it's just right

Do you mind me asking how much yours was unpainted? Or do they come pre-painted?

All of the bumper covers come unpainted new (just gray primered). The good deal is to find one used that's your car's body color. But finding one used, without rock chips, and that's not a ton to ship (preferably local) is asking for a lot.

I got lucky and picked up my GT3 bumper locally for $400. I had to have it painted, but I threw it in with a bunch of stuff (humps, side skirts, rear bumper) that was being painted, so the cost was not bad.

Kirk

[JoeFromPA]

Hey guys,

Thanks again for the responses:

1. Honestly, I have no idea what it was that hit the car. I saw it when it whipped out a 335i coupe and flew into my lane. It was crumpled and white/gray and looked like a seriously beat-to-crap old metal trash can lid in the 1/4 second I saw it flying through the air towards the car. It made no metallic sound on the highway and all I heard was a very modest "thud" when it hit the car. Couldn't tell what it hit, wasn't hard, and didn't see it afterwards.

Got home and there's gouges in the bumper cover and big ol scratch marks.

2. So far, one body shop has mentioned filling in the gouges. However, they said that they personally wouldn't JUST fill in these gouges and sand, they'd refinish the whole bumper, because otherwise it wouldn't look good. And they said that insurance may not cover that extra work, so it was something to consider.

Getting one other body shop to lookover it today.

3. Overall, the bumper looks/looked great. This paint on this car is just amazing compared to what I'm used to (Japanese recent enviro-friendly stuff). However, its' got road rash a plenty and the front fascia has scraped across a curb in it's past (possibly more than one).

[blondegenie]

Hi -

I got my 98 Boxter a few years ago and promptly bent the frame of the car (and messed up my front bumper) by parking too close (read: drove right over ithem) to concrete curbs and parking lot stoppers. My mechanic said it would take some body work to fix because I had pretty much pushed everything backward toward the wheel wells.

Two years later - got some other body work done so I had the front frame repaired and the bumper replaced.

Since then I have been obsessed with parking at least 2 feet from any curb.

However, I drove very slowly down a steeply inclined short driveway and (there was no way to prevent this) the front of the car touched the pavement of the street.

I am back with a bent front frame (but not as bad - and my bumper is fine, no damage).

But, I am dismayed that this can happen so easily. I was always told that a Porsche had the strongest steel frame of any car out there....

Anyone have this experience?

[clickman]

Originally Posted by blondegenie

I drove very slowly down a steeply inclined short driveway and (there was no way to prevent this) the front of the car touched the pavement of the street. I am back with a bent front frame (but not as bad - and my bumper is fine, no damage).

There's no way what you described should result in a bent frame. Get an opinion from a shop other than the one that told you that.