Hit a tractor trailer tire tread....

[adegiulio]

I was cruising on the highway, coming around a turn, when right in my lane is one of those giant peeled off tire treads. Not being able to avoid it, I slammed into it pretty straight on. Bent up the lower bumper, and broke apart the black plastic grill and some other plastic parts down there.

So my question is, has anybody replaced these themselves? I havent had time to get under there and see what is involved, but is this sort of thing just a bunch of bolt on parts, or do I need to bring it to a body shop. The paint is only a year old, and I could live with a small mismatch due to paint fade.

thanks for any input

[mwc716]

Same thing happened to me only 3 days after delivery! Bent lower bumper and knocked out lower grill. Bent the center of the hood under and I also received hundreds of nice scratch marks in the front/center of the hood from the steel belt. I was able to pop the lower grill back into place but haven't had anything else fixed. Hard to justify the cost, I guess...

[Rakimb17]

That sucks. Truckers should be required to pickup those treads they leave everywhere.
On the bright side, you can get a body kit.

[tasker109]

that really sucks. i know there are crews going around cleaning up stuff on highways but they dont always get to it right away. on a similar note, hubby was driving to work the other day when a guy flew by him and hubby noticed the license plate loose and flapping in the wind. next thing you know it broke off and flew right into our left front bumper and headlight. it left a pretty good scratch on the bumper but at least it didnt break the headlight. its just scratched too.