Rear Bumper replacement. Salvage or aftermarket?

I just purchased a used 2007 Prius and in the process of looking for a Prius I ran across 2 with aftermarket bumper covers and it was quite obvious. The aftermarkets were very thin, they weren't perfect fits, but close, and the long flat surfaces were wavy. I haven't seen all the 3rd party offerings, but the 2 I saw I really didn't like and wouldn't have purchased those vehicles. Maybe some are better than others? Not sure.

Also, that bumper is quite repairable if you would rather do that. I have seen much worse be repaired and turned out perfect. You might want to run it by a body shop to get an eval on a repair. Watch some youtube videos on bumper cover repairs, quite amazing and didn't look too difficult. If it were mine I would pull it off and give it a go since you've pretty much written it off anyway.

Good luck and let us know what you you wind up doing and how it turns out.

 

I ordered one of those paint matched $220 ones and a new set of bumper clips for $20 on Ebay because spare Gen2 bumper covers aren't very common anymore. It's supposed to arrive on the 22nd (tomorrow) and I told them it would take an hour to swap out. I'm guessing though because I haven't done that one before and it might take longer. I'll make sure to post some pics here with my thoughts on it all once it arrives.

 

Look on you tube. How to repair it with a heat gun. It works fine and you can bring it near to perfect and then touch it up where necessary.
I did it on my front bumper and didn't have to buy another one.

 

Good for you, you're looking at all the angles now on the repair and that let's you make a better decision.

Just a thought, but I would probably let the body shop do the work for you since the 82YO is paying. I'm not sure the Amazon one using the factory color code paint is really going to look like the rest of the car since the car has seen a lot of years in San Antonio. A decent body shop will match the true color of the car now and you have the benefit of letting them take off and replace the bumper saving you the effort and you'll be able to make sure it's done right before you accept the completed job.

I know it's a PIA for you, but just get it done however you decide and put it behind you.

 

For $400, even if I were paying for it myself, I would let the shop do it.

You get under there with 12-year-old pieces of plastic and you don't know how many of the various plastic fasteners, clips, etc. are going to just merrily break apart. And, as mentioned, you will get a great matching paint job.

Paid $200 to a local body shop to have them remove/repaint the silly spoiler thing that is on the hatch. Worth every cent.

 

A guy I prune trees for had to deal with kid's Prius being rear-ended recently and got other driver's insurance to give him a bit less than $1K on repair cost. So I bought him a 'painted' Gen2 bumper skirt with paint code: 041 (white) on Ebay for $220, or actually $141 after stupid sales tax!

And it was a bit disconcerting to see the uhaul truck leave behind such a sketchy looking / distressed package. Preliminary unboxing says all is well but that bending? Though it is only a few degrees above freezing most of the day, so maybe the cold weather makes it seem worse?

Currently using a stick to prop it back to normal. Worst part is that there's a huge amount of white powdery dust that smells like talcum powder in the package. It's the dustiest package I've ever experienced in a 1/2 century of life! But always gonna be something sketchy about cheapest price of a car part online that comes with free shipping and these days protecting yourself with a mask is something you have to do anyways so?

Once car shows up that it goes on I'll let you know if I'm skilled enough to do it in less than an hour on my first try... Yet another 'learning how to do it' kind of job... They never seem to go as smoothly as the jobs I've already done a few times.

 

Near freezing, and highs near 50? Might be cracking some tabs or retainers at that temp. 70-80 temps makes job much easier.

Maybe prop it back to normal indoors.

Get all my clips from NWclips located Vancouver WA.

Toyota Group – NWCLIPS

Bumper retainers are cheap $13 each side free shipping, oops amazon links not allowed?

04-09 Toyota Prius Black Rear Left Driver Side TO1132101

 

Well, I live in a studio apartment with less than 300 sq. ft. and with the amount of dust/talc on this thing there's no way/no how this is coming into my living space to warm up.

As for the clips, I bought this pair for $20 on ebay: Bumper Retainer Set For 2004-2009 Toyota Prius Rear Left & Right 2Pc | eBay and I didn't inspect the vehicle for damaged clips, just decided to get them because it seem like its a fairly common repair need.

 

That's a smart move getting retainers. Nothing worse than to discover you need the part when everything is already apart and having to wait for the part to arrive. Or worse having to pay the high price at a local Toyota dealer, if they even stock it. I just ordered a set of 645 plastic Toyota retainer clips from Amazon just because I don't want to have to go looking for one if I drop it in an inconvenient place, like the HV blower piece clip I dropped into the battery well and had to remove the battery to retrieve it, or break one on disassembly. I see that as $23.00 well spent.

 

Gonna put it on tomorrow when car shows up... Still 35 degrees out... :-( Will probably do some prep work on it tonight to make sure it's all right. I think I'm gonna hose off all the baby powder, or whatever it is? I'm thinking that's how they prevent scratching on fresh paint or something? It's definitely not overspray or powder coat?

 

Some sunshine, no wind should help.

 

So the install of the bumper was uneventful... I only bid an hour to swap it out and I could probably do it that fast by the 3rd or 4th time I've done it depending on how dirty the car is. So till that time I'd probably charge 1.5 hours. And yes I spent way more than double those hours the first time because learning all the the right tools and tricks to be efficient is a time consuming investment.

Also this particular Prius has been rear ended twice over the years, and the bumper mounts are all kinds of bent and smashed into the frame. Even had to remove the rear hatch lock and pound all the sheet metal towards back of car by near a 1/2 inch, then put the lock back on so hatch would finally close again properly.

Also those plastic clips bumper clips for $20 were essential and so was having a box of these different types of clips to replace all the busted ones: 146Pcs Fender Door Hood Bumper Trim Clip Body Retainer Assortment For Toyota | eBay Make sure you have everything put together before you clip the bumper into to those main clips though. Unclipping them and redoing it seemed like it'd be a huge hassle because when they're brand new clips they hold on to the bumper cover real tight.

As for the paint, it's a very thin coat of white paint they put on it and it didn't match perfectly, but when you only spend $241 total including tax that's to be expected.

Lastly, be very careful to not rest the bumper on the edge where it goes into the main clips, the coat of pain is so thin in that spot that I damaged it and it's a very visible edge so I had to go over it with touch up paint.

 

Interesting, I have similar damage on my 2008, waiting for spring to start my repair.

 

why wait till Spring? Your car will look much nicer sooner if you get it done ASAP... I mean aren't you on the west coast of Canada where winter is relatively mild compared to elsewhere?

 

Haha, I wish, I'm in Saskatchewan, 4 hours north of Minot ND. Currently 7F.

1200 miles from Seattle/Tacoma

 

Yea... I guess at those temps you can't accomplish much without a heated garage...