Best way to get rid of a dent in rear bumper?

[tekrider]

i did a stupid ass thing this weekend... after washing the car (325i), i backed it up to park it in the garage. i thought i had more room back there but i miscalculated. i backed into the side of my neighbor's garage wall and left about a 2-inch dent on the black bumper as well as part of the painted area. it's not your typical dent, the dent has tiny imprints, kind of like dimples, left from the wall. it's not THAT bad, but it just bugs the hell outta me that for a year i kept it pristine and now i do something stupid like this. any quick fix ideas to get rid of it? or at least smooth it out? how much would something like this set me back at the body shop?

thanks for any help...

[asiangear]

if it is just surface blemishes with a dent, usually they can probably Bondo it, resurface, and repaint. Bondo is something you can buy at a local auto store, but requires some skills to work with. I have never used Bondo before, but from what I heard from my friend, it's like putty that you can mask over a dent, after u sand it down, and u can repaint it to make it look like new again. again, this method requires some skill in filling in that dent. another method is simply replacing the whole bumper, which will cost a lot of money, but if your the type that loves your car to death (i kno i am somewhat like that too ^^), I would just shell out the money and get the whole thing replaced, knowing that the dent is taken away completely. It's the peace of mind I would get out of it that will justify me spending that much money. I don't know much about dent repairs and whatnot, but hopefully this slight bit of info can give you a better idea of how to go about dealign with it. It would be greatly appreciate if someone else can either correct me or add to what I have to say to further my knowledge as well. ^_^

[tekrider]

thanks for the info. i definitely hear ya about the peace of mind thing. i definitely like to baby my car, but i ain't filthy rich so thats the only thing holding me back from fixing it...

well i called some "certified BMW auto body shops" and they all quote around $600-700 to fix the dent. they all use the same method: take the whole bumper off, refinish the surface, and repaint the whole thing. i keep looking at it and its only about an inch scratch, lol. *sigh* i'll just have to NOT look at it!

[asiangear]

yeah, i have like a dent near my gas tank fill port, it's pretty minute, but it really bugs the shit out of me everytime I look at it. and another thing, my front bumper under the right side has a big tear, because the stupid parking brick at my high school (5 years ago, junior in college now) had a reubar that stuck up far. I didn't notice it till I backed out that one day and just hear this loud ass *CRACK* and low and behold, that reubar tore a nice rip on the under of my front bumper >_<

[peterkulesza]

$600-$800. no way around this...

peter ghead

[Marks325i]

Bondo on a plastic bumper is not a good idea, first time you hit a bump it will fall right out, I may seem like a pain but I would take it to a body shop. If it is bad you should claim it on your insurance. Most people don't like to do that, but it would be the smart thing to do.

[tekrider]

so about claiming the dent with my insurance... what are the pros and cons of doing this? would i report the truth as to what happened or make up a story about how i came back from the mall and saw this gash on my rear bumper?

any advice/tips from your past experience is much apppreciated.

[Fangs]

Depends on your carrier. Realize that you will have to pay the detuctable, and then your rate will go up for a while... Personally, I would probably pay out of pocket.