My car is going in for new paint and body work on monday. I was in a minor accident (guy pulled in front of me, I slammed on the brakes, if he was like 5 feet farther up I don't think we would have hit) and I thought the only damage was from the plastic shock absorber under the bumper. Not wanting to drive around with my car in six colors, I waited until the weekend before to replace the front bumper. When I pulled it off, this is what I found. It looks like the plastic shock absorber didn't even move, but the impact bar and its mounting point tweaked a little. My concern is that I have a brand new GM bumper cover waiting to go on, but I don't know if this is really going to be an issue.

My question is, can I just adjust the impact bar a little and cut a little off the top of the plastic absorbers, or do I need to have some frame work done?

This is the top:

 

This is above from in front of the car.

 

Last one, this is above from the passenger side. I have some other pics if anyone needs to see them, but I'm trying to respect the 3 image limit.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

It probably wont hurt anything but I'd replace it.

 

mine is worse than that, was like that when i bought the car, havent noticed anything though

 

Does the nose fit fine, or is there some damage to it? I hadn't noticed any alignment issues, but I'm thinking that the new bumper cover isn't going to fit on unless I trim the plastic absorber on the front.

 

Really shouldn't be an issue. If anything they'd just have to bang it out a little bit and maybe use a few shims. I've seen much worse!!
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I ended up just trimming the plastic shock absorber to get it to fit. The car is in the body shop right now getting new paint et al.

 

You frame is considered "mashed" style frame damage. It is very minor but when you have the means fix it. The way a unibody frame works is if one frame horns is damaged so is the other one. While it is in the shop if,again, you have the means have them pull it. You will only be out 2 hour set up time and apprx 3hrs pull time. so only 5 hours at your local frame rate. not much but next time you get hit there you will know your safe. Better be safe than sorry kinda thing! The frame is designed to mash twist, etc.. to keep the passangers safe. I wouldn't let that just go. You may have other problems down the road because of that small damage. good luck and let us know how the repair goes.

 

I was surprised that the plastic shock absorber didn't seem to move at all but it tweaked the metal. I thought the plastic was supposed to get all smashed up first, oh well. I probably will have it repaired when I change the engine, since that will probably be the next time the nose is off.

 

On my old Formula I hit someone so hard that the driver side frame horn was pushed way under the battery tray!! But the mesh plastic was re-useable! Pulled out nicely tho.

 

Although that is technically "frame" damage (or unibody damage as the case is with these cars), it's purely cosmetic since it's only in the very front portion. Pull it until the parts line up properly and you'll be all set.