the impact bar hidden by the front bumper on my car has a large dent and crease in it. my friend told me we would just put it in his press to straighten it out, but he told me not to take it off just yet because it aligns the whole front end. is that true? if i take that off, will i have to do a lot of work to align everything back up?

 

I wouldn't bother repairing that. I've replaced them before. It dosnt' really aling anything. Maybe the front bumper but that's it.

 

regardless of whether i straighten it out or replace it, i'm more concerned about having to realign everything.

 

it doesnt do anything but hold the bumper up and protect you in a collision. also its hardened steel so it will not be as strong if straightened.

 

when I got in my wreck back in May I fixed it myself and took the Steel bumper off to strighten the end of the frame rail and the rad. suport. It did not miss align anything the WHOLE front end is welded togeather I'm sorry but your friend dosen't know what he is talking about. Becides you almost have to take the bumper off the take a dent out.

 

Yeah... it doesnt align anything.

I know of some people that have completely removed it from their car to cut down some fat.

In all honesty... your friend hasnt a clue. Maybe in some other cars the bumper does something, but not in our whips.

Unless he meant like the alignment of your fenders and bumper cover... Which is why I suggest you not even bother fixing that crease in the steel. The time it is going to take removing it and putting it back on, and then doing minor adjustments to align it good with the bumper cover and fenders wont be worth it

 

Yeah, he probably meant the urethane nose (I hope). The honeycomb nose support on the impact bar is in pretty close relation to the bumper cover, so if the impact bar is not alligned, the nose won't allign right either

 

maybe that's what he meant. as for people saying he doesn't have a clue of what he's talking about, he was a gm mechanic for like 12 years. there's was probably just a misunderstanding on my part.