so today i got backed into by a land rover lr3. the only visible damage is that the bumper bent so much that the GTA badge came off, and there is a little bump and paint crack from where her hitch it me. also the hood latch doesnt release as well as it did, it will disengage but wont pop up, ill have to push it down a little till it clicks and then it pops up. she said it was totally her fault and said she would pay for the damage but the girl is a friend of mine and if its no big thing then i just wont worry about it and just re attach the badge, but if there is any structual damage that will not work in a crash then ill go and get it fixed. so my question is are these bumpers suposed to take alot of flex or should i go to a body shop?
thanks

 

I think they are pretty flexible. My friend backed into my firebird going about 10mph with his mercury mountaineer and it didnt do any structural damage at all. But you can at least take it to a bodyshop and get some professional advice.

 

There are two structural things you have to worry about behind the front bumper plastic. Well, more than that, but here are the first two.

There's a plastic honey comb in there that is purely there to absorb energy in the event of a crash. I understand some people remove them completely, though they dont weigh much. The other thing is the head light support bar, on the camaro's at least spans the whole way across the bumpers, though it might be different on a trans am, im not sure.

The headlight thing is made of a kind of fiberglass or something. Brakes easily and can tweak the headlights. Big pain.

But for the first foot or so deep there isnt anything that is of critical function to run your car. First thing to go would be the radiator, or the frame, but it didnt sound like that big of a crash.

I would pull the front bumper plastic off and see what it looks like. All you need is a socket wrench and a pair of pliers, and an hour or two, though there's one or two bolts that are a pain to get to.

But, like Picasso said, any body shop will give you the what's what.

 

Pulling off the bumper is absolute hell. I've had to replace both my fenders on my '91 T/A and there are four bolts that connect the fender to the front bumper on either side that are a b*tch to get to. Absolutely ridiculous. And they aren't even attached to the bumer cover. They are all attached to a piece of metal that goes through the bumper and attaches to the fender. The highest bolt, right next to the headlight, has no room to move. There is a support bracket that gives you like half an inch to unbolt it.

All in all, try to avoid taking it off. A professional body shop should give you a free estimate. Just don't tell them your story and see if they can actually find any damage. If you tell them your story, then they'll BS all kinds of damage they need to fix.

 

Yep, that's about what it was like getting my bumper off. I was pulling off the whole front clip, though, so it was easier with stuff out of the way.

 

Taking the front nose off isn't that big a deal, if I could do it (and did). Just lots of little nuts & bolts.

The reason why your hood doesn't latch as well anymore, is because the latch mount to a plate, which connects to the rad wall & the nose. Push the nose in a bit & the latch has moved too.

You'll need to see if just that plate is bent, or if the rad wall moved too. And the latch itself too, of course.