Can You Replace a Car Bumper Yourself?

Think of a situation where you have an old car bumper on your truck. Do you need a replacement? You probably need replacement of the car bumper and wonder if you can do it.

You can replace a car bumper anytime you feel like it, whether used up or have some injuries from accidents. Replacing means having the necessary tools to perform the work.

Whenever you have no experience in replacing, contact a mechanic to perform your work. However, this will cost you some extra cash, so prepare your pocket for that.

This article will make you learn what a car bumper is and the type of bumpers present in-car accessories. Also, you will have skills in replacing car bumpers whenever you are a newbie to mechanics.

What Is a Car Bumper?

Have you come across a protruding piece of metal or plastic either on the front or behind any car? Most probably, that is the bumper.

There work on the car is to absorb any impact either from the front or behind your car. Also, car bumpers have usefulness in minimizing low-speed collisions.

The recent car bumpers come with rigid reinforcing material under the outer cover, with a compressional section of plastic or foam. Car passenger vehicle pumpers should have the ability to absorb about five mph impacts with another automobile.

The plastic or foam makes it possible to happen. How does this work?

Whenever there is a collision, the bumper material squishes downwards between the vehicle’s body and the reinforcing bar.

Types of Bumpers

Although all car bumpers play the same role, their models come differently.

Standard Bumper

Commonly found mainly on passenger vehicles. This type of bumper is not complex, just paintwork and plastic cover, which contains the energy-absorbing foam or plastic.

Step Bumper

Most cars and trucks have this type of bumper with a step-like cutout on the center. However, you will find holes on their surface to install ball hitches.

Cowboy Bumper

If you need to see the oldest make of car bumpers, then examine the cowboy bumpers. They come heavy and with chrome paint. It’s easy to notice them with their two-heavy trailers.

Tube Bumper

Mostly installed on lifted trucks and jeeps. Their making comes from heavy-duty steel tubing, which reduces impacts during a collision. This reduces the chances of car damage during a collision.

With all discussed, let us now dive into how we can replace a car bumper.

How to Replace Car Bumper

Whenever you have to replace a truck bumper, you need to put the truck up on a hoist. This will make you have easier task to replace the bumper.

You can do this task on a garage floor. Don’t be so afraid. However, it would be best to have tools like a floor jack and stand.

This will help you reach the bolts if too far. To perform the task too fast and energy free get these tools for your sake; screwdrivers, spray rust penetrant, air impact wrench, a ratchet, and breaker bar.

With the tools in hand, let us discuss the steps in their order.

Assess the Damage

Before requesting a new bumper for replacement, examine the condition of the present bumper. Focus on parts like the trailer light socket, license plate lights, bumper step pad, and any other damaged bumper parts.

What follows next is getting creeper and checking behind the bumper. Examine the bumper’s brackets conditions to determine if they have rusted or bent. Buy new ones whenever you find them in a poor situation.

Buy New Bumpers

Here comes the choice of selection. Do not enter car accessories and choose any bumper without knowing if it fits your car.

Do not stress about where you’ll find a bumper for your car because you’ll get them in auto recycling yards, local bumper shops, or auto parts stores.

However, buy from car manufacturers to get a brand new bumper with bolts and new brackets—low quality. Buying and shipping a Rum truck bumper is about $180. Such costing is suitable for a truck that you need to upgrade and sell or keep in good appearance.

Go for the premium version whenever you need a high-quality version that has all the extra parts like brackets. It costs less than buying a bumper and paying extra cash for the brackets.

The cost of buying online and shipping is about $445; this bumper comes with new bolts and brackets with two complete license plates.

Grease Skids Using Rust Penetrant

The hardest part in replacing your bumper is removing the rusted fasteners. Treat the fasteners with a spray rust penetrant whenever you need to make the process easier.

Every day, shoot a small dose to the nut and the bolts before doing the swap. What follows after this is driving the vehicle.

Why do you need to do so? You drive so that the penetrant works faster. Apply the penetrant once more so that it soaks overnight.

Remove the Accessories

What you should consider here is removing the trailer light connector. Hold each bolt behind the bumper when unscrewing the trailer light screws.

To prevent the screws from getting lost or falling apart, attach them to a magnet or a zipper top bag. Sometimes you can have trailer light connectors built inside the bumper.

When you come across such a case, you need to remove the fasteners first, which hold the bumper. What follows after this is disconnecting the trailer light connectors and the harness.

After that, focus on the license plate bulb sockets and remove them.

Remove Bumper Bolts and Brackets.

You should remove the smaller bolts. If you need to locate these bolts, remove the license plates first. To remove them, use a socket and ratchet.

Bumpers normally get attached to bumper brackets, frame brackets, a trailer hitch, and a bed.

However, sometimes it becomes too difficult to remove the frame bracket. So, remove the bumper first whenever you need to remove the frame bracket with ease.

This provides you with more room when accessing the frame brackets. To remove the frame bracket, unscrew the bolts connected to the left and right of the bumper brackets. Now you can remove the entire bumper.

Installation of the New Bumper

This is the final step to do. What you do here is replace everything you removed during unmounting. On the new bumper, insert the license plate light while aligning the u-shaped legs of the spring retainer to the light slots.

Make a push on the retainer until it fits into place. To prevent scratches, put the new bumper on cardboard.

You can now install new plate light assemblies. Mount the new bumper and put the trailer light connector and then harness.

Conclusion

Replacing car parts can be hectic, but it’s very easy when replacing a car bumper. To save money, replace car bumper only when used up or after experiencing an accident.

Before you even decide to remove the bumper, assess for any damages. The key areas to assess should be the bumper brackets. Whenever you notice any rusting or bending, then decide on a replacement.

However, for the replacing process to be easy for you, know the functions and working of each bumper tool. Implement the replacement if you have the skills.

If you cannot replace then go for a mechanic to do the task. This process is tiresome in the end but good for your car’s safety.