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[REPAIR] Cost to Estimate to replace Bumper?

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Jedi2155

Model 3 has Arrived.
Jul 6, 2018
1,758
1,488
Upland, CA
I recently got into a kerfuffle with some snow and ice and need to replace my rear bumper. I plan on making a detailed post on the entire events and craziness surrounding the recent snow at Big Bear, CA. But to surmise my vehicle lost traction and I slide backwards into a snow pile.

Was wondering if anyone had to replace a bumper through Tesla and what the costs would be?

20190106_111545.jpg
 
Just to be chief pedant, it's not the bumper that needs replacing, it's the bumper cover.

These days you really can't get a bumper cover replaced for less than about $1,000. I would say probably more like $1,500. On the plus side my understanding is that Tesla makes factory painted replacement covers available, at least to their own service centers.

Your damage is really not that bad. If it were me I'd be tempted to find a replacement reflector, then epoxy the lower part that separated, then do some touch up of the area that lost paint.

And I'm a pretty OCD fool when it comes to damage on my cars.
 
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My X was rear ended by some fool in a parking lot. The rear cover had to be replaced and I went thru service king (known to be expensive).
The whole thing cost me 1200 and change. I can't imagine it will be anything more than that.
 
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The bumper cover and the rear diffuser are two separate sections. It is likely that you can put them back together properly if you remove the entire thing. Check out some of the tow hitch installation threads (and videos) to see how to do it. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO REMOVE THE TRUNK LID SEAL. But you do have to remove the rear lights. Be careful not to scratch your paint with the metal torx screw clips (install them AFTER you put the cover back on).

I would not fix this damage with a replacement. I would work on polishing up the minor scratches, replacing the reflector, and remove the cover to assess the damage to the internal flat clips holding the rear diffuser and the bumper cover together and see whether it can be re-assembled properly.

For the bumper cover/diffuser combo, there are approximately 2 Torx, 6 plastic clips (that stuff is in the wheel wells), and 7 or 8 (depends on build date) 10mm head washer bolt combos, holding it onto the car. As above, to access some of the plastic upper clips you need to remove the taillights. One of the bolts underneath requires you to partially remove the rear aero cover to access the head (it is under the aero cover edge).

Holding the two pieces together (only accessible after removal), there are about 8 bolts and a series of numerous flat tabs which latch together.

This is a two-person job. But it really isn’t difficult; people do it themselves for tow hitch installs. Certainly it is possible to break things and scratch things though. Have a moving blanket to rest the cover on. It’ll have a bunch of gravel in it.

To me it looks like the flat clips have become undone, though there may be some damage to bolt holes as well. You can see one of the bolt covers on the rear diffuser has popped open but it might just latch shut again. Or it is all broken. You can certainly get a replacement diffuser bottom section if it has sustained a lot of damage, but I would avoid replacing the painted bumper cover as it will never be as good as the factory paint even at a really great shop. By good I mean adhered to the plastic - Not the quality of the finish which we all know can vary a bit with Tesla! Factory painted covers mentioned above would be nice if they promise not to blend match them to your vehicle! But that’s a lot to pay for minor damage.

Are those 20” with PS4S I see on there? Sounds slippery! :) Lucky the damage was so minor, and glad you escaped with your life!
 
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If you do decide to address this, the harness disconnect for the parking sensors is kind of annoying. I didn't do it myself, the owner did it, so I can't describe the technique. Just make sure you have a couple people to help at that point so you can get two hands on the harness to push the release. Doing it one handed is possible but that is part of the reason it was difficult (so two people to hold the bumper at that point so you have both hands free is super helpful). No tool for the harness release is required.
 
Just had my rear bumper replaced because I got low-speed rear-ended.

$2309.77 total at a local Tesla-approved shop

$ 3 misc.
$ 619 parts
$ 533 labor body
$ 845 labor paint
$ 242.97 paint

Thankfully their insurance covered it, but yeah a small ding and dent can be a costly repair.
 
Looks like a performance summer tire. Very dangerous in the snow! Back when I had summer Contis on an ICE, even a light dusting of snow will cause traction control to kick in around corners.

They were :(. I was a bad, I was hoping to leave before it started snowing (I actually didn't check the weather myself and was relying on my wife's weather advice). What ended up happening was that the entire roadway got closed by 5 PM when a semi-truck jack-knifed at the beginning of the road. Followed by about a dozen over accidents. We were suppose to leave around 5PM but ended up leaving at 2-3 AM. I was very concerned about running of out of charge (I drained 30% of the battery over 3 miles just waiting and intermittently turning the heater on and off).

Exterior temperatures was between 30-36 F (car never reported below 32F), so I was very concerned about rubber cracking if it dropped below 20 F ( which it thankfully didn't). I was checking weather forecast but didn't see any mention of snow using the 5 day forecasts. It was only on the news headlines that reported snow.