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Dented my wife’s new van.

1772 Views 12 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  20swrt, 
slk
6
Yesterday my wife noticed she had a dent up high on the front fender. It took me a minute to figure out how some idiot could dent it so high. Then I remembered that idiot was me.
I was able to pop it back out and left only a small dent which I will address when the weather warms up. I just wanted to warn everyone that these sent easier than a can of soda so be careful.

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steve80
post the dent your wife put in you after she found out :)
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Broncofan
We are even, then. My wife backed into a mailbox and broke out a tail light. It was a 2023 Sienna XLE 7 passenger AWD, with only 4200 miles. So, you messed up your wifes, and my wife messed up mine. So we are even, right? I fixed hers..ordered a new tail light, had it put in by a local body shop. Total cost for tail light and install was $184.00. I bet your dent is more than that, probably many times more..unless it can be fixed with "paintless" dent repair.
Last year I had hail damage and a guy who specializes in this fixed all the hail dents..I think like 40 of them...for around $800, and it looks like it was new. No painting, but there is much skill in doing this.
Repaining a car is expensive..if you expect it to match factory. It could easily cost $1000 or more just to have the dent repainted, so if you can use paintless dent repair it will save you a ton. My "dent specialist" says dont try to do it yourself, it will make it harder for him. He has years of experience and I watched him..he is amazing. There is a skill at "getting the dent out", but not too far out, where you have to push it back in...without cracking the paint.
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20swrt
slk - your signature says 2033 Sienna XLE AWD. Clear off the snow. I want to see what the future looks like.
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Chubbysumo
prime candidate panel for a PDR. take it to a body shop, and get some salt for your sidewalk.
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slk
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I was able to pop it back out myself. There is still a small dent which I will get when the weather warms up.
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Sienna9816
Glad to hear that the only dent is on the car.
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A
Great post. Made my Monday! We've all done things like that (and this one is even less your fault than most, ice happens).
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D
Well you need to remember that 90% of today’s cars are just a bunch of cheap plastic and soft metal. If you’ve ever seen a rear end crash up close- the front of the car just comes flying off. Like a kid crashing a lego vehicle. And that’s why you see so many crashed car bumpers just left laying on side of road . Don’t ever assume that you have a real bumper that could take a minor collision.
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dunner53 said:
Well you need to remember that 90% of today’s cars are just a bunch of cheap plastic and soft metal. If you’ve ever seen a rear end crash up close- the front of the car just comes flying off. Like a kid crashing a lego vehicle. And that’s why you see so many crashed car bumpers just left laying on side of road . Don’t ever assume that you have a real bumper that could take a minor collision.
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While what you say is certainly true, it feels like--and apologies if I'm misinterpreting!--like it's being negative about modern car design. Remember that much of that crushability is deliberate, to attenuate crash forces. While a modern car might be totalled by a shunt that an older vehicle would have survived, the inverse/converse/perverse is also true: a modern car driver will survive many accidents that would not be survivable in an older vehicle. I'm sure we've all seen modern crash aftermath photos where someone walked away from what barely looks like a car any more.

Bottom line: I'd rather spend the $ on bodywork than on, well, body work :)
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W
dunner53 said:
Well you need to remember that 90% of today’s cars are just a bunch of cheap plastic and soft metal. If you’ve ever seen a rear end crash up close- the front of the car just comes flying off. Like a kid crashing a lego vehicle. And that’s why you see so many crashed car bumpers just left laying on side of road . Don’t ever assume that you have a real bumper that could take a minor collision.
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Those plastic bumpers are not bumpers, but bumper covers. The real bumper is under the bumper cover. It is designed to absorb impacts. It is quite substantial. The bumper cover is just to make it look good and does fall away in the event of a collision. You should be able to see the bumper in the Sienna by opening the hood and looking down in front of the radiator.
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bmccav
My wife's first drive of our '22 resulted in 2 guardrail-height beauty marks on the passenger side front fender/door and rear fender from our local narrow toll bridge. Minor dings but a bummer nonetheless. I'm of the opinion that hey, it's just a car. Sometimes that stuff happens. I got a paint and plan to take some of the ugly out but the thin dent will remain.
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20swrt
wscan said:
Those plastic bumpers are not bumpers, but bumper covers. The real bumper is under the bumper cover. It is designed to absorb impacts. It is quite substantial. The bumper cover is just to make it look good and does fall away in the event of a collision. You should be able to see the bumper in the Sienna by opening the hood and looking down in front of the radiator.
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The rear bumper of the Sienna is a joke tho. Im quite certain if i backed up into a flat wall - the liftgate and the "bumper cover" will hit it at the same time. Its almost completely flat back there. No room for error.
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