I live in NYC and keeping car without scratches is hard,
my car (3 m. old) was hit in rear bumper yesterday on the parking lot, (pic)
so now I am thinking about geting front and rear bumper guards,
does anyone have this, how are they, do they help at all?
Thanks for any info.



do i need to say how pissed I am ?? I hate this people.
I saw women hiting it and she just drove away, didn't see plates.

 

Ouch! Sorry to hear about the damage. I park in San Francisco a lot and can totally relate. Of course, I've driven in three boroughs and I'll readily admit you have it a lot worse than I do.

I voted against the guards. I find them really hideous...on anything, but especially a true on-road vehicle like the RX. Worse, these things are almost always for show. I've heard of instances where having them installed caused more damage than what would've been done without them.

 

Just so you know, in accidents these bumper guards do more damage when you can even imagine. If you would have a "guard", your minor scratch actually would have been a dent in the bumper and a bent "guard".

 

I concur with Andreys. Just imagine the front end gizmo. Somone taps into that and it gets pushed into the hood, grill and worst of all the headlamps. Serious $ in damage.

My Wife took out both bumper covers on our previous Sienna. We took it to a local body shop, who does literally hundreds of bumper covers monthly. This is the growth area of auto body shops; cosmetic repair. Very few "complete paint jobs" are done any longer. They removed the covers, repaired, repainted and re-installed them , all in about 2 days for about $750.00.

I feel for you, but my suggestion is to forget about these ungly things and wait until the damage accumulates until you really can't stand the sight, then have the covers repaired.

I say covers, because the part you see is only a cover for the bumper. Under those is the mechanics of protection in a substantial accident.

Too bad more LX series cars aren't out there, parking themselves! Be nice when all cars get that technology, likey in about 20 years (LOL).

 

If somebody wants it, far be it from me to tell them no. However, in over 5 years here I have seen many vehicles, mostly large Ford/Chevy/Jeep SUVs and Range Rovers get into accidents and cause serious damage to the vehicle. I have also heard of cases on tv and in the newspaper of people getting killed. I don't blame the device itself, in the end I am sure poor driving was the result in the majority of the cases. In a lot of those cases, these were bodyguards who were being too vigilant.

 

In Japan, it is popular to have the corner rubber strip guards, like strips of rubber on corners, just for this purpose. Instead of hitting the bumper, the rubber strips take the abuse.

 

They can be colored to your spec, too. But it looks tacky sometimes. I would rather have them than ruin the bumpers.

 

The bumper guards that I looked into for the RX were a total joke! They were held on by 4 small bolts that would shear off in a 5 MPh fight with a large bush! Until someone comes up with one that is better mounted, I would'nt bother.

 

biff44 and others, don't forget that RX330 is based on the Camry platform, therefore it is unibody. In other words, our RX330 do not have a strong frame like trucks do, so any type of "guard" is more for looks than for protection.

Also keep in mind that our original bumpers are flexible and can bent, while "guards" are sturdy. So, in cases of the simple fender-benders these "guards" will do a significant damage to the bumper and possibly to the body of RX330, while the "unprotected" bumper will simply flex and RX330 will drive away with a scratch that can easily be touched-up.

-- Andrey

 

Don't discount the strength of a "unibody" or monococque construction. I was once in a collision when a car that struck me from behind and my car received only cosmetic damage. I later discovered the body of my car had been bent 3/4" and required some serious "frame straightening". The guy who ran into me centered the corner of my little car with his full size sedan's frame rails - and he drove his engine far enough back to shear the motor mounts and leave his small block laying in the street. Lots of compound curves can be EXTREMELY strong!

As far as bumper guards are concerned, check around carefully to see if there are air bag issues with the type you plan to install. A number of bumper/brush guards that connect to the frame have triggered air bags with a fairly light tap, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage to the interior. Check with your insurance company before installing!

 

Precisely! If they are not going to guard against minor collisions, then what the heck good are they?