I hit a Bobcat and cracked the front bumper and fog light mount. I have searched the forums for info to remove bumper, but needed any additional advise for removal and repair. One thread mentioned that JB Weld works to glue pieces back together. I owned a motorcycle that had a cracked plastic fairing and had trouble getting any glue to stick. Has anyone worked with Gorilla Glue?

Stupid Bobcat!

-LGK

 

One night a garbage can jumped into the road in front of me and I too cracked the bumper and damaged the fog-light mount. I tried gluing it, used JB-weld, and a few others, but nothing worked. It would hold ok, but when re-installed it would start to slowy sag a bit causing the light to be miss aligned. I hate to say it but you are better off buying a new foglight bracket.

As far as the bumper went, I tried messing around with bondo and sanding. Worked well, but I just could not get the colour right. Found one on ebay that looked pretty good for around $100.

Glad to hear you are ok and don't have any other damages. Some have hit animals that have just about totaled their MINIs.

 

Thats one reason i hate cats!!!

 

Are we talking about the construction or feline species? If feline, you should have had it mounted. My grandfather had one mounted in a mouth open, claws out, ready to pounce pose and placed above an armoire in his den; it used to scare the sh*t our of me when I was young.

 

Don't bulldogs and bobcats fight anyway??

 

I think it goes without saying that a bobcat will fight with just about anything that is its size or smaller. And in the case of a bulldog (speaking now of the snoaring kind) I do not believe they fair too well against a bobcat .

 

I did the exact same thing ,only a house cat. Only damage was to the fog light mount(stoopid really to make this out of plastic ) I got a great how to on Motoringfile.Do whatever you have to to fix the light mount cause the replacement involves removal of the radiator and is expensive too.

 

What's your Comprehensive coverage deductible ? If it's fairly low (as I would always recommend to our policyholders), why not turn it in to your insurance company and have it repaired by a shop ?

If your Comp deductible is $500 or more, I can understand your desire to fix it yourself.

 

I am keeping the insurance company out. I had a bad expeirence, wrecked MINI, totaled 6 months later, still have not settled on medical claim, its all a scam.

The Bobcat was a live cat not the mechanized version. It was 5:00 a.m., highway - 75 mph +, no shoulders, and I did not think stopping to find a wounded - pissed off bobcat a good idea. Although it would make a good conversation starter stuffed.

 

I was in the second lane on a four lane interstate in rush hour traffic and hit a dog doing about 50 mph. It had already been hit at least once. I felt terrible. When I could finally stop, my lower bumper was pushed in and the mesh was disconnected. I reached around the back and pushed out to reform the bumper then reattached the mesh. The fog light is loose and significantly further back than the other. Other than the fog, you can't tell anything happened.

 

You guys seem not to even care that you hit an animal.. I mean I would be angry about my car too but you killed an animal. Sort of sucks.

 

...for killing critters.

 

That gave me a great laugh wow.. how do you run over a squirrel on your bike and how the hell do you hit a COW in a car.

 

You may wish to consult insurance on this one as the repair bill may not be pretty.

A shovel flew off a truck a year ago and hit the left side of the bumper shattering the fog lamp, tearing the bumper and wheel well skirt.

I ordered a new bumper and fog lamp within minutes of the ordeal figuring about 45 minutes worth of work one weekend.

Iget the painted bumper a week later and needless to say I was not so lucky.

You will learn that unfortunately the fog lamp is mounted to a plate that runs the entire length of the front of the car and happens to alos be the radiator support as well as other supports. It is quite a bit of work to remove and replace the item. $500 worth of parts and paint turned into a $1450 insurance claim. It was well worth dealing with them for everything that went into getting it fixed.

Good luck.

chris

 

[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Car-Deer Crashes[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]While the state's 2 million deer are most active in spring and fall, car-deer crashes are a year-round problem. Each year, there are over 65,000 reported car-deer crashes in Michigan.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]At least once a year I have a close call with a deer. The closest was one that ran into the left front fender and slid down the side of the car. No damage to the car and the deer kept on running.[/FONT]
[/SIZE][/FONT]

 

You must not have heard yet. Insurance is all a scam.

Might as well not carry phyisical damage coverages on our $25,000+ cars and just carry the mandatory liability insurance.

 

Wow, this is almost as wild a story as the guy who hit the bear at the Dragon last year. Out of curiousity, where were you when you came across a bobcat? They're prettry rare in this neck of the woods. Now possums, they're all over the roads around here, "playing possum" isn't a very good idea when a vehicle is barreling down on you, but a bobcat? Sad that you messed up him and your MINI.

 

Well, if the other option is to swerve into oncoming traffic or into a ditch/tree line...I'm sorry but I'm not gonna total my car and/or my life for a 'armless little bunny.

i mean, unless it's this one.

 

The Bobcat was in Lee County, Texas about 6 miles outside of Giddings on highway 290.

 

that scene where the bunny jumps up and the knights head falls off is hilarious

 

Update...

I went to an auto parts chain locally and picked up a two part epoxy type plastic weld - I'll post the brand later. I removed the front bumper and found out that the fog light had all three mounts broken, two on the fog light housing and one on the car. I used the plastic weld and reattached all the tabs and one hour later the light was reinstalled successfully. As for the bumper I used the same plastic weld along with a small piece of fiberglass matt get the pieces aligned. I'll post more after a couple of days of driving to see if it holds together.

LGK

 

I love that scene!!!

 

Thank heavens - I thought you meant one of these:


How's the bonded repair coming along?