2011 wrx cracked lower front bumper

[pdotblanchard]

What is the deal with people hitting curbs? ITS A WRX NOT A DURAMAX

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[AG206]

Originally Posted by pdotblanchard

What is the deal with people hitting curbs? ITS A WRX NOT A DURAMAX

I think you answered your own question.

[Clutch987]

I always feel like I park way far away from the front curb, but I would rather be just inside the back of the spot than crack the bumper.

Being said that I take care of not hitting curbs and whatever, guess who gets to get his front bumper, bumper reinforcing bracket, and AC Condenser Fixed. This Guy. Driving down a 2 lane highway running around 60, a truck going the opposite way hits whats left of a blown tire and kicks it up into my car. When I get up to stop and look at it, I have about a 3.5' section of tire tread folded on itself in the bumper opening. Cracked it, and the steel belt cut partway through the bumper. Damn I was pissed, I kept that car spotless, but crap like this happens. Its around $1800 for the new bumper, reinforcing, and AC condenser with labor.

[gallandof]

Originally Posted by pdotblanchard

What is the deal with people hitting curbs? ITS A WRX NOT A DURAMAX

im still used to my higher up cars. When the lowest car ive driven for the past 6 years was a cobalt LS (not that low at all), the wrx is still like a go kart to me.

[Freedog]

+1 for "the spot" as everyone calls it - backing out of a gravel driveway did the trick. Going to just reinforce it with some epoxy and stiff backing inside the bumper to keep it from spreading. Has anyone had any problems with this fix holding over time?

[snoxracer183]

No one is arguing a curb/driveway/snow isn't "our fault" for cracking our bumpers. We all hit/rubbed/bumped something. I've nailed the $h!t outta snowbanks taller than the hood of my '06 2.5i. I've absolutley destroyed an entire "wall" of cones autox'ing with a lot of my cars. I've rubbed driveways, curbs, sidewalks in the past. NEVER has a bumper of mine cracked. One cone on the very side edge of the bumper of a 2011 cracks it on this new car? Come on, thats ridiculous...

The following are exaggerated examples of what this situation is that is frustrating us 2011 owners:

What if if you run over one single rock, your tire goes flat...
Wind blows your car door shut hard and the window falls out of it...

You get the idea. There is a certain amount of "toughness" that everyone should expect out of the design of a car. The front bumper has NO toughness. This is a Subaru. People buy these cars because they want to get to work through 6" of snow to get to work. We need to run through snowbanks left by plow trucks on the roads. Look at the amount of people that accidentally bump a curb at some point.

A bumper in general is something that should be a tougher part of a car. Its probably the part of the car that is banged, bumped, bruised by foreign objects the most often. Things that normally shouldn't wreck a bumper are on these 2011s.

We know it's our fault for hitting stuff, but a WRX bumper should be a bit tougher than they are

[Officer Cartman]

Well said snoxracer! I've been driving in fear for the past 10 months, as I know all it takes is one driveway scrape or parking barrier bump to crack my bumper. This is no way to live!

My wife's Acura TL is fairly low to the ground, and I can't tell you how many times we've scraped it backing out of a driveway. 3 years, and not a crack in sight - The way it should be!

Question: Anyone have any ideas on ways to prevent the bumper from cracking? Any sort of reinforcements we can do to protect our fragile bumpers? With snow season right around the corner, I'm worried about the safety of my bumper..

[snoxracer183]

Originally Posted by Officer Cartman

Well said snoxracer! I've been driving in fear for the past 10 months, as I know all it takes is one driveway scrape or parking barrier bump to crack my bumper. This is no way to live!

My wife's Acura TL is fairly low to the ground, and I can't tell you how many times we've scraped it backing out of a driveway. 3 years, and not a crack in sight - The way it should be!

Question: Anyone have any ideas on ways to prevent the bumper from cracking? Any sort of reinforcements we can do to protect our fragile bumpers? With snow season right around the corner, I'm worried about the safety of my bumper..

With winter coming, I am going to pony up and buy the WRX/STI lip from Subaru. Looks like it is attached with a lot mounting points. My hope is that the lip will stiffen up the paper thin plastic bumper enough at the bottom to keep it from flexing to the point of cracking it. Retarded to spend $300 on something like this though...Scary to think what -10 degrees is goign to do to my bumper and some fresh wet heavy snow...

[pdotblanchard]

Originally Posted by snoxracer183

With winter coming, I am going to pony up and buy the WRX/STI lip from Subaru. Looks like it is attached with a lot mounting points. My hope is that the lip will stiffen up the paper thin plastic bumper enough at the bottom to keep it from flexing to the point of cracking it. Retarded to spend $300 on something like this though...Scary to think what -10 degrees is goign to do to my bumper and some fresh wet heavy snow...

Buy a baysonr lip. Its 1/3 the price

[catbacksubie]

Id have to say if you cracked your front bumper then ya it is your fault for cracking your bumper. As been said, its a wrx not a pickup. I drove a 74 GMC pickup, to an eclipse, to my Subaru. Never had a problem hittin stuff like curbs and driveways. So I suggest, learn to drive your cars kids. Just my opinion though=)

[AjaxBleach]

My bumper also has a large crack. The location is the same as almost everyone else (on the drivers side). i may just end up patching and reinforcing the cracked areas. Seems like no point getting another bumper if it will happen again

[Freedog]

Originally Posted by Freedog

Going to just reinforce it with some epoxy and stiff backing inside the bumper to keep it from spreading. Has anyone had any problems with this fix holding over time?

Wanted to share the fix (we'll see if it lasts) that I used, and liked the result. I used the ACE Plastic Epoxy, this stuff is a cream color when cured, so be sure to wipe up excess well otherwise it'll look horrible. As for the backing/reinforcement, I grabbed a 5" black plastic putty knife and cut a strip off the blade, trimming it to fit on the topside of the lower bumper over the hole, a.k.a. the weak point. If you reach underneath the bumper and curl your hand around it you'll feel it's flat there, and a good place for reinforcement.

I sanded both the inside of the bumper and the side of the plastic backing that I was going to adhere, and made sure I had a few spring clamps ready. I began by **carefully** separating the bumper to expose the crack, and applied a small amount of epoxy inside the crack, then pressed it together to make the gap as seamless as possible. Next I put a thin coat on the sanded side of the plastic backing (a thin coat over the entire surface is all you need, otherwise it'll squeeze out and you'll have more of a mess to deal with.) Once I aligned the backing, I applied the clamps to keep it/the bumper in the correct position, and let this sit for 12 hours. Pulled the clamps off and gave it a solid tug, and it seems to have done the trick.

Hope that helps for anyone else with small(er) cracks in their lower bumper.

[2011rexowner]

Originally Posted by catbacksubie

Id have to say if you cracked your front bumper then ya it is your fault for cracking your bumper. As been said, its a wrx not a pickup. I drove a 74 GMC pickup, to an eclipse, to my Subaru. Never had a problem hittin stuff like curbs and driveways. So I suggest, learn to drive your cars kids. Just my opinion though=)

thats a bold statement. you cant blame it on everyones driving lol. no doubt some people drive like crap but let me explain something.

i recently traded up from a 11 wrx to an 11 sti. SAME exact thing was happening to me in that SAME exact spot the OP is showing in his picture. it seemed like no matter how hard i tried to enter certain parking lots and gas stations that had a small berm, my wrx would scrape. it got to the point where i went and bought the oem lip spoiler to hide it. i was disgusted. i drive for a living, so not knowing wtf im doing is out of the question.

on a side note, this does NOT happen in my sti. i dont know if the suspension is that much stiffer that i clear **** easier or what. but this cannot be a coincedence. the op is not the only one ive seen with this issue. im starting to wonder if subaru should have had a recall. i even had someone ask me if my wrx was leaning to one side. i couldnt tell. but sometimes you being the owner doesnt want to admit things are wrong with your shiny new 28k car

[pennyrobber]

I ended up fixing my bumper with plastic bonding epoxy and prepreg carbon fiber sheet for rigidity. The crack is still there but this came out strong and should keep the crack from propagating for now.

[jordanc15]

This thread really scared me so I went and checked my bumper. It is cracked but lucky for me its cracked on the bottom side of the bumper and hasnt spread up the face of it yet. But I will say, these bumpers are not meant to be resilient. I had a lady make a u-turn in front me and I hit her after slowing down to like 3-5mph max (if only there was another 5 feet between us....) and my front bumper practically exploded. I guess the shape just doesnt allow energy to be absorbed well and they just crack.

I would love subaru to acknowledge this issue but I bet subaru wont be looking forward to replacing everyones bumpers. I would love to have a new bumper though, I've got a few scratches and marks here and there I wish would buff out.

[furiouswrx]

I think I'm just going to end up replacing the front bumper in 5 yrs because of all the scuffs, pits, cracks and accumulated damage. Stuff happens.

[WRX Shadow]

This is one of the reasons I bought repair insurance. Any random damage done, I can have it repaired/replaced for only $250 out of my pocket. I think I'd just get a new one from Subaru if I cracked it badly

[bedheadben]

I have that same crack on the driver's side of the front bumper that everyone else is getting. I haven't hit a curb either!

[jpatt006]

I just got my 2011 wrx this past weekend, coming from a Mazda6. Anyway, I was pulling into a parking spot at the train station on monday (pulled in slow because I'm not used to the ride height and depth yet) and accidentally pulled too close and scraped the curb. Got out to check and I had a crack on the underside of the bumper behind that same hole everyone else is talking about . Guess I'll have to reinforce it now or maybe buy a lip to try to protect it better...

[GotWRX?]

Hilarious....

http://www.autoweek.com/article/2011...IEWS/111109860

"Mechanically, the STI has been a rock, with the only trip to our local service department being for a scheduled service which included an oil change and general inspection. However, we did lose three days to a body-shop visit to replace our front bumper, which suffered a cracked lip while driving through heavy snow accumulation and ice courtesy of a late-winter storm."


Without a doubt Subaru owes us a stronger front bumper. Its not just curbs....

[Demo22]

i cracked mine about 300 miles after trying to escape the falling threes from the snow......just got a lip to cover up the damage.......either waY after to days of owning it a tree branch fell on the hood chipping the paint and making a dent on the hood FML

[JL-KA]

Hmmm. This is not comforting to a potential buyer.

[_davin]

Well if it makes you feel better I've put 13,000 hard miles on mine in only a few months, and nothing yet. One asphalt driveway scrape, one dirt/gravel scrape, and once a tire shop left it in gear which I NEVER do, and I staled it up onto a curb. To my surprise, so far only paint, but I'll report back after I've gone through -40 and more snow. Maybe it was only certain batches, perhaps we should start a pole as to when the people with cracks cars were made and what color/body/trim they are. Mine was assembled same month as the earthquake.

[JL-KA]

Either way, I think I would be putting on a lip IMMEDIATELY after purchase.

[wrxkid157]

hey i dont know if you guys know this but the 2011 wrx front bumpers crack easy...... my work here is done.