My Honda Civic FD2 Bumper Repair

After the recent "close encounter" with a white Perodua Kancil, my Honda Civic FD2 was in need of minor repair to the front bumper.

As chronicled in my previous post, the damage was, fortunately, restricted to only the bumper. These days, the bumper of a car functions to cushion the force of an impact, absorbing the energy so that less of it spills over to the rest of the car. In fact, modern cars are designed on the principle of "crumple zones", to increase the safety of the occupants inside. This is a radical departure from the traditional school of thought a long time ago, when cars were built just the opposite - like a tank!

Anyway, my trusty bumper did it's job, deforming upon impact so that the actual metal body of the car was completely unaffected. The impact zone was dangerously close to the right headlamp, but thankfully it was spared. From the photo above, you can see how close the headlamp and foglight are, relative to the damage.

As my car was stationary at the time of impact, as it should be, my airbags did not deploy. I would expect the designers of a car to factor this in, but I'm not sure if all cars are designed equal (to this day, there are still some cars on the Malaysian roads which don't have airbags, as this is not yet a legal requirement). A side note on this - the ruling that cars have to be fitted with dual air bags starting 1 Jan 2012 only applies to new cars, not to those already sold and on the road. See : http://star-motoring.com/News/2011/Airbag-ruling-only-for-2012-cars.aspx

In all honesty, there was no functional impact to my FD2, so at first glance, it looks to be more of a cosmetic issue. My concern was that the bumper was hanging free (the screw / clip was broken), so at high speeds, the force of the wind MIGHT push the bumper into the front wheel. So, there was a potential safety risk, thus, justified the need for repairs.

Who do you call when you need to fix up your ride? Well, between "3rd party" workshops and the official channel, I decided to go for the latter. A bit on this before continuing. Even the "Official" Honda Service Center does not do repairs in-house, but sub-contracts the task out to their panel. I chose to go through Honda instead of directly to an external workshop as by going through Honda, as now the liability is on them. So, any issues with the car, I can deal officially with Honda, who have reputation and credibility to uphold. Going directly to, say, Ah Beng's Car Workshop, it would be difficult to resolve any issues that might arise.

Another plus point is that by virtue of being on Honda's panel workshop, they would already have met some requirements, and would have lots of experience with cars such as mine. It would be difficult to work on a car you rarely see (good luck repairing your Ferrari), as even a trivial task such as removing a dashboard to install tweeters can result in damage. An inexperienced repairer might do more harm than good - "seperti tikus membaiki labu" goes the Malay proverb (loosely translated as "like a mouse trying to repair a pumpkin").

Well, when it comes to Honda, I looked up my trusted Honda service center branch in Jalan Bakri, Muar (not the closest to my home, they have been very good to my ride all this time). Again a note / disclaimer, I am not affiliated with them in any way, so here is just my honest tale and experience of dealing with them. Your own impressions might vary.

I explained my requirement (repair and respray the front bumper), and immediately I was asked to send in my car that afternoon. Since I would definitely have to leave my car there, I told them I would come the next day, otherwise I'd be stranded in Muar (which was close to an hour's drive from where I lived).

The next morning, I drove down to Muar and got the damage assessed by the Service Advisor. Good thing that the guy from the panel workshop was around too, so he did the assessment on the spot and quoted the price for repairs there and then. Unfortunately, according to him, the workshop was full (many accidents that week), so they could only start working on my car the following Monday. Well, it was nobody's fault, so I resigned myself to driving back home and only on the following Monday did I return to drop off my car for repairs. Due to the nature of metallic paint, I chose to respray the entire bumper (including the Modulo front skirting), to avoid any uneven appearance. Luckily they still have the correct paint, as today's FD2s are now offered with a different color.

So, at the start of the next week, repairs were estimated to be completed by Thursday morning. My wife was with me to ferry me back home after a short stop at Mister Coffee for a cup of, um, coffee (what else?).

For the rest of the week, without my trusty Civic (don't get me started on public transportation in this part of the world), I took the opportunity to "clear annual leave". It was during this time that I further explored the potential of "telecommuting" via simulation.

Well, my car was actually ready on Wednesday. According to the Service Advisor, it had been hot and sunny every day that week, so the "paint dried very fast". When I went over to take my car, it was thoroughly washed and polished (even my new Nexen 6000's were shining with a coat of Tire-shine). The bumper was back in place, secured with the bolts just like the original ones, not like the ones you get from off the hardware shelf, or cable ties. From the looks of things, relative to the age and other parts of the car, it is unlikely that any one would realize that my car had ever been hit and repaired.

Another satisfactory service associated with the Honda SC in Muar (GS Tay Auto), who also made a follow up call the following day to check if I had any outstanding complaints. If any of you are on the look out for a good place to service your Honda, I strongly recommend that you give this service center a try.