rust got my HHR bumper

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9 years old! Clearly a disposable vehicle design with no treatment of the metal, and, in fact, a setup to encourage water splashing up from the tires and just hanging out in there forever. It's GM's cute-ute answer to CAFE targets-- imagine their horrors of it being maintained!
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The nice man with the inspection stickers said I should probably take care of it to stay legal. He probably has a point-- who looks up under their bumper covers routinely?

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All the bolts came out! Some took some extractors to work their little round nubby heads.

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Holy [censored]! I have a 2006 Cobalt and I know the rear bumper gets dirtier faster than anywhere else on the car. Also my trunk lid is starting to rust. I should check this.

How's the rest of the car?
 
Im glad I live in the south. My 16 yr old bmw is originally from maine (7 years) and has absolutely 0 rust.

Also glad we dont have inspections here

Thats rough looking
 
I see 20-something-year-old GM vehicles which have a similar design. Similar deal, underneath the plastic. So its nothing new to GM or CAFE. Not sure if that hunk of metal has any real purpose other than merely holding the bumper in place.

I guess if one were to be rear-ended.. might not be the best thing. But put the plastic bumper cover on and nobody would be any the wiser otherwise.
 
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Ouch. Life sure can be rough up here. Real foolish for them to do this sort of thing, intentionally skimp out on corrosion resistance. But I guess what they can't see can't bother them, right? Certainly not until years later, when it's on its third owner.
 
Rest of the car's fine, aside from the rear door skins that were hidden behind a goofy plastic trim piece. It has a rebuilt title, but I was told it was boffed in the front. The floorpans etc don't look like they were sitting over muddy ground like a car that's spent years out-of-service.
 
That's really rusty but it's the same design as 99% of unibody cars out there. I'd just buy a replacement for $1-$200 and not mess with rustproofing it every year. Like you said, basically a disposable car.
 
I'd just get a good pull it bumper and rust spray it , maybe a few coats of epoxy appliance paint on top of the rust preventative primer.
 
Was an appropriate rust treatment ever applied in preparation for living in salt and maritime areas? We discuss it enough on here for it to be relatively common knowledge to regulars.
 
The replacement was $73 shipped. I hit it with a layer of high gloss black spray paint before sticking it in.

In future, getting in the side openings with fluid film once a fall should help.
 
Originally Posted By: RhondaHonda
That's really rusty but it's the same design as 99% of unibody cars out there. I'd just buy a replacement for $1-$200 and not mess with rustproofing it every year. Like you said, basically a disposable car.


X2.

Impact bars/reinforcement bars or "rebars" as body shops call them are kind of all the same. You don't see it, so they are pretty crude, and not rust proofed. Just a cheap metal bumper that is meant to crumple in a wreck.
 
I checked my delta body car today and the bumper is solid. There's rust starting on the wheel well, trunk lid, and some corrosion underneath, but nothing like this.
 
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