2007 Mercury Mariner Bumper Repair

Driving home on Hwy 41 (3 lane hwy) in the middle lane, when the truck in front of us changes lanes to avoid hitting a wood box in the middle of the hwy... We didn't have enough time to completely change lanes in order to miss it. Luckily we did swerve enough to only hit the corner of the truck, but it did cause a fair amount of damage to the the bumper cover and wiper fluid reservoir tank. See Pictures below.

View of the passenger side from the front.

Another frontal view.

Here you can see the large chunk gone and small separation of bumper below headlight.

Needed to tie the fog light wires around the fog light insert so the wires wouldnt drag on the ground.

Resevoir tank to the left. Another view above where it was rubbing against the tire.

above, you can see the white wiper fluid reservoir tank. Needed to cut the white tip off as the tank got pushed so far back that the tip got removed from the secure hole above it and the tank was rubbing against the tire which caused a hole in the tank. After cutting it off with the magic knife that we just purchased from an estate sale for 50 cents an hour before, we were able to push the tank away from the wheel and drive the truck home.

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The Repair Process

First we took the truck to a mechanic to make sure everything was safe and there were no issues other than the cosmetic look. They confirmed everything was ok.

Next we started researching parts and getting quotes.
The cheapest quote we received was over $1500, so we decided to order the parts and see if we could do this ourselves.
The replacement parts we needed to order were:
Bumper Cover Replacement: ~284 (Free Shipping)
Bumper Cover Paint and Service: $175
Fog Lamp Lens and light: ~ $14
Side Reflector ~ $26
Reservoir Tank Replacement: ~$43
Tire Inner Fender Cover: ~$23
Total Material Costs $565.00

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Ordered the bumper cover, and had it professionally color matched and painted.

Finally received all the parts, and ready to start the installation.

First need to remove the plastic grill that sits on top of the bumper cover.

This is a view of the inside of the plastic grill. The plastic Clip broke to install to the bottom of the vehicle, So I added this metal wire strip in order to be able to attach it which worked well.

After removing the plastic grill

Another view of the inside of the plastic grill. You can see the middle plastic clip is still intact.

Above are the final 2 pics after putting everything back together. There were a few snags in the process, but well worth saving ~ $1000 to do ourselves.

Also a special thanks to our neighbor Mike who let us use his heated garage and tools during the process.