Front bumper damage - OEM or aftermarket replacement?

My '04 2.4L Xtracab was involved in any accident. The other driver's insurance is offering to pay $3.6k based on their estimate, but I'm wondering if it would be cheaper and easy enough for me to replace the bumper, turn signal light, and just live with the damaged fender. My only concern is the piece danging into the wheel well, visible in the close up pic. Does anyone know what this is and whether or not I can fix it? What would you do?

 

I looks like a piece of the plastic wheel well being pushed in by the damaged bumper support.

 

If all that’s broken and the frame horns aren’t tweaked, that’s a repair you can do with $500 of parts. Looks like you need a new bumper, lights, and a fender.

Pocket the rest and call it a day.

 

Yes, I removed the plastic wheel well and wasn't sure how to remove the bumper support. It has about 1.5" of clearance from the bent support to the tire, until I sit in it haha.

 

is the valence panel underneath the bumper a separate piece or all together for this year?
mine are two separate pieces

is the grille 0k 0P? ... hope this wasn't caused from somebody yappin on their cell or pushin all those fancy apps on the new vehicles

 

I think the grille is ok. I've been looking at the repair manual and I think the piece dangling into the wheel well is the front bumper reinforcement extension.

 

who did the estimate for this?
good thing they did not total it!

 

State Farm adjuster. The other guy's insurance.

 

you can get decent bumper parts from Amazon. i recently did this on my truck. only needed the valence bumper and upper trim and mounting brackets. about 200 delivered from amazon. once you tear into it you may need more parts. i would recommend taking it all apart first to determine what you need. you may find more wrong than you initially thought.

here's minedon't forget you'll have to paint it. even though it the upper trim comes black it doesn't really weather well. i painted mine with duplicolor but long term i might go with a better quality paint.

 

Nice work and thanks for the tips!

 

Progress pic

 

New fender, new corner light and a aftermarket tube/plate bumper. That's what i'd do. Stock bumpers are too weak and will only let you down again.

 

I'd like to go with a tube/plate bumper if I can find an affordable one. Then I would need to relocate turn signals, right?

 

zipties

 

on a 5 lug??

hmm... Not sure that would look right. I'd just stick with a oem style.

 

It definitely won't look great, but if it's cheaper and durable that would be great haha.

 

The problem is that the plate bumpers are way heavier than the stock style, so it would make your front end sag.

They are more than likely not cheaper than a stock style, either. The one I got, which required that I weld the whole thing together, cost over $400. Even the cheap(er) tube style bumpers cost ~$400 or more.

The oem style bumpers are in the $100 range iirc. Even if you go to the dealer, they're probably $200-$300.

 

Ah, thanks for explaining that. I'll probably just go with oem style or go without the valence then.