Advice for DIY repair

I need some advice. Long story short, someone bumped my truck at a store parking lot. There is no body damage as far as outside, no dents outside or on the hood etc but I believe the impact bent some areas inside the passenger front side. The plastic part on the headlight is broken. Does anyone know if I need to replace the whole headlight?

Anyways, I took everything apart including the grill and bumper area to clip back parts of the bumper, fixed the bumper and grill area clips but when I closed it up, this is how it looks. Any help is appreciated!

 

You might want to take that to a shop and maybe file an insurance claim. Headlight looks fine but something’s bent in there. It sucks that the other driver didn’t leave a note. Nice truck and you should get it fixed up right.

 

If I had to guess the core support is bent inward just judging by the fender gap and how far the hood overhangs the grill.. probably not the cheapest fix.

 

Thanks for the replies! I wanted to see if there are other options and I was hoping someone would tell me I could fix it myself! ‍♀️ Thx!!

 

As stated above looks like support is bent causing fender and hood to not line up properly. DO NOT DIY fix this if your deductible is under $1000.

 

Agreed, it looks like the gaps are wrong and the tab means you need to replace the whole piece. Bent for sure, must have pushed at the headlight

 

much good advice here! imo, agree with tacoworlddan that checking your deductible is the best to do first

 

For just the headlight, if the tab is still in alignment & needs to be reinforced, you can try the crazy glue & baking soda mix to reinforce it & paint the fix black after

 

What a shame that we have allowed car manufactures to manufacture vehicles that can't take a simple parking lot bump. I had a 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass that got rear ended by another vehicle traveling at least 20 mph. Both sun shade shields few backwards, stuff from the center console few into the back seat, and one passenger complained of neck pain. The vehicle at fault was damage....but my car which had the impact bumpers had zero damage. That is the way all vehicles should function....now we don't even have real bumpers.

OP...hate to say it but you have significant damage. Just look at the bottom section near the fog light.

 

Definitely call insurance co, unfortunately your truck needs a considerable amount of other work. You have a nearly brand new 2022, no need to rig it up, it's not an old beater. I'd guess even if you fixed the tabs, they'd break for two reasons- the significant damage and the tabs aren't very strong to begin with, let alone repaired.

 

Awhile back a small late model car ran into the back of my 2001 tundra while sitting at an atm hitting the bumper, and trailer hitch on the truck...not a spec of damage to the truck. Should of seen the cars grill, and rest of the car front....looked like it hit a light pole.

 

Thanks guys! i guess I won't be DIYing this and I agree with Spacecoast. I took the whole front area apart and I couldn't believe how flimsy the body was, even the tabs in the headlight area. I fixed the bottom part where the fog lights were. It was just popped out and I just snapped it back in with no damage. I was just amazed at how bendable the front bumper and grill was. Thanks for all the advice!

 

You should be able to square it all up.. The key to getting the core support back in place is to measure diagonals. Pick points on the body that a symmetric left and right. And measure from a back left to front right.. and back right to front left. My guess is that your front right is still pushed in. Go slowly. Make sure that you are always putting pressure in the right place.. You.can easily slip and and ruin an ac hose.
But do the diagonal measurements and c see how far you are from square on the core support

 

Thanks, I'm going to do the measurements later and see If I can do it without getting too confused. I was hoping there was a Youtube video out there somewhere lol wishful thinking.

I also read a thread on hood alignment and realized that I turned that hood knob recently too, so I might've caused that separation. Again, there is no physical dent or damage on the outside just it pushed in, that's why I was hoping I could fix it myself. If I can watch or read that core support alignment I would be more then happy to fix it myself

 

In the body shop..they use a tram tool.. Maybe search on YouTube for that.

 

This is not a bad video
https://youtu.be/6IxrBg4ejyQ

 

I had something similar happen to me except closer to the passenger side. The hood is fine but the front right quarter panel doesn’t line up to the hood. Both passenger headlight clips broke and are now held on by zip ties. It makes a noticeable whistling sound now when I go over 70 mph. I just left it since it’s not that noticeable.