Slight front end damage

Close! Just over the state line in Delaware. We were in Maryland but moved the business because Maryland is not kind to small business.

 

Wish I had your luck

 

I say the same. I wish someone would hit my F-150 to the point where it’s totaled just so I can justify buying a new Tundra. But I’m not that lucky.

 

Look at the SSO Stage 2 slimline bumper. I'm not sure it's been released yet and it's questionable whether it covers all of the damage (it will be very close). I think it's the best, most factory looking high-clearance front bumper.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/sso-slimline-hybrid-stage-2-high-clearance-kit.594408/

 

So I just cut my current bumper for these steel ones? I’m sure the repair is going to cost more than the bumper themselves. Only thing that worries me is if anything underneath is bent. The damage looks very minor though. Like a truck or box van bumper hit it

 

You cut your plastic bumper cover.

I bet there is nothing bent. There is nothing behind the corners to bend and in the middle of the bumper is an aluminum crash bar. Even if that got bent it wouldn’t matter because you remove it to install aftermarket bumpers.

 

This is my biggest complaint about 3rd Gen Tacomas. Under that front bumper cover is mostly nothing but plastic and air. The bumper behind it only protects what is under the grill. I hit a deer and did $7000 damage because the impact was in the same area as your hit was. Your lucky the hit was low. The steel bumpers available are better than what Toyota is giving us. I stuck with the original look though.
That damn deer got up and ran away.

 

Wow that’s crazy how that was $7000

 

OP. I would Def go with a steel or aluminum bumper. You always run the risk of the paint not matching when a body shop gets involved. Usually the insurance company will want to do it the cheapest and may have the body shop pull the plastic out, fill it and paint it, then the shop may do a blend into the fender and bring the BS to a part of the truck that isn't even damaged. You could always get a bumper from a junkyard and try to see if that matches and install it yourself, but you still run into the shade being a c*nt hair off. If it were me, I would get aftermarket.

 

Minority opinion....Just let the body shop bring it back to stock using OEM parts.

 

The $7000 bill was because the deer pushed the front fender into the passenger door. Flying plastic parts took out the radiator and condenser. Also lost the headlight assembly because the mounts all broke. All that damage happened because Toyota doesn't put any reinforcement behind that bumper cover on the sides of it. Concealed damage really added up. If I hit the deer dead center the damage would have been far less. That will teach me for taking evasive action.
The deer got some serious road rash but he got up and ran away. I was lucky it happened a few blocks from my house because parts were pushed into my tires. I got the truck home.
I did go back to original parts. If you like the steel bumpers available go that route.

 

I’m not a fan of the aftermarket bumpers but the functionality seems practical.
My only question, will the aftermarket bumpers interfere with the function of the airbags if I were to ever get into a head on collision?

 

Hate to say it, but the truck was designed to do exactly what it did. Thank our government for crash standards for hitting pedestrians. If the deer got up and walked away, likely same would have happened for a human. Damage is bad to the truck, but at the expense of saving lives.

 

If you’re going aftermarket, you could get the Warn with a small hoop since you don’t have TSS. Great for hitting deer (head on)

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wrn-100044/overview/make/toyota/model/tacoma