I ran into the damn concrete barrier in front of the parking space (why do they have to place these things in the first place?) and scraped the plastic piece (wind deflector?) underneath the front bumper pretty badly.

 

How bad? How much of the diffuser did you clip?

I park way back from the curb since I got my G. The first time I parked it like I used to park my Maxima. I got out and looked and if I had gone about three inches further into the spot I would have taken off about the bottom 1.5 inches.

Did you do any real damage, or is it just cosmetic?

 

It looks to be just cosmetic. It basically shaved off a quarter inch or so on the right side of it.

 

They're not expensive to replace. If it's bad enough, just order another one.
C.

 

I did the same thing to my G!. I was meeting some friends at a restaurant when I drove myself and then parked the car. When I left, 3 friends joined me in the car. What I didn't know was that the bottom lip of the front bumper just clear the concrete barrier barely when only the driver was in the car. Add 3 other adults, the increase weight lower the whole car and when I backe out the spot....you know the story.

That piece is only a plastic and you have to knee down in order to see the scratches. I guess just get some touch up paint and cover it up since hardly anyone will notice except you.

 

He's right.

 

Colin, is the black front valence on the '04 replaceable too, or does the entire bumper cover need to be replaced?

 

If it's just cosmetic and nothing is actually broken I'd leave it go - above said it correctly - no one will know it but you.

 

Pics?

(I never pass up an opportunity to see pics. lol)

 

The black portion along the bottom is about $300.

I did something similar, looked into buying one, but then decided to repair it myself.

I basically took some 600 grit wet sandpaper and sanded the scrapes down, then used polish to buff out the scratches (slight ones) from the sanding. Looks almost new.

 

How big were those scrapes? I have one I'd like to remove.

 

I've done this a handful of times myself. Each time, I use a razor blade to shave off the frayed plastic, then some fine sandpaper to smooth it down. You can really make it look new again with a little work.

 

Been there, done that! Actually my wife did it first, then I did it. It suxs, but it's not noticable so I haven't touched it and don't plan on touching it.

 

"How big were those scrapes? I have one I'd like to remove."

Mine were a pretty decent size (6 inches or so). I was down by the beach and tried parking in one of those little back ally lots that had a busted up cement wall at the tight little entrance. I wasn't able to swing the car into the entrance correctly and scraped the driver-side corner of the lip spoiler over the top of the jagged cement.

It was noticeable for sure. I thought about buying one, but thought I'd give the razor/sandpaper approach a try. The plastic is pretty soft, so it's pretty easy to 'sculpt' the plastic so that you can hardly see the scrape. Then, polish out the bigger scratches and hit the whole thing with a little Armor-All to blend (i.e the sanded part ends up looking alot cleaner than the original portion).