I was just looking at the new Peugeot 207 after all the discussion of bumpers on this forum. A lot of people have critisized new car design due to the bumpers disaparing into the body and their resultant fraginily. The 207 seems to have come full circle, sporting a little bumper across the radiator, whilst the nose of the car is surounded with the bumper-cum-body nose bit we see on cars now. The bonnet and wings thus come after the 'bumper-cum-body nose'.
The question is, have reached the end of bumpers being abosorbed into the bodywork?, and if so will they prove any thougher?
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I remember an acquaintance buyoing a bumper for a Lotus Elite in the 1960's and on the wrapping there was a label which said "Fragile, handle with care"!
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L\'escargot.
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With the advent of high performance radial tyres, discs all round, and ABS etc there isn't the same need for substantial bumpers!
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L\'escargot.
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None of these will stop some idiot hitting you in a car park and doing expensive damage.When I started driving the bit of bent metal was a relatively cheap throwaway item to protect the car from minor damage,now its role is more energy absorbing in a crash.For some time I have thought bumpers are needed to protect the bumpers,and indeed this seems to be happening,in the form of rubber pads.
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Yes sierraman, 'expensive damage'.
There is no conceivable safety reason why modern bumpers are so fragile and complex. It's all to do with 'style' and quite possibly to ensure real expense and difficulty after the most minor prang, the aftermarket being of course an integral part of the market.
It's called 'radical dependency'. They've got you by the gonads.
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what about stringing some 550x12 tyres all round your car like on a small cabin cruiser? this should keep the aftermarket ghouls away and you could use them as a leg up to clean the cavities of your roof (hose ban permitting of course ;-) )
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Very sound basic idea om but wouldn't really help with the aerodynamics at German motorway speeds.
I hesitate to ask really, but are there a lot of cavities on the roof of your car?
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With the advent of high performance radial tyres, discs all round, and ABS etc there isn't the same need for substantial bumpers! --
TIC?
How do all these prevent £££s worth of damage if you just kiss a cark park wall?
As I am sure Sierraman knows.
The Sierra bumpers, al least the back one, was easy to take off, had a thick plastic skin and it was backed by expanded foam. A slight nudge went unnoticed.
My 98 Mondeo has joke bumpers.
The front is bolted on down the side of the engine bay plus a few screw / poppers. A pain to get off.
The whole thing is so flimsy and paper thin, with just air behind it, so much so that it needs extra stays to stop the wheel arches flapping.
The rear bumper,as I found out, is also tissue thin. It needs a bracket or two to stop the middle flapping around.
No wonder you see so many Mondeos with damaged bumpers. It is almost not worth replacing them.
Now in the good old days overriders would have protected the bumpers that protected the bodywork.
Evolution?
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Bumpers do nothing. They are cosmetic, styling and aerodynamic devices.
There are good reasons for this.
Its far too expensive to design make the complex shapes now required in a solid stiif form that would act as a bumper. Also crumple zones and solid bumpers are somewhat mutually exclusive. Ie you cant have one without the other.
I for one would far sooner have a clean modern looking car with excelent safety cell properties than one with iron girders bolted to the front.
Plus it makes it much nicer to integrate the foglights.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Until you or someone else makes a small mistake, TVM. Then you wonder if it really has to be like that, and come to the conclusion that it doesn't (well I do anyway).
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I dont make small mistakes Lud.
BIG mistakes on the other hand is my forte.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Bumpers should be big sturdy metal and rubber extensions that come out far enough to sit on, like on the old saab 900. Every car could be like that if the designers wished.
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Bumpers should be big sturdy metal and rubber extensions that come out far enough to sit on, like on the old saab 900. Every car could be like that if the designers wished.
But what about the damage these monstrosities would cause to a pedestrian,particularily a small child? Car "bumpers" can be repaired but heads not so easily,or cheaply.
All the way up to six if I have to....and maybe faster than you!
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I wouldn't belittle you for the world TVM, and I take the point that in a big shunt damage to the 'bumpers' is the least of your worries.
But do you take mine that quite minor parking nerfs, of the sort other people do even if you don't, can make quite modest cars made in the last few years - Focus springs to mind because I've tried to reattach a Focus bumper, a right PFD it was too - look very sad unless their owners pay out a couple of ton for 'parts' LOL and 'labour' LOL?
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