A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that a crack had appeared in the rear bumper of my 97 Mondeo estate. The crack ran from back to front on top of the bumper then (almost) vertically down towards the bottom. This was about a foot to the left of centre looking at the car from the rear. At first I thought that I had perhaps caught it whilst clumsily loading my fathers unwieldy wheelchair into the boot though there didnt appear to be any signs of an impact.
Yesterday, I noticed that the crack appeared to be slightly larger, though there didnt appear to be any loss of structural integrity and I couldnt close the gap at all by pressing on the bumper. When I mentioned it to my son, he said Mondeos are known for it.
I just wonder if the crack has been caused by the expansion of the anti-impact foam contained within the bumper possibly by the ingress of water/freezing???
Have any Backroomers come across this phenomenon and does anyone know of a successful way of dealing with the crack, preventing it getting worse and potentially stopping further ones occurring?
Please forgive poor punctuation and lack of apostrophes My broadband line keeps going down in the middle of writing a post. When I copy and paste, certain punctuation marks get turned into hieroglyphics. Cheers Waino
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You've probably been hit by someone while parked. Virtually no-one ever leaves a note of apology these days.
I would have thought it very unlikely that movement of the foam inner would cause cracking.
Rear bumper cracking / flapping does seem to be common on Mondeos although I think the underbody airflow plays a part on the Hatch/Saloon versions.
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When someone hit my '96 mondeo estate and didn't leave a note, I bought a replacement bumper for about £150, ready painted. It was a reasonable match - good enough.
I'm sure that there's no difference between pre '97 and post '97 estate bumpers. Very easy to change.
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You've probably been hit by someone while parked.
I would agree. I just about touched a carpark pillar and my bumper gained a small crack. I did not feel anything and SWMBO added the comment "Didn't you see that?".
>>I would have thought it very unlikely that movement of the foam inner would cause cracking.
What foam? If it is like my front one there is no foam. It is just a thin lightweight pretty shell.
>>Rear bumper cracking / flapping does seem to be common on Mondeos.........
See above, plus the centre of the bumper is held in place by two or in later models one small bracket and a small bolt, top and bottom .
If this bracket is not there then you get the happy flappy scene.
Last time I looked on fleabay clones were £200 painted to match. IIRC Ford ones were twice the price.
Fitting should not be difficult.
I have not yet patched mine up because I need to drill out a mudflap bolt first..
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The bumper consists of a metal former and polysterene based packing i know i took mine off to internally patch a vertical crack. In the end i externally patched it with a GRP kit, sanded it down and resprayed it myself.
Pretty sure that i broke mine with a bag of Thistle multi finish
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Yep mondeo bumpers are very easy to damage - i sell large numbers of these at work. The Mk1 and Mk2 Mondeo rear bumpers are the same.
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Thanks for the replies, chaps. I had wrongly assumed that there was more to a Mondeo bumper than meets the eye. With all this talk of crumple-zones etc, I had assumed that the bumper served some practical purpose - but it turns out it's just a pretty shell! When I had a look underneath, it appeared to have been designed to dredge and retain as much Norfolk muck as possible so that it can be re-dumped here in Suffolk when I wash it.
The crack was only a m.m. wide, so I filled it with Araldite. Unless the whole thing disintegrates, I don't want to buy a new bumper - I doubt that the car is worth much more than £150. Oh for the days of black polythene bumpers!
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