I hit a raccoon the other night and he left a big dent in the plastic spoiler panel on the front left side. This is a 2011 Fit Base, so there are no fog lights etc. It was a big coon and I was going about 75.

Any suggestions how to pop this back out? I got a piece of pipe and a board and pulled for all I was worth but decided I was going to break something else before I got it out. I really can't afford to have it fixed right now (not even the deductible), so I'm looking for a cheap way to make the car look decent again. It doesn't affect the driveability of the car, just the looks.

I'm bummed because I haven't even had the car a month when this happened. And I didn't even hit the #$%@# thing on purpose!

John

 

I fixed this problem for a friend once... if you can remove the part and get behind it, jus' take some type of instrument -i used a baseball bat, slit open a tennis ball, slipped it over the end of the bat- and applied gradual pressure to the dent with it and it pop'd it right out... it won't be perfect but it'll get you by for the time being...

 

you mean the front bumper, right? there's no front spoiler on the base or the sport on the GE's. at least on my 09 there's no spoiler.

ive fixed bumpers using my PDR tools in the past. one thing to note is to use heat to prevent paint cracks and for the plastic molecules to kind of re-seat itself after you fix it. otherwise it has memory and wants to pop back to it's forced state.

if you have the funds to do this professionally, check with your local PDR guy.

 

We finally got a nice warm day (about 90) and I got my pipe after it and it popped back out! Its not perfect, but it will do. None of the paint has come off, but I can see where it cracked in some places. I hope it stays on.

Thanks for your advice!

 

jstrick- for the areas where the paint cracked, put some clearbra (3M Xpel) on it so it doesn't spread or flake off. you can buy small rolls on amazon.

 

Thanks! I will give that a try.