Bumper protection from bad parkers?
 

I have to park my BRZ on the street in a large city and people are constantly hitting my bumpers when parking and rashing my ride. I've had 4 insurance claims in a year because of this. I was considering having a friend machine some spikes to screw into tow hook threads to really ruin the assholes who bump into me, but upon further thought, they would be impacting my frame, which I definitely don't want.

I haven't been able to find any decent bumper protection that I can use. I want to keep my bumpers on while protecting their paint, so drift armor doesn't really cover both of these. Does anyone know of any way to keep these assholes in their priuses from mangling my clean paint, or at least really punish them when they do? I'm sick of it, and don't have a way to get off street parking here.

solution....never park ^^






seriously though, there isn't going to be a way around this besides parking as far away from people as often as you can and getting a dashcam. Either way, having 4 insurance claims for bumps is pretty extreme..how close do you keep your bumper to the parking line? with the twins' smaller proportions, you should have plenty of room around you in most parking spots in the US especially in front and behind you..bumpers aren't the problem for me, it is the jerks who open their doors without any regard for surrounding cars...

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...pNYYg8S0gwxcxG

https://i.redd.it/u1xh04wsznyz.jpg

https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1KbSrS...pg_640x640.jpg

What about a motion activated dash cam? Once you have their license number you can report them. In most places, this is considered a form of hit & run and they do take it seriously.

Know of any good ones? Doesn't have to be budget, just effective. I'd like to have one in the front and back as well.

Is this for real? If you ever injure a pedestrian or cyclist with this, you will be bankrupt paying them out for damages. Your insurance will probably be voided leaving you hanging out to dry. While this seems funny now, you won't think so trying to justify it in court.

Just look on eBay. You can get one pretty cheap.
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Driving-Reco...IAAOSwukldSpL5

Ya... you can't own a half way decent car and street park in a major city. I lived in NYC most of my adult life and LA most of the rest of it - always garaged. I lent my sister an audi in NYC for 1 month and she street parked it and it came back hit and scraped about 8 different times impacting every body panel but the roof.

The only thing I've ever seen avoid this is having a huge, already beat up, car/truck with huge steel bumpers. These tend to keep people from hitting you and if so all of the damage will be to their car.

You have two options to save your car: 1) Move or 2) Find a garage (or at least off street space) to rent

It seems like the motion activated dash cams are my best bet. People don't seem to learn by paying their insurance deductibles so maybe they will be more considerate once I press misdemeanor charges and they get a criminal record.

How about this?

https://media1.popsugar-assets.com/f...-Protector.jpg

100% go for the dash cam and get their plates. It really sucks when people can’t respect other people’s property. I always park as far away from people as possible when going out. Unfortunately, our parking lot always gets full at work, but I park in a little corner. However, no matter how careful I am, I still get little dings here and there. Annoying as hell

Just a thought, how about detachable bumpers (front and back)... Someone (Junk in your trunk thread) has confirmed that the rear bumper does fit in the Twins trunk.

Dude I'm not going to pull bumpers off multiple times a day. I'd rather just call the cops and report hit and runs. I called on one lady who I saw hit my rear bumper and drive off as I was waving and yelling at her. She just looked at me and kept going. I took down her plate, called the cops, and they gave me her insurance information the same day.

Like I said 'jusf a thought'.. I can't stand touch parkers.. sadly, very common in some cities/countries.

I have two recovery rings on the back of my car. I figure if I get hit it will do more damage to there car ,nd if the hit is hard enough to bend the frame then with out them it would do major damage anyway.


Several years ago I had a mini (2003) with recovery rings and I got hit by a guy. The first words out of his mouth when he looked at the damage was "you know my car would not have so much damage if you did not have those things on the back of your car". I thought I wish I had more.

I am not knowledgeable about impact against frames, I just know that if my frame gets damaged, there is a good chance my car will be totaled. If I did screw spikes into the tow hook spots would the frame be fine if the hit was from a parking type collision? I would be willing to install both spikes and dash cams if I was confident the spikes would not cause damage to the frame from minor collisions.

+1 for the spikes, nothing says F U don't bump me than spikes, and if they do they will get far more damage.

I don't think those bumper spikes will do much at all. Really just a novelty/style thing. Probably will cause as much damage to your bumper as the person who hits you. They look like they just screw into the bumper cover, so no way that would cause frame damage.

Not those spikes. I'm talking about machining spikes that thread into the tow hook mounts on the car and protrude outward. Just like the license plate mount in this pic:

http://www.ijdmtoy.com/ebay/AA/AA226...locator-07.jpg

But instead of having a license plate on it, it just ends in a steel spike.

^ if ya do that then I pray that you don't accidentally impale anyone :cry:

If I hit someone with my car, I'm going to be fucked any way about it. The spikes dont have to be sharp. They don't even have to be spikes really, just steel rods protruding an inch or two in front of my bumper would suffice to discourage/prevent people from hitting my car.

What if you hit a pedestrian? I would think that putting something on your car that is intended to do damage would be something that you would think twice about. I know that you are a good driver, and that you would always be in control of your car, but what if you were rear ended, and your car went sideways up onto the sidewalk and impaled innocent bystanders? I'm thinking that you might be held accountable. Before you put something like that on your car, I would certainly call my insurance agent and ask him/her about it. In today's litigious society, even a small bruise could be much more of a problem if it came from something that you added knowingly to your car to cause damage.

Also, and I'm trying to be delicate here....I see that you might have some anger issues - calling the state you live in Commiefornia, and calling Prius owners a$$holes. I don't know you, I'm sure you are a very nice person, and you are just venting....but it might help to keep emotion out of this.

Seriously, I would talk to your insurance agent - they might be able to help out with a solution.

bumper badger

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....L._SL1500_.jpg

Bro that's a damn ski mask lol :barf: It might protect against scuffs and chips, but can still get dented upon impact.

I'm in a big city too and I've seen way too many people fuck up bumpers while trying to parallel park. Best thing to do is find a place that has off-street parking or find private lot where you can pay for parking. $100+ a month is ridiculous but it beats stressing out about insurance or hit and runs.

Prius drivers are not a$$holes, I thought Smart Car drivers are. And a$$holes with bad taste:cheers: I am all for getting good mileage and being green but buying an disgustingly ugly car is not a prerequisite for that.
If the OP does go through with the idea of installing spikes on his bumper! I suggest a new vanity plate “D IMPALER”. After he impales 10 cars, he can upgrade to “DRACULA”

I like that

Thinking psychologically, the thing to do would be to make a flag of some type that could be shut into the trunk or hood, with a staff that leans slightly away from your car toward the other driver. That way the car would appear closer than it is, and the person would stop sooner when they saw the flag over the front edge of their hood.

It wouldn't work in NYC, because those people would still keep going until they felt the jolt. But most other places people hit you because they're driving a taller car and can't actually see your bumper over the nose or tail of their behemoths.

This ^
It is the risk we take for driving a low car in a world full of SUVs and pickup trucks.
I never truly realized just how bad it is until I parked beside our company truck one time. Even my bright orange car is all but invisible from the driver's seat. A grey, white, or black one could go completely unseen. The same applies when in front or behind a large vehicle. Even people that actually care can still give you a bump simply because they can't see it.

Find proper parking and pay for it. Or don’t live in such a place.

was referring to humans not other cars :D

Are you talking about tow hooks?

Yay for parking by braille :bonk: When I got the car I worked in NYC and in that year while I was there my bumpers got hammered. The front sags a bit from being bumped so many times and there are scrapes all over it. The back is nicked and dinged and cracked from a harder hit. As ugly as bumpers were after 1973 I miss having those bolt on extenders that every car had, they made parking in tight quarters fun :thumbsup:

Like a bicyclist who is bending over to unlock his bike in front of the OP.... just imagine:bellyroll:

These are rings that fold down so they are not pointing back but are screwed into the recovery points.

I think it's even more simple than that...

either the person in the other car cares, or they don't.

I was parked at Starbucks yesterday in my Subaru Legacy. Mind you, my engine was on, my lights were on, it was 7PM before sunset so there was still light.

The Toyota Highlander pulled up next to me and they were in the car for a good 5-10 minutes after they stopped. The passenger in the car opened her door to get out, and it swung fast and hit my side mirror.

Had it been any other part of the car, it would've left a big dent and we would have exchanged insurance information. It barely scratched the black plastic part and all the lady said was "oops I'm sorry" and walked away like nothing happened.

Moral of story: the only way to not get damage on your car is to not drive it. otherwise, you just live with the environment in which you drive it...