Rear ended!

Technical Area Body, Interior & Styling
2

So I took a slight rear end shunt tonight on my way back from work. Nothing serious, no injuries etc. 

It looks like my lower bumper has popped in and poppedt out again, no paint damage, just scraped the dirt off. 

It looks straight underneath and behind the bumper with no obvious damage. 

My question is… Should I look for something sinister or is it fairly straight forward behind the rear lower bumper and what you see is what you get?

It’s a mk 2.5 BTW. 

 

All advice gratefully received 

PS. Just to make my day, my wife took a stone to her windscreen which ended up in a 30cm crack! There’s £100 excess I won’t see again. 

 

Damian

3

Have you lifted the carpet in the boot & checked the floor from above - particularly that the bodywork’s still as it should be along the seam below the rear light panel?

Although it does sound as if your car’s O.K. - those bumpers are designed to “give” a bit in low speed shunts.  I recall that the reason for the awful rubber bumpers on MG sports cars from the mid seventies onwards was to meet new US regulations which stated that cars must be capable of withstanding an impact at up to 10 MPH without damage.

It might be as well though to ask a garage just to check it over, for peace of mind?

4

With a Mk1/2/2.5, check the diff carrier for any cracks. The diff carrier is designed to break to prevent damage to the drivetrain. Its not unknown for a car, following rear end repair, to be driven away and suffer diff failure.

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