What Would Cause Bumper To Crack

[james21]

Last week after the big snowstorm that we got in the Northeast I went to dig my AV out of the huge mounds that surrounded it, in the process of doing so I noticed a small crack. I didn't think that it was a big deal and couldn't really see it at the time because it was night. The next day however i realized that the cladding just below my Fog/DRL lamp was cracked and broken as if someone had taken an axe to it . I also saw a crack that ran from the top of the light up the main bumper to the headlights.

Now I know that I could not have done this by hitting something, because I would have had to hit it really hard and my brush guard prevents that from happening. Another thought is that a plow scraped too close to my truck and caused the cladding to break and bumper to crack. However I don't know what kind of pressure would've been needed to cause this kind of damage. I do believe that a plow hit my truck, because many other people in my lot filed incident reports about damage claiming to be from Plows.

If you guys can help me figure this out I would appreciate it.
Thanks,

James R.

 

[Rescue_1]

Are you certain you didn't hit anything? I hit some plowed snow that had a slight covering of ice and broke my DRL/fog mounts and cracked the front bumper cover in no less than three places. I also bent all three lower brackets for the front fascia.

I always thought it would hold up better, but I guess it proved me wrong.

Anyhow if you're sure you didn't hit anything it is quite possible the plow did a number on your truck. Time to fill out the claim forms....

 

[zreeves]

Well, I know how I cracked mine: on a trail + snow = front end torn off and scratches all fixed now

 

[brmiller]

You may have seen my saga over here in which I hit a sand bank at the dunes pretty good. I did considerable damage to my bumper and bent all three lower bumper cover support brackets as well. While I hit pretty hard, I'm convinced that some damage would still have occurred at a slower impact. I agree with Rescue_1--it doesn't seem to take much to crack these things and bend the supports for them. In a way, it's the design--the bumper is designed to give way and absorb as much damage as possible before the rest of the truck starts to suffer. (Unfortunately, it's a 10:1 bet that I have frame damage as well...)

Good luck. Maybe if there's evidence that a plow hit you, you can get it paid for by someone other than yourself or your insurance...

Brendan

 

[Chief]

I'll go with the hit the snow bank theory. Even a low speed impact into a packed snow bank can cause a lot of damage. That stuff doesn't give easily when it's packed down.

Also noted by others it doesn't take a whole lot to bend up the front cladding on the Avalanche. Look at what happened to Big Red at Wild West 2002 - and his damage was just from running through water not slamming down nose first into the sand like brmiller did (ummmm, am I a bad influence?)

 

[james21]

Well I did NUDGE a snowbank in a parking lot, but My brushguard pretty much told me that I was too close so I backed up. And after that I didn't notice any damage. It was a 3 day period between that and when I found the damage while digging my Av out.
So I am pretty sure that this was caused by a snowplow. I mean the guys that plow the lot are totally incompetant, they drive wrecklessly and completely barricade all the cars in when It snowed.

One thing that I wanted to add is that on my passenger side I can see the support bar to the impact bar, but on my driver side I can't see it, it 's as if there was a piece of the wheel well that got torn out on the passenger side, because it is fully covered on the driverside. now is this normal or what.
Thanks.

-James R.

 

[GoldBowTie]

One thing that I wanted to add is that on my passenger side I can see the support bar to the impact bar, but on my driver side I can't see it, it 's as if there was a piece of the wheel well that got torn out on the passenger side, because it is fully covered on the driverside. now is this normal or what.
Thanks.

-James R.

Mine is that way too. Not sure why it is made that way.

 

[james21]

Another thing that I noticed a long time ago and have meant to bring it up, but I always get side tracked, I see that there is a 1/2-1 inch space between the fog/drl lamp and the cladding/bumper. It is big enough for me to put my ring finger through and I can see the interior part of the bumper. Now I know that this isn't normal because I have seen other guys bumpers and I know that there isn't any space there.
I just want to get some opinions on this.

Thanks, James R.

 

[Rescue_1]

Sounds like the mounting bracket for that DRL/fog light is either broke or not installed correctly. Like you said there is a little gap between the DRL and the fascia but not 1/2-1".

Is it the same side as the crack? Maybe you can claim both on the snow plow...

Good luck.

 

[james21]

The Gap is on both sides, but shows up a little larger on the side that get screwed up.

-James R.