Unpopular opinion: that crumple zone repair on my 98 Civic was a death trap waiting to happen

I tried fixing a rear crumple zone on my 98 Civic after a tap in a parking lot in Austin. A buddy told me to just hammer it out and bondo over it, save a few hundred bucks. Looked fine from the outside but after six months I noticed the trunk lid sat crooked. Took it to a shop and the guy showed me the frame rail was bent in a way that would make the next hit transfer straight to the gas tank. Cost me $900 to get it pulled back right by a pro. Makes me wonder how many people out there are driving around with these backyard fixes that just fold up like paper in a real wreck. You ever strip down a car you thought was clean and find some hidden hack job underneath?

2 comments

2 Comments

noah41515d ago

I mean idk, I get the concern but $900 to pull a frame rail on a car worth maybe $1500 seems kind of excessive for most people. If you're driving a 98 Civic in Austin with 200k miles you're probably just trying to get to work and back, not survive a high speed crash. My buddy's been driving a car for two years now that had its rear crumple zone welded back together with scrap metal from a fence and it's still going fine. Not saying it's safe by any means but the whole death trap thing feels like fear mongering when the alternative is scrapping a perfectly good beater for something way newer you can't afford.

the_sandra15d ago

Man I've been there, patched mine up with zip ties and duct tape for months.