Protection against parking knocks

[Grigio Van Grigio]

I have to park my Cali on the street near my house. It’s a narrow street and it seems my neighbours (or more likely delivery drivers) are rubbish at parking. Every corner of my van has been scrapped to certain extent where people have misjudged their parking attempt. No one ever leaves a note obviously.

I’ve been thinking about how I can protect the bumper corners from such knocks and drawn up a blank. Rubber protection strips don’t look great and PPF is expensive and would probably look scruffy once scrapped. I’ve come up with two solutions:

1. Just live with it and get it in to a body shop when they get too bad.

2. Just live with it and replace the bumpers when they get too bad with Startline unpainted bumpers that hide the damage better. I could get this look to work potentially with matching wheel arch trims and appropriate alloys.

Anyone else have this issue?

Cheers.

 

[Alan Andrews]

Have you thought about adding a dash cam to the front and rear windscreens. Most will activate and record should the vehicle be knocked. Whilst you might not wish to pursue a poor parking neighbour, at least you will know who it was. Get the dash cam wired to the leisure battery.

 

[RockinNRollin]

Something like this? Hopefully they'd come off without damaging the paint when you eventually get to that stage. They wouldn't look brilliant but probably still better than a scuffed bumper.

Bumper strips

 

[Lee.Van.Cleef]

On a related note, I'm lucky enough to have off street parking but avoid actual car parks like the plague. Unfortunately, there does seem to be a section of society unable to open a car door without flinging open until it hits something, usually the adjacent car.

With past cars I've used the mobile call out magic hammer/Dent Devil type service to good effect, but I assume it would be much more tricky on a Cali as they often have to get behind the inside panel to work their magic.

Does anyone have any experience of using this type of 'paintless repair' on a Cali. Was it effective? Was it cheap?
If I thought door dings could be easily corrected I'd be much more inclined to chill out when parking.

(I did see this pop up on my feed recently. It could be the solution...)

 

[Ch1pbutty]

Bull bars:

Volkswagen Transporter T4 Bull Bar – (10/1992 – 2004) – Formula Offroad

formulaoffroad.com.au

Volkswagon Transporter T5/T6 Van Rear Protection – (2/10 – on) – Formula Offroad

formulaoffroad.com.au

 

[RockinNRollin]

I too intensely dislike car parks, yet it seems no matter how obscure a corner I try to park in, some numpty still parks next to me despite the endless empty spaces around (usually in either a people carrier or a battered 4x4).

 

[yossarian]

Bull bars:

Volkswagen Transporter T4 Bull Bar – (10/1992 – 2004) – Formula Offroad

formulaoffroad.com.au

Volkswagon Transporter T5/T6 Van Rear Protection – (2/10 – on) – Formula Offroad

formulaoffroad.com.au

These could be handy particularly if one could put a giant can opener on the corner.

 

[Grigio Van Grigio]

Something like this? Hopefully they'd come off without damaging the paint when you eventually get to that stage. They wouldn't look brilliant but probably still better than a scuffed bumper.

Bumper strips

Those are the ones I’ve looked at but not sure they’ll look great on Ascot Grey.

 

[Grigio Van Grigio]

Bull bars:

Volkswagen Transporter T4 Bull Bar – (10/1992 – 2004) – Formula Offroad

formulaoffroad.com.au

Volkswagon Transporter T5/T6 Van Rear Protection – (2/10 – on) – Formula Offroad

formulaoffroad.com.au

Quite the utilitarian look that!

 

[Corradobrit]

Bull bars:

Volkswagen Transporter T4 Bull Bar – (10/1992 – 2004) – Formula Offroad

formulaoffroad.com.au

Needs a winch to complete the ensemble.

 

[Perfectos]

I found this to be quite effective & kind to others at the same time !

 

[Grigio Van Grigio]

I found this to be quite effective & kind to others at the same time !

View attachment 110057

I’ll find out who’s doing it by their shiny bumpers!

 

[briwy]

Tow bar

 

[Pollewop]

Or like this…. ;-)

 

[Grigio Van Grigio]

Tow bar

I’ve got one. It’s the corners that are the problem. People can’t judge distance when they park.