Two congruent "pops" or punctures on rear fender corners

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Electryic

Active member
Joined
Jul 4, 2015
Messages
29
My ocean blue leaf is in mint condition and still looks great. Right underneath the red deflector on the rear fender a "pop" appeared. I thought that someone had taken and given it a tap with the claw side of a hammer. Its about the size of one of the teeth.

Then today, the same exact thing appeared in the same exact position on the other side. I am wondering if there isn't some brace underneath or within the fender piece that was under pressure or bent and then snapped out on either side pushing through the paint job.

It looks like something the ends of a curved piece that was part of the rear bumper piece that was bent under pressure and snapped and popped out on either side pushing through the paint.

If anyone can tell me anything about this I'd appreciate it. As of now I'm filing a claim with my insurance as I am assuming that it was vandalized. Its definitely strange that they are in the exact same position on each side though and exactly alike.
 
If this is pushing outwards into a bubble shape, it is most likely rust coming through the paint. It's called "bubbling." You can determine if that's it by pushing firmly on the spot: if it's rust it will crumble, leaving a small pit or hole. If it's still solid metal (?) there, then I'm stumped.
 
Thanks for your reply. Definitely not a bubble. Best way to describe it would be one claw of a small hammer put a gash about a half inch long but the metal underneath popped out where it was gashed. But being the way that one appeared in the exact same spot and position on the opposite side makes me think it might be a long strip of metal that was curved and part of the fender and it came undone and the ends popped out.
 
Wasn't able to copy the image directly here is a link. Thanks again for checking it out and telling me what you think.



view


view
 
I wouldn't suspect someone struck it from the inside to pop it out -- there's a cover in the way, and you say you now have symmetrical marks. It's a soft plastic so I'd more suspect some pressure from the outside pushed it against an internal hardpoint. I'd speculate either someone kicked it (twice?) or the damage was acquired through backing into something. Given the soft give of the material, contact can be subtle and barely felt at low speeds. I have done it myself, though no damage in my case.
 
The images are public now. They appear to me to be damage caused by an impact from the outside of the car, but the resolution isn't high enough to tell for sure. They do look a bit like claw hammer gouges.
 
Those images look like parking lot dings. Someone probably hit you on one side one day. Then someone hit the other side later giving you almost matching damage on both sides. There is a metal support behind the bumper cover so the cover was pushed in by the other vehicle and the edge of the metal support cut through the bumper cover. If you look closely, you can see scuff marks where the vehicles moved across the surface of the bumper like they were turning when contacts were made. I had a similar scuff mark on the rear bumper of my 2015 and did not notice it until I used an automatic car wash. The multicolor wax dried in the scuff marks and made them very visible. In my case, the hit was not hard enough for the internal metal to cut completely through the bumper cover.
 
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