Expert: Michael Kakuk - 2/4/2010

Question
This past December I was going down a hill and hydroplaned right into a street pole at about 20-30mph in my 1994 Honda Accord. The incident left a dent in my hood (but the hood still closes and locks), bent in the fiberglass bar behind the bumper, which slightly pushed in the right-side headlight(it aims noticeably to the left), and squeezed the radiator a little. The car still runs like it did before, I just don't know how to go about fixing it or what parts to get besides a new bumper. Hell I don't even know what the bar is called behind the bumper so I can't find a replacement (if I even need one). It appears to me that the fiberglass bar thing could easily be pushed back into its original place and be fine, but I'm not sure what that might cause or what the damage is behind it, as well as the fact that I'm not too sure how that would affect the headlight positioning and such.

Answer
JOhn.....sounds like you have damaged the bumper reinforcement and core support.
The reinforcement should be replaced as this is a safety item.
The metal structure where the headlamps are is called the core support which apparently you have damaged. This is a welded in panel.

You are most likely in need of a body shop that will have the proper equipment to pull the damages out if possible.