A bumper assembly for use at a loading dock comprises a resiliently compressible pad protected by a readily replaceable metal faceplate. The bumper assembly has certain metal components that move relative to each other as the bumper assembly is compressed by a vehicle backing into the dock. Those metal components are spaced apart from each other to avoid metal-to-metal frictional wear. In some cases, the compressible pad has internal cavities that help reduce the extent to which the core bulges under compression.