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Here is an answer from http://answers.ros.org/question/205396/gazebo-contacts-bumper/ "Put your contact into a geometry_msgs/PointStamped and set the frame_id to world, then use tf transformPoint to transform the point into the link frame."

One comment is that the /tf should be publishing data at sufficient rate. Use rostopic hz /tf to see the rate. Gazebo publishes link states at 1kHz by default. But using tf methods simplifies transformations.