Front bumper removal?

[-Keith-]

A stone/animal has cracked my front bumper lower mesh grill. New one is ordered, £53ish. Also ordered a new marker light as one had a chip on
the edge

Fitting of these will no doubt require removal of the front bumper... how is this done?

Any advice I'd be grateful for. :thumbsup:

[ZedVan]

The bumper is pretty easy to remove. From memory, (so you need to double check, but it is all pretty straightforward when you lay under the car and look at it.):

The side marker lights just pop out as they are held in by a couple of spring clips on the back. You need to remove these and disconnect them before removing the bumper.

As for the front bumper, you first need to undo the screws holding the under body plastic splash panels. These include the front portion of the wheel arch liners, but I don't think you need to remove the "stiffeners" in the inside at each front corner. (Check by peering in once you have undone the front of the wheel arch liner). However make a note of which bolts/screws went where as there is a mixture of sizes and lengths. Also disconnect the air intake tube from the left hand brake duct.

The bumper itself is the removed by undoing the two torx bolts (T50 socket if I recall) that hold it to the energy absorbing mounts. These can be reached via the two larger holes on the under side of the bumper either side of the number plate. The whole front panel then slides foward slightly and comes off. It is not that heavy, just slightly awkward to man handle on your own.

Re-installtion in the best Haynes tradition is the reverse of removal. When putting it back, need to make sure the oil cooler scoop/molding is correctly aligned. Also there are a couple of rather filmsy brackets on each side for the plastic undershield that can be a bit awkward to line up, but no major issues. Fitting the brake ducts back into the wheel liner holes can also be a bit fiddly.

[breadvanman]

silly question.....

my side marker lights are loose and wobble a bit in the bumper, do they all do that?

[dave p]

silly question.....

my side marker lights are loose and wobble a bit in the bumper, do they all do that?
mines the same, theres a coupe of mm play which means the light is slightly loose.

[chopper]

This thread would be worth moving to 'knowledgebase' which is starting to look very good.

I'm sure Keith will add some pics when done :thumbsup:

There was a thread a bit back about removing a seat and replacing bushes to get rid of play which seems to be a common niggle. That would also be good to have in the knowledgebase if anyone can find/move it?

[-Keith-]

This thread would be worth moving to 'knowledgebase' which is starting to look very good.

I'm sure Keith will add some pics when done :thumbsup:
I'll happily take some pictures and do a little DIY... :yesnod:

[coupe fan]

This thread would be worth moving to 'knowledgebase' which is starting to look very good.

I'm sure Keith will add some pics when done :thumbsup:

There was a thread a bit back about removing a seat and replacing bushes to get rid of play which seems to be a common niggle. That would also be good to have in the knowledgebase if anyone can find/move it?

Good idea. I'll sort that out at the weekend. Several others pending aswell.

[ultegra]

A little extra faffing required if you have headlamp washers. Nothing serious though.

[kwoffa]

The Mesh Grill is easy to replace and does not need front bumper removal ! once the under trays are removed you will see a great big plastic air intake thing which sits inside the bumper that needs to come out. then you will see whats ahead of you it really is simple...be carefull tho as some of the attachments are fragile,side marker lamps just push forward for removal etc..

[-Keith-]

The Mesh Grill is easy to replace and does not need front bumper removal ! once the under trays are removed you will see a great big plastic air intake thing which sits inside the bumper that needs to come out. then you will see whats ahead of you it really is simple...be carefull tho as some of the attachments are fragile,side marker lamps just push forward for removal etc..

Interesting - I thought this might be the case when I was looking around (didnt do anything though as it was raining) - seem to be quite accessible from various angles.

One thing I would like to know though, is exactly what bolts I musto loosen to allow me to adjust the alignment of the bumper. Where it meets the wing (aloingside the top of the headlights), the height is flush, but could do with moving forward a few mm. Anyone have an idea?

[kwoffa]

I would sudjest looking on the oem parts site..ime sure it could be worked out from there..

[Jonttt]

Re the sidelights in the bumper, they should not "move" about and this normally means the spring is broken or not fitted properly.

Also be careful when removing ie you have to push them forward (I think from memory) to compress the spring and the rear comes away first. If you get it wrong its easy to "snap" the edge of the plastic (may have happened to Keiths).

I replaced mine with smoked units:

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt322/jonttt/_S54%20Journal/IMG_0006-3.jpg

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt322/jonttt/_S54%20Journal/IMG_0015-1.jpg

and indicators

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt322/jonttt/_S54%20Journal/IMG_0017.jpg

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt322/jonttt/_S54%20Journal/IMG_0021-1.jpg

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt322/jonttt/_S54%20Journal/IMG_0022.jpg

nb the replacement sidelights are a lot "flusher" than OEM.

Also its worth changing the bulbs for LED 501's off eBay which are a lot brighter (and actually serve a purpose ie light things up!)

[-Keith-]

Ok, I managed to adjust the alignment of my front bumper successfully, without taking it off. Although I did not remove completely, I presume I could have removed it by simply taking the nuts off completely, rather than just loosening them off as I describe below.

There are 2 main mounting points for the bumper, where it attaches to the shock absorbing pistons.

http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/ksoundwerx/IMG_0172-Copy.jpg

They are Torx T50 head bolts, located up inside the bumper, accessible through the holes in the bottom of the bumper as shown above. You will need a very long extension for your ratchet - I had to put two extensions together to reach up.

Simply loosen these off and you can pull the bumper forward and backward as required, and tighten back up. Complete removal of these would be required to actually get the bumper off... But it'd be a right pain trying to get the torx bolts back in once out!

If you require adjustment of the side parts of the bumper (where it meets the bonnet to the side of the headlights), this too is very easy.

You simply take out four screws below the bumper that hold the arch liner in place, and then the front 3 screws inside the arch. You can then pull the liner down. Up inside, you will reveal the bracket that holds the bumper to the body. You will see three brass coloured nuts; loosen these off and you will be able to move the black plastic bracket around up and down, left and right to adjust the bumper perfectly. Simple hold where you want it, tighten down the nuts and replace the liner.

My bumper now sits equal on both sides and has been moved forward to sit more flush with the bumper. :thumbsup:

[wefail]

Re the sidelights in the bumper, they should not "move" about and this normally means the spring is broken or not fitted properly.

Also be careful when removing ie you have to push them forward (I think from memory) to compress the spring and the rear comes away first. If you get it wrong its easy to "snap" the edge of the plastic (may have happened to Keiths).


Just want to say thanks for this. I was at the garage yesterday and brought up the fact that I needed to get at the sidelight bulbs to replace them. Only problem being that none of us knew how to get to them. There was even talk of removing the bumper.:lol:

Came back and found this thread, took the car back in today (sparky had to fix a dodgy fuse on the headlights) and popped the sidelight of in front of them. They were most impressed.:cornut:

For some reason my sidelights had always had amber bulbs in. They're now white.

[dave p]

Ok, I managed to adjust the alignment of my front bumper successfully, without taking it off. Although I did not remove completely, I presume I could have removed it by simply taking the nuts off completely, rather than just loosening them off as I describe below.

There are 2 main mounting points for the bumper, where it attaches to the shock absorbing pistons.

http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab46/ksoundwerx/IMG_0172-Copy.jpg

They are Torx T50 head bolts, located up inside the bumper, accessible through the holes in the bottom of the bumper as shown above. You will need a very long extension for your ratchet - I had to put two extensions together to reach up.

Simply loosen these off and you can pull the bumper forward and backward as required, and tighten back up. Complete removal of these would be required to actually get the bumper off... But it'd be a right pain trying to get the torx bolts back in once out!

If you require adjustment of the side parts of the bumper (where it meets the bonnet to the side of the headlights), this too is very easy.

You simply take out four screws below the bumper that hold the arch liner in place, and then the front 3 screws inside the arch. You can then pull the liner down. Up inside, you will reveal the bracket that holds the bumper to the body. You will see three brass coloured nuts; loosen these off and you will be able to move the black plastic bracket around up and down, left and right to adjust the bumper perfectly. Simple hold where you want it, tighten down the nuts and replace the liner.

My bumper now sits equal on both sides and has been moved forward to sit more flush with the bumper. :thumbsup:


here's a picture of the bracket that you can adjust as per Keiths post

http://i43.tinypic.com/23ly62o.jpg (http://i43.tinypic.com/23ly62o.jpg)http://i40.tinypic.com/11twqon.jpg (http://i40.tinypic.com/11twqon.jpg)