I am swapping my rear bumper but I can't figure out how to get the old one off. And after that I don't know how to get the new one on. I have all the bolts and bottom clips off. The new bumper has 9 holes for clips across the top. Which means I have 9 clips left to figure out how to remove. There is no space between the top of the bumper and trunk wall to get to them and no way to get at them from underneath the car. I figure I can get to 3 of them from the license plate hole. Is there a secret to removing the other 6 easily? I can post pics if it would help. Thanks
I'm going to be doing the exact same thing this weekend. I'll post some pics if/when I figure it out. I took it off once already, but I just unbolted the bumper beam and pulled the whole thing off of the car in one piece. I just got a new bumper beam tonight, so I'll be replacing that this weekend and swapping over the plastic cover.
Thanks for the quick response. So would it just be easier for me to take the bumper beam off? I never thought of that.
it SHOULD be, however, sometimes if your bumper beam is like mine, well it wont be any easier, mine is in there rock solid, breaker bars, impacts, nothing has been able to get my bolts loose yet to get my beam off
Hmm. I'm not sure, it's definately easy to get access to those clips with the whole bumper off. I'm trying to install a hitch on my car, so I was taking off the bolts that hold on the bumper beam. Most of the bolts on my beam were rusted/stripped so I need to replace the beam. Anyway, there are I think 6 bolts underneath that hold the beam on, You'll have to move the carbon canister on one side, the other side be careful not to bend the bracket that hold the exhaust hanger. Once you get those bolts out, there are four more clips that you probably already have taken off that hold the bumper skin to the body of the car. Then unclip the two wires for the license plate lights and the whole bumper should slide straight back.
dO nOt TrY tHiS aT hOmE. To get it off VERY fast, tie the bumper to a tree and then launch your car away at full boost.
I just switched to a lightweight bumper beam, so heres the right up: 1)Remove the pop from between the rear quarter and the bumper, remove the pop on the bottom of the car following the line of the quater panel down. 2)Jack up your car and crawl under the rear. there are 6 bolts @ 16 or 17mm I cant remember, but the drivers side has 4 bolts, one of which is only for the exhaust hanger just take them all out. 3) on the passengers side you'll have to remove two 12mm nuts to move the Gas tank fume charcoal thingy. there is a 3rd bolt that is next to imposible to get, so just shove the thing our of the way without removing the third bolt. Then remove the 3 bolts and keep trak of the hangers that comes out with them, as it needs to go back on to re-mount the fume thing. 3 1/2) i removed my Tailights at this point just to give myself extra room 4) if you have help, have one person on each side, and pull the bumper cover away from the side of the car until the lip clears the frame, the push the end of the bumper up and out kind of lifting as you pull away from the car because the beam has a little catch on the end of it. *****the license plate lights are still mounted at this point so be careful or you'll pull out the wires. 5) use a phillips screw driver on the 4 screws connecting the license plate lights. 6) to remove all the pops, i suggest simply pushing up from the bottom with the flat side of a screw driver. 7) you bumper cover is removed, no mount the new one and reverse. ******be careful when you remount the bumper beam as fitment is not always the best and you may need to pull and push to get the threads lined up. Also, they seem to strip out easily. -colin
Nice write up. I just went through the same thing on my wagon today, here are my thoughts/additions to the above... The six bolts are 17mm. On the wagon you can easily unplug the license plate light wires from inside if you take off the bottom plastic trim inside. For the carbon canister/charcoal thingy, I just took the back two nuts off and it was able to flex enough to the side to get a socket on the bolt. The exhaust hanger bends easily when taking the bolts out that hold it on, so be careful not to twist it too hard. Yes, be careful putting the bolts back into the bumper beam when reassembling. They do strip easily. Be sure you're able to start them all by hand first. I had to do some grinding on the holes on the body of the car and do a little bit of prying with a screwdriver to get them all to line up nicely. Then, just get all the bolts back in and get the bumper lined up. Keep an eye on the alignment as you tighten the bolts since the bumper beam angle might change a bit as the bolts get tight. A couple pieces of tape will hold the styrofoam on and make it a bit easier to get things lined up. I was installing a hitch on my car. I ended up buying some longer 12x1.25 bolts so that I knew I was getting enough threads to safely hold the hitch on. The front and rear holes on the beam will accept longer bolts, not the middle hole.
Thanks guys. I got it all taken care of last night. I did it by myself. Wasnt too bad. If anyone wants the old bumper its free. Small crack and chipped paint though
