Hey guys,

A friend of mine got in a little wreck and looks to have ruined the frontend of her car. My guess is it's just the bumper cover that needs replacing because everything else looks fine to me.

Is this difficult to replace? Any special tools required?

I figure I'd just order an OEM bumper cover online, take it to get painted, and then replace the old one.

Just want to make sure I don't get surprised with the requirement for some special tools or the need for another person (plan on doing this myself, everyone else around here is useless ha).

Here are a couple of pics of the damage (sorry for the quality):




What do you guys think? Easy enough job to do myself with standard tools?

 

Yes, it's fairly easy.

Phillipshead, flathead, and maybe a small socket but I think you can use phillips. I did it just a few weeks ago.

Fogs first, then clips on top, grille will come out. Then clips and screws on bottom. Then one in each fender well where the fender meets the bumper. Sort of at a weird angle.

 

You may want to take it off to see if there is any damage to the actual steel bumper and Styrofoam behind it, too. It looks like a semi-hard hit (for a bumper cover that is)...

 

BAM! done

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...-painting.html

niko did do it the EXTREMELY long way though. i never had to remove any clips in or removed the fender cover.

oh FYI. your headlights come out with your bumper.

 

Headlights don't have to come out?

There is just one screw in the wheel well area you need to remove. You don't have to remove all the clips that are listed in the DIY.

Once you start looking, you'll see everything that needs to be taken off.

 

REALLY?!! this whole time i was never able to removed my bumper without my healights coming out too. i must be doing something wrong

 

There are bolts on the headlight (3) that hold them in.
One on top, one on side near grill and one under.

If those bolts are on, the headlights shouldn't move when the bumper is off.

When I redid my lights, I pulled the bumper off first, took a break and then went back for the 3 bolts on the lights. 2 of them you can't get to with the bumper off. The other one is on the top and visible from the engine bay.

 

As suggested I would double check the steel and foam. I would bet the foam is damaged.

 

Thanks for the input guys! I will give it a real good look over next time I get a chance. After a little research I found the bumper cover online for about $165 but shipping was another $175 and that's w/o paint!

Judging by the damage visible on the current bumper cover, do you think it would be cheaper for me to just take this off and have it repaired / repainted? Can those holes be fixed? There aren't any dents just that nasty scrape...

The only other thing that I didn't manage to get in the picture, is that it appears to be pushed slightly over to the right (if you were in the car)... I'm talking VERY little and hard to notice unless you're really looking for it. You can kind of see the right fender being pushed out by MAYBE 1/4". You can see this if you look at how close the bumper cover is pushed up to the headlight. Without taking the thing off I don't know if this means the bumper cover is all screwed up or it's something else... any thoughts?

Going to have a closer look this weekend but just wondering what you guys think!

 

I would say the bumper tabs probably broke as that is what they are designed to do. She will likely need a new bumper.

 

Okay, that makes sense. Just to be clear you mean bumper cover right?

Guess I'll be ordering one. Kills me that shipping costs MORE than the actual bumper cover itself! Wish I had a place local to me I could pick it up at.

 

I do mean bumper cover, sorry about that.