Front Bumper dismantling - nightmare

[Old Mac Rocco]

I recently purchased a painted front bumper with the view to fitting it to my car and giving mine to a member on here while his is getting refurbished.
The metal is all sound but I wanted to repaint all the metal parts before fitting and thought it would be reasonably easy to do.
How WRONG WAS I !!!!!!!!!!
Had it laid out on the kitchen floor last night, while Sat Nav was out, with dust sheets and an old duvet under it.
I have managed to get as far as removing the eight black wedges and that is it, just ground to a halt after that.
I tried to remove the arms with the two bolt holes that hold it onto the bodywork but they are turning so had to stop there as well.
Had a look through this section to try and find "An idiots guide to front bumper dismantling for the beginner".
Unfortunately I don't think it exists and the nearest I could find were these links

http://sciroccoregisterforum.co.uk/carf ... per#p43749

&

http://sciroccoregisterforum.co.uk/carf ... mper#p3685


Is it really just a case of squeeze and lever the clamps at the same time ?????????
Will this allow me access to the bolt heads that are turning ???????
The Haynes manual is really helpful - Follow the numbered steps - No 1 remove trim - Number 2 is missing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Any help or pointers will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

[Gaz GT2]

Are you trying to seperate the plastic from the metal back plate?

I did this once, it involved sore thumbs and a lot of swearing, it does prise off with a large sturdy flat head screw driver. Ideally you need two people, one to use the screw driver and one to hold the bit just unclipped by said screw driver. Thats where the sore thumbs happen.

[Old Mac Rocco]

Are you trying to seperate the plastic from the metal back plate?

Spot on.

Want to hammerite the metal back plate so that it lasts longer than me.
There is only minimal rust showing and I would like to keep it that way.
Unfortunately having tried to undo some bolts and only managed to slacken them before they started turning I NOW have to go all the way.
Why did I start this !!!!!!!!!!!

[Gaz GT2]

It is an absolute b**ch of a job. Pure persistance and anger prevailed in the end.

I'm free tomorrow if you need a helping hand.

[DT1]

Even with the wedges removed the clips will hold the trim on so they need to be squeezed to fit through the holes.

You did notice that there are additional clips along the top and bottom of the trim as well? These need to be forced apart.

So you need to squeeze the clips in the middle whilst at the same time forcing the top and bottom of the trim apart...and at the same time lifting the metal frame.

I did it during the summer using some slivers of wood to push the top and bottom clips away from the metalwork.

You can do it yourself but it's easier with someone else.

Once a few come out the rest are relatively easy.

[Old Mac Rocco]

Thanks for the offer but tomorrow I have my Taxi sign up.
Early morning pick eldest daughter up from health centre, mid morning drop wife at middle daughters to babysit, late afternoon pick up middle daughter from work, late late afternoon pick up grandson and take him to SYJO (Scottish Youth Jazz Orchestra) practice in Glasgow wait 2 hours and take him home about 21:00 and the rest of the day is ALL MINE !!!!!!!
Thanks anyway brute force and ignorance is one of my better attributes.
Where's the f-----g hammer ????????

PS Thanks DT1 didn't notice your post went up while I was answering Gaz GT2.
PPS May have wheel caps for you but you may need to refurbish.
PPPS Thanks for the PM.

[DT1]

No problem.

Refurbish? Nothing that a coat of paint wouldn't cure? Thanks for looking.

[Tim_R]

A heat gun/hair dryer to warm the plastic clips that you have taken the wedges out from so they can be squeezed together carefully. Start at one end and start to prize the metal backing from the plastic cover. With care it should separate fairly easily. I had to do this on my rebuild as I needed to straighten out the metal work while the plastic was painted.

[MacColl]

Hello mate,

I've done this with Golf and Polo bumpers. As said a bit of heat is the key or that phenomenon called summer sun.

I seem to remember using pliers very carefully covered with a rag, getting a sore hand and swearing Another rust proofing option would be a cavity wax aerosol with a probe to spray the rust proofing into the covered area.

After the kind of work we've faced with my car (have you seen the new rust ) you will prevail

[Old Mac Rocco]

It took me longer to set up a bench in the computer room than it took to do the job.
All you need is a bundle of these.

Wedges from a bit of scrap wood.



A bundle of these, 40/50mm lengths of broken hacksaw blades .
Minimum of eight to do one side.

A sharp screwdriver, s--t no piccy.

After carefully removing the wedges carefully either prise with screwdriver or squeeze with pliers until you can drop one of the hacksaw blade parts in between the clip and the metal plate.
Do this top and bottom on each clip and this stops the clip opening up and catching the metal plate again.

Sorry but a bit blurred.

Insert wooden wedges along top and bottom of bumper as required.


Insert screwdriver at outside clip and gently prise apart, the metal back plate should slide over the hacksaw blades and off.

Repeat on other side.
If you don't do it in ten minutes your not trying.

Only bit of bad news is that the nuts that were turning have domed heads on the other side but they are out now but it took me more than 10 minutes
Metal back plate now in the shed and had it's first coat of Hammerite , new bolts being bought on Monday.

Thanks for all your help and advice it all helped to suss out a plan of attack to make life easier.
Thanks again.

[ThomasD]

I'd like to thank everyone who posted the tips in this thread - I replaced my rear cover tonight and having read this first, the job was easy. The hair dryer and hacksaw blade tips were critical for me - I'm sure without them, I would have snapped those almost 30 year old clips right off. I planned to hold onto the original bumper cover so I really didn't want to ruin it in the removal process. Thanks again!!

Tom

[Nate]

If you want an easier method, drive to Naples, forget they drive on the wrong side of the road, pull out of a side street the wrong way so that a bus swerved round you, just clipping the very corner of the bumper. Hey presto, plastic cover removed!

[dozzum]

Good write up. Deserves to be in the tech section.

[ThomasD]

If you want an easier method, drive to Naples, forget they drive on the wrong side of the road, pull out of a side street the wrong way so that a bus swerved round you, just clipping the very corner of the bumper. Hey presto, plastic cover removed!

I definitely don't have the skill to get it just right like that - I'd probably get the bus to hit the front of my car, and then not only would I still need to remove the back cover, I'd need to remove the front cover as well (which would of course be embedded in the radiator, which would be embedded in the engine block...)

Yes, this definitely should be put somewhere its easy to find - these are great tips.