Front Bumper Brackets

[9810588]

I took the front bumper off to change headlight Xenon bulbs. Three hours job to change light bulbs, partly because I don't have a hoist so I needed to take front wheels off and back on to access the bumper screws and nuts.

Two metal brackets, the ones in front of the radiator, came off clean. No sign of impact anywhere. Looks like they were only glued to the bumper and just came off.

Anyone else seen this happen? Any recommendation on what glue I should use to reattach them?

I already put my bumper back on and it feels pretty solid without these two brackets on.

 

[Jamesv6]

I think [mention=4264,#0000FF]rustedandrotten[/mention] knows about glues.

 

[rustedandrotten]

Best glue is Henkel's 9399 2 part flexible as it has 200% elasticity. The straps are only location guides really when fitting the bumper and holding it in place when you assemble it.

 

[9810588]

Thanks for that. I’ll leave the brackets alone for now.

A bit of work to get the bumper off without a hoist so I won’t do that if there’s no real need.

 

[rustedandrotten]

Good jack and stands work best, once you have wheels off and the splash guards removed it is pretty straight forwards, biggest problem is rust on the boltings between the wings and bumper, (when I replace these I use plastic numberplate bolts as these will shear in an impact and possibly save you cracking a wing :approve Remove alloy undertray, bolts at back and self tappers along the front. Once the tray is off you will see screws holding air duct, these go right through into the bottom of the lower grille, assuming your two metal strips are detached you only need to undo the fixings under the bonnet then slide the bumper forwards being careful not to damage the polystyrene moulding attached to the back of the bumper that goes into the subframe. Easy peasy!! [smilie=yay.gif] :approve:
You can leave the splash guards in place but I take them off to clean the arches and apply Anticorrosive. Always worth greasing all fittings when replacing so that things come apart again in the future!

 

[9810588]

Good suggestion replacing the screws with plastic ones. Will do that next time the bumper is off.

:approve: