Does this look like a job a relative novice can do without incident? I don't want to screw anything up
The way to look at it is, if you do it you are no longer a novice! Either you own the car, or the car owns you!
You've got a garage and driveway space, so no reason why you couldn't do a good job of it. Put down some rugs or towels so the bumper doesn't get scraped, take your time, and don't pull or tug anything too hard. Start early - check you've got the right tools, jack it up and remove the front wheels to give you better access/visibility. I always jack from the front towing eye (its pretty deep in under there), then wang 2 stands under the front sill jacking point areas, quick and easy but you need a pretty low profile jack and a long handle. Quicker than jacking the two rear ones separately.
Just make sure when you put the bumper back, the bumper isn't lifted too much, the bumper might end up rubbing the paint off the wing, then rust will creep in some years down the road.
An assistant might help with removal/refitting - although i tend to find the wife is usually reluctant in these tasks , standing there arms crossed 'Just tell me what you want me to do' , interrupting me whilst explaining what we are trying to do lol (i'm sure we have all had that!)
Otherwise, it looks pretty straight forward to me.
My rear bumper had really bad sag and still has some
I wouldn't touch Your front bumper it's soooooo minor i wouldn't have noticed it.
Cheers
Toadster
5th gen front bumper sag
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2020 7:00 pm
by ATR84
Cheers for your comments guys.
@RattyMcClelland & @toadster I know it doesn't look much in the pics, it's a bit worse in person once you notice it but admittedly it's not that bad.
@@Scott560 you make a good point and I have got better at trying things myself recently so I have a bit more confidence than I used to. At the end of the day it's just nuts and bolts I guess. I think I will give it a go at somepoint
5th gen front bumper sag
Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 8:35 am
by ATR84
So, I had a go at this yesterday.
However, once I got the bumper off I realised I didn't have an extension long enough to reach the bolt inside the bumper bar. So, as it was off anyway, I decided to try the adjustment bolts on the bar instead of the washer hack Keanu Reeves suggested. Although he does mention the adjustment bolts in the video also.
The main problem with this job is that after every adjustment you make you need to put the bumper back on to test fit. This requires 2 people, so I was constantly calling the girlfriend out, she wasn't that impressed after a while
The other problem is that I have mild OCD and this type of job is a nightmare because I wanted to get it 100% perfect. Nevertheless I have managed to improve the situation I think.
Before:
After:
Do these gaps looks acceptable to people? What are everybody else's like? Be good to know what is "normal". I can still see the gap is very slightly larger towards the front of the car, once I have the necessary extension, I could take it off again and try the washer hack, not sure if it is worth it or not. I measured the gaps before and after. Before I had gaps ranging from 3mm to 6mm, after it was 2mm to 2.5mm/3mm. So definite improvement.
That's nothing.
