Front reflector delete, Race Ramps, and underbody repair (with pics)

[r4gs]

shipping costs would be quite high indeed. i do agree concerning the amber reflectors on the front bumper. they stand out a lot and just look out of place. the rear lighted reflectors aren't actually half bad, but i'm getting rid of them as well as i absolutely adore the clean, constant finish.

[dekaliber]

Since the rear reflectors are functional and the red matches the tail lights, they don't bother me too much. (But if somehow a Euro rear bumper somehow landed on my doorstep, I would probably install it!)

[EmRdstr]

Originally Posted by dekaliber

Yes, and the part numbers are correct. They are a BITCH to take off -- you have to pretty much completely destroy them. I opted to cut the tabs with a razorblade to remove them to avoid bending the fender metal.

Hello, Dekaliber.

Yours is the only post I found addressing the bumper-to-fender brackets (51117165179/180). The jpeg below illustrates my problem.

Is this similar damage to what you had experienced? I took it to my BMW dealer who couldn't make head or tail of it and suggested a body shop. My guess is that the left and right bracket supports are cracked and their replacement would do the job. I am, however, at a loss to imagine how they'd attach. Does the bumper end simply 'click' into the brackets?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[inTgr8r]

Originally Posted by shakib

love the reflector deletes. Did you do the backs? Also as Ron Styger mentions, they have to weld a plastic piece in the void of the reflector. My guy used my old bumper and cut it into circles. I think this mod is one of the best "aesthetic" mods money can buy (specially if you have a reason to replace the bumper ie, bracket holes, scratched up fangs)

Weld as in "glue" or "heat" ????

There is also a 2 part urethane bumper filler available.

[Ron Stygar]

Originally Posted by inTgr8r

Weld as in "glue" or "heat" ????

There is also a 2 part urethane bumper filler available.

You have to use a plastic welder.

[Ron Stygar]

Originally Posted by EmRdstr

Hello, Dekaliber.

Yours is the only post I found addressing the bumper-to-fender brackets (51117165179/180). The jpeg below illustrates my problem.

Is this similar damage to what you had experienced? I took it to my BMW dealer who couldn't make head or tail of it and suggested a body shop. My guess is that the left and right bracket supports are cracked and their replacement would do the job. I am, however, at a loss to imagine how they'd attach. Does the bumper end simply 'click' into the brackets?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...16&postcount=4

[dekaliber]

Originally Posted by EmRdstr

Hello, Dekaliber.

Yours is the only post I found addressing the bumper-to-fender brackets (51117165179/180). The jpeg below illustrates my problem.

Is this similar damage to what you had experienced? I took it to my BMW dealer who couldn't make head or tail of it and suggested a body shop. My guess is that the left and right bracket supports are cracked and their replacement would do the job. I am, however, at a loss to imagine how they'd attach. Does the bumper end simply 'click' into the brackets?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

The bumper-fender connection on my car unfortunately isn't factory-perfect either and is a little "wavy" although not as bad as what you show in your picture. How did it happen in your case?

In your case, it almost looks like the 3 plastic tabs sticking up from the bumper have not been pressed all the way in. Try pushing it in while holding the fender with your other hand -- the tabs should "catch" into the correponding spots at the bottom of the plastic bracket. It's possible that the bracket has a crack behind the bumper which is causing it to flex, making it impossible for the tabs to be pushed completely in.

[EmRdstr]

Originally Posted by Ron Stygar

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...16&postcount=4

Thanks for that. I had seen that diagram. I'm just wondering how the bumper end would be attached to the newly installed support bracket (should it snap upward into place?, for example). Right now pushing the bumper end up toward the fender doesn't engage, which led me to believe that the bracket itself is cracked and distorted (my jpeg shows the bent "rail" on the bracket).

I'm sure I'll figure it out when I get the bumper and bracket off (which appears to be a somewhat trivial exercise).

Perhaps I could solicit the name of a reliable online parts retailer for the two brackets?

Thanks again. This forum is a great resource.

[dekaliber]

Originally Posted by EmRdstr

Thanks for that. I had seen that diagram. I'm just wondering how the bumper end would be attached to the newly installed support bracket (should it snap upward into place?, for example). Right now pushing the bumper end up toward the fender doesn't engage, which led me to believe that the bracket itself is cracked and distorted (my jpeg shows the bent "rail" on the bracket).

I'm sure I'll figure it out when I get the bumper and bracket off (which appears to be a somewhat trivial exercise).

Perhaps I could solicit the name of a reliable online parts retailer for the two brackets?

Thanks again. This forum is a great resource.

The bumper is pushed into the car (orthogonal to bumper plane) and the plastic catches fall into these recesses at the bottom (parallel to ground) of the clip. It's most likely that there's a crack that's creating enough give in the bracket that pushing the bumper in pushes the bracket in as well, thus not engaging. HTH.

[EmRdstr]

Originally Posted by dekaliber

The bumper-fender connection on my car unfortunately isn't factory-perfect either and is a little "wavy" although not as bad as what you show in your picture. How did it happen in your case?

In your case, it almost looks like the 3 plastic tabs sticking up from the bumper have not been pressed all the way in. Try pushing it in while holding the fender with your other hand -- the tabs should "catch" into the correponding spots at the bottom of the plastic bracket. It's possible that the bracket has a crack behind the bumper which is causing it to flex, making it impossible for the tabs to be pushed completely in.

It happened on a concrete parking lot stop. The bumper fangs cleared the stop but the steel stud holding the stop in the ground protruded out of the top and caught under the bumper. I think trying to back up might have (probably) cracked the brackets (I ended up lifting the front of the car to free it). On a later occasion I hit a piece of freeway debris and took a chunk out of the bumper. The bumper was replaced, but I'm sure the installer didn't bother with replacement brackets.

I've tried the method you suggest with no luck.

Many thanks for the response and helpfulness.

[XMetal]

Looks like these two support pieces (circled in the attached picture) may have broken off, which is the reason why the 2 tabs can't stay in the "catch". I did replaced that piece a few weeks ago on my coupe, without completely removing the bumper...what a pain in the butt it was in breaking away the old piece. Just have to be very patient with it. I think all of us will become experts at replacing the front bumper trim pieces sooner or later

[EmRdstr]

Well, I looked at this in the morning light. I took out the top wheel well rivet and observed the bracket as I moved the bumper end up and down. It has been my understanding that the bracket is rigidly attached to the fender lip and should remain stationary with bumper movement, but the bracket moves with the bumper, which suggests to me that the bracket has a flexible crack along the rail line (hence the "wavy" rail in my jpeg).

Does this sound reasonable?

Many thanks.

[EmRdstr]

Well, my BMW dealer actually had the brackets this morning, so I bought them. I'll take a few deep breaths and perhaps a few days before I tackle it.

I'll eventually post picks of the presumably damaged brackets so that others might see what can occur with these things.

[EmRdstr]

Okay. Bit the bullet and did it. Detailed explanation later, but the new support brackets are in. Now I'm just wondering about the routing of the headlamp washer hose around the front bumper, since I'm ready to slide the bumper on and snap the ends into place.

Many thanks.

[dekaliber]

Originally Posted by EmRdstr

Okay. Bit the bullet and did it. Detailed explanation later, but the new support brackets are in. Now I'm just wondering about the routing of the headlamp washer hose around the front bumper, since I'm ready to slide the bumper on and snap the ends into place.

Many thanks.

The hose routes through a number of clips on the bumper itself -- unfortunately I didn't take a picture of what the inside of the bumper looks like. You might just have to mess with the hose a bit to have it stuffed back in a way that doesn't kink it. I'm not sure I can provide any specific tips for doing so...

I had half a mind to remove the nozzles since I actually unplugged the electrical connection for them. After verifying that they worked, I had no interest in using them. While they might clean the headlights okay (though I've never had an occasion where the headlights are dirty enough to warrant cleaning), it gets your hood all dirty, which seems counterproductive.

[EmRdstr]

Thanks. I put the hose back in the clips and routed it around the arc above the lower oil cooler grille. It's not going anywhere.

Anyway, the bumper looks great, the new clip rails are not perfectly straight between the bumper and the fender, but that seems to be normal from what I've seen (they dip a little towards the front, probably because there's not a connecting tang in that area, just a post). In any event, it looks really good — certainly good enough to not bug me anymore.

I'll note my experiences with this later. Beer comes first.

Many thanks again for everyone's help.

[EmRdstr]

According to others who've done this, the difficult part of this operation seems to be getting the old brackets off. What I did was gently slide an oiled box-cutter blade between the fender and the bracket rail. Tap the protruding edge of the blade with a hammer a couple of times and the tabs holding the bracket to the fender pop right off (careful with that paint, Eugene).

Hope this helps others contemplating the work.

[dekaliber]

Originally Posted by EmRdstr

According to others who've done this, the difficult part of this operation seems to be getting the old brackets off. What I did was gently slide an oiled box-cutter blade between the fender and the bracket rail. Tap the protruding edge of the blade with a hammer a couple of times and the tabs holding the bracket to the fender pop right off (careful with that paint, Eugene).

I pretty much did the same thing with a razor blade. I didn't see any other way to do it. The TIS claims that you can snap the whole thing off, but even after I broke off most of the plastic, the top part was still firmly clipped on.

[EmRdstr]

I think it also bears mentioning that the tab (marked "3" in XMetal's graphic above) needs to be behind the metal plate hanging from the fender. I Nearly missed this when installing. So the deal is to slide the bracket up into the fender with that tab engaging behind the plate, rather than angling the bracket into place.

[Ron Stygar]

Originally Posted by dekaliber

The TIS claims that you can snap the whole thing off,

Where does it show that?

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...16&postcount=4

[dekaliber]

Originally Posted by Ron Stygar

Where does it show that?

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...16&postcount=4

I guess that was my interpretation of "destroy catch (4) completely" -- I figured you could bent the whole piece out and the 3 catches would snap. Unfortunately, only everything under the horizontal piece snapped.

[mlawfl11]

dekaliber, where did you order the bumper from? I cant seem to find it for that price. Thanks.