Can't Get Front Bumper Cover Off

[adwebinc]

I've removed screws from underneath, on top, the expansion rivets, screws in the wheel well.

What am I missing?

[8eights]

remove black grilles next to FTP's
remove FTP's
remove screws at wheel wells
remove screws at lower inner air deflector
remove the 4 screws along top edge of upper section

[rogbmw]

Add to the list above the expanding plastic rivets in the brake ducts and from the underneath.

[adwebinc]

I swear I have done all of those.

Black grills removed
FTPs out (broke a tab grrrr)
Wheel wells shields removed
2 screws from each side of wheel wells removed - this is a question area... Even pulled out the wheeler dealer episode to see if I could ensure I was removing the right ones.
Lower inner deflector screws removed
4 screws across top removed
All expansion rivets are out too

The sides seem to be free, but something seems to be holding it in place in the middle front. I'm not home right now, but I believe I removed 6 expansion rivets. Does that sound right?

[rogbmw]

Look underneath, from the bottom. Have you removed the lower half - not the black piece, but the piece from just below the grills on down. It should look like this after the lower portion is removed:




There are 2 screws - one on each side if I remember correctly that attach to the lower radiator shroud. You can see them from below - lay on your back and look up. Did you get those out? If not - it will not come off.

[taylorpatterson]

I swear I have done all of those.

Black grills removed
FTPs out (broke a tab grrrr)
Wheel wells shields removed
2 screws from each side of wheel wells removed - this is a question area... Even pulled out the wheeler dealer episode to see if I could ensure I was removing the right ones.
Lower inner deflector screws removed
4 screws across top removed
All expansion rivets are out too

The sides seem to be free, but something seems to be holding it in place in the middle front. I'm not home right now, but I believe I removed 6 expansion rivets. Does that sound right?

There are screws located behind the middle 'fake' vent pieces of plastic. Perhaps you missed those ones? Here is some documentation that may help:

Article att114
http://taylorpatterson.com/wp-conten.../04/E31Faq.zip

Section 51 11 000
http://taylorpatterson.com/wp-conten...-Equipment.pdf

One of these should get you going...

What are you working on that you want to remove the front bumper?

[Wuffer]

How about the two huge bolts (#12) that attach the plastic nose to the hidden steel reinforcement (#6) behind the plastic bumper? They go thru the front bumper impact absorbers (#10).
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...00&hg=51&fg=15

[adwebinc]

There are screws located behind the middle 'fake' vent pieces of plastic. Perhaps you missed those ones? Here is some documentation that may help:

Article att114
http://taylorpatterson.com/wp-conten.../04/E31Faq.zip

Section 51 11 000
http://taylorpatterson.com/wp-conten...-Equipment.pdf

One of these should get you going...

What are you working on that you want to remove the front bumper?

Ok, thanks. I'll take another look when I get home. I am pulling off because the duct work is a complete mess from PO. I also need to replace or refurb the center grills as the chrome is peeling off.

[BruceM6850750]

Let me know if you need some new chrome center grilles. I got them from someone here, had them in for a while and then went back to black ones.

[adwebinc]

Let me know if you need some new chrome center grilles. I got them from someone here, had them in for a while and then went back to black ones.

Thinking of just switching these to black, but how much for the chrome?

[Dr. T]

Where do you get the black ones?

[Sniff38]

I'm about to throw in the towel on this one. I am trying to remove my front bumper to get it resprayed and I'm experiencing the same problem as the OP. I have all the bolts, screws, connections, trim pieces, FTP lights, etc removed that the DIY guides tell me, and the sides of the bumper cover appear to be free. However I can't seem to get the middle section of the bumper cover to budge. It's still on there solid.

I've referred to Taylor Patterson's guide on the CSi bumper posted above, but it's all text with no accompanying pics so it's hard to follow in places. I've studied this thread ad nauseam (http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...22016-Nose-job), but there seems to be a lot of info missing between the 7th and 8th photos.

Any ideas on how to free the middle section of the bumper? Do I need to separate the lower half of the bumper cover from the top half (members have indicated the entire assembly can be removed as one)? Taylor mentioned removing the lights. Is that necessary? I appreciate your help.

Sean

[taylorpatterson]

You are probably referring to a couple bolts that are screwed in from behind the valance. Reach through one of the vent holds and feel back there for a couple bolts holding the center part to the bumper frame.

[adwebinc]

Sorry Sean, I usually come back and close these out after I solve them. IIRC correctly, Taylor is right about those 2 extra bolts. Once you get each of the side wings clear of the steel mounts, it did take a bit up a tug to finally pull it free. I can relate to how you are feeling though as I was exasperated at the amount of time i spent just trying to get the %$#^#$ bumper off! Good luck.

[Sniff38]

Sorry Sean, I usually come back and close these out after I solve them. IIRC correctly, Taylor is right about those 2 extra bolts. Once you get each of the side wings clear of the steel mounts, it did take a bit up a tug to finally pull it free. I can relate to how you are feeling though as I was exasperated at the amount of time i spent just trying to get the %$#^#$ bumper off! Good luck.

I just don't know. It's like there is no "give" in the center of the bumper directly underneath the kidney grills in the area of the license plate. It's on there really solid. I don't want to try and force it off and wind up breaking something.

When you removed your bumper, which of the 3 approaches did you use: (1) Pull the bumper cover, (2) Pull the bumper cover + steel bumper, or (3) Pull the bumper cover + steel bumper + air ducts? I'd prefer to do option (1) and keep the air ducts where they are. As I said, the sides of the bumper appear to be loose and I got them to slide forward about 1/2" Unfortunately the rest of the bumper cover won't budge because it's anchored in the middle.

Sean

[Sniff38]

You are probably referring to a couple bolts that are screwed in from behind the valance. Reach through one of the vent holds and feel back there for a couple bolts holding the center part to the bumper frame.

Sorry Taylor, I'm not following. Which vent holes are you wanting me to reach through? I removed the two large gold-colored 16mm bolts that were behind the FTP lights. Everything else that I've removed have been plastic rivets, philips-head screws and washers, and small 9 and 10mm hex-head screws.

I was hoping once the two big bolts were removed I'd be able to slide the cover forward. No dice. I figure all the photos we need are in the following thread (http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...22016-Nose-job) so if you wouldn't mind pointing to a photo that would be most helpful.

Sean

[taylorpatterson]

I just don't know. It's like there is no "give" in the center of the bumper directly underneath the kidney grills in the area of the license plate. It's on there really solid. I don't want to try and force it off and wind up breaking something.

When you removed your bumper, which of the 3 approaches did you use: (1) Pull the bumper cover, (2) Pull the bumper cover + steel bumper, or (3) Pull the bumper cover + steel bumper + air ducts? I'd prefer to do option (1) and keep the air ducts where they are. As I said, the sides of the bumper appear to be loose and I got them to slide forward about 1/2" Unfortunately the rest of the bumper cover won't budge because it's anchored in the middle.

Sean

I'm telling you, it's those couple bolts screwed in from the back of the whole bumper. Did you reach behind through the vent holes and feel around for them?

[Sniff38]

I'm telling you, it's those couple bolts screwed in from the back of the whole bumper. Did you reach behind through the vent holes and feel around for them?

That's what I was asking you. Sorry, don't mean to be difficult, but what "vent holes" are you referring to? There's a dozen things I see that fit that description.

Sean

[TedBobo]

That's what I was asking you. Sorry, don't mean to be difficult, but what "vent holes" are you referring to? There's a dozen things I see that fit that description.
Sean

PM phone numbers and "go live".

[taylorpatterson]

The two side vents left/right of the center kidney grills. Orange holes should get you access to the bolts indicated approximately by the yellow arrows.

Good luck!

2017-09-01_14-45-10.png

[Sniff38]

The two side vents left/right of the center kidney grills. Orange holes should get you access to the bolts indicated approximately by the yellow arrows.

Good luck!

2017-09-01_14-45-10.png

Taylor, thanks for the photo. By chance is the CSi bumper constructed differently than the one on an 850i? I have the grills removed as indicated by your orange arrows, but there is no way I can get access to the bolts you are referring to by the yellow arrows. The ducting creates a "wall" between the kidney grills and the side vents.

Any other way to get access to the bolts shown by the yellow arrows? Do I need to remove the radiator (hope not)? This is beyond frustrating.

Sean

[Sniff38]

Never mind, I got it. There are no bolts/screws in the 850i bumper center section (other than the two large gold-tone 16mm bolts I removed). What was causing the center section to hang up were 4 additional black plastic expansion rivets (these are in addition to the six I removed earlier). There was no mention of these in the "nose job" thread. They are very tough to see and you have to squeeze a long screwdriver through the holes for the license plate cover to pop them out. I don't look forward to reinstalling them, but I'm happy since the bumper just slid right out. Now off to paint.

Sean

[taylorpatterson]

Glad you got it worked out. I always keep in mind, if it can be put together, it can be taken apart.... so there always HAS to be a way and with enough beers, you can always find a way. :-)

[Sniff38]

I wanted to close the loop on this and throw out a few pointers (with photos) since I just completed this job and it's fresh in my mind. My experience is with the 850i bumper cover, so I can't comment if there are any differences with the CSi bumper. Hyper has a great write-up on the subject which I won't regurgitate: (http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...22016-Nose-job), but there were a few things I encountered on my vehicle that weren't specifically addressed.

The factory bumper cover consists of three sections (top half, bottom half, and lower spoiler/splitter). I removed the lower spoiler (unpainted black plastic) first and then removed the top and bottom covers as one unit. I only needed the bumper cover off to get re-sprayed, so I did not mess with removing the steel bumper behind the cover or any air intakes (as discussed in Hyper's thread). If you don't need to do anything with the steel bumper or air intakes, my suggestion is don't mess with them and leave them in place.

For me the biggest problem I ran into (which I spoke about in posts #15 and #22 above) was finding out why the center of the cover wasn't budging when I tried to slide it out. It turns out there are 4 black plastic expanding rivets (no bolts, just rivets) in the vicinity of the kidney grills that are very difficult to see (see Photo 1). These 4 rivets secure the middle of the top half cover to the steel bumper. They are very difficult to see and a real challenge to remove if the bottom cover is still attached to the top cover. It can be done, but you have to work a screwdriver in the small holes behind the license plate mounting bracket.

Removing these 4 rivets would have been a breeze if the bottom half cover was out of the way. However at the time I wasn't exactly sure how the bottom and top half covers were joined, so I didn't try to separate them. It turns out the two pieces are only held together by a single hex screw on each end behind the wheel well splash guard (see photo 2) and a bunch of plastic tabs on the bottom half that lock into the top half (see photo 3). Now let me be clear. I still think I would remove it the way I did (top and bottom halves together as one unit) because I am not sure if the plastic locking tabs would start breaking if I tried to pry the bottom cover away from the top cover (others feel free to chime in if you had success). The tabs are easy to release once the entire bumper is off the car because you can get a screwdriver in there to release the tabs from behind. Unfortunately when the cover is on the car you don't have access to these tabs so you're forced to use brute force (which is always dangerous with old plastic).

When reinstalling the bumper covers, I found it easiest to do it in 3 sections.
1) Install the top half first (be sure to affix all the expanding rivets . . . 4 in the middle and 4 on each side for a total of 12)
2) Install the bottom half second (the locking tabs just snap in nice and easy)
3) Install the lower spoiler third

Sean