Front Bumper Removal Woes

sweet97m3 · 03-19-2006, 12:22 PM

A few months ago the bumper mounted headlight washer nozzle securing nut gave way (it's plastic) on the Carrera. Purchased a couple replacements (might as well do both sides right?) at the dealership. Courtesy of a few Pelicans realized that I needed to take the front bumper off to actually get at the washer line connection that I needed to replace the nut. What started as an assumed PITA project turned out to be even more than I imagined. The bumper removal process in the Bentley's manual seemed do-able, with the biggest obstacle getting the nuts off the studs that secure the bellows to the bumper. Working in the wheelwell is lots of fun...the driver's side went fairly well, the passenger's side..not so. Removed the upper nut with difficulty then realized that the lower nut cannot be removed due to a piece of solid steel vertically mounted between the oil cooler and the bellows itself. It is situated such that there isn't room to back the nut off the stud without hitting the steel. What a design! No mention of this in the Bentley's! Good grief, do I need to cut this stud off to remove the bumper?

Anyone else tackled this successfully?

fred cook · fred cook's Garage

You probably don't want to try to cut the stud. You may have to loosen the oil cooler brackets to be able to push the offending metal out of the way.

sweet97m3 · 03-19-2006, 12:37 PM

Thanks Fred. Hmmm...can't really see what the metal is secured to. Photo of offending metal piece with lower part of stud visible. The end of stud actually fits between the groove in the metal piece.

porschenut · 12:51 PM

You don't have to remove the bellows from the bumper! Take it off WITH the bumper. Just remove the screws holding on the little trim piece that is in the foreground of your picture. This trim piece and the bellows will stay attached to the bumper when you remove it.

The big metal bracket is aluminum actually, and it is secured to the inside of the bumper. I've had my front bumper off to replace the white nuts as well, and I still don't understand the purpose of that bracket.

BTW, you may have to really yank hard to get the bumper to come off even after all the fasteners are removed. Mine wouldn't budge until I applied gorilla force. Getting it back on was easier, but it still didn't exactly fall into place.

Klax · 03-19-2006, 12:47 PM

I've done this on an 87 car and was able to get around the piece of metal. I cant remember exactly how I did it, but I rember haveing to get a couple of socket wrench extentions and a wobble joint to get to one of the bolt heads on that side. I also have a mini socket wrench, like 3 inches i might have used. Hopefully this helps. I didn't have to cut anything and that peice of metal you speak of is attached to bumper and I doubt you can get to it while on the car.

sweet97m3 · 03-19-2006, 12:55 PM

Dave, I would love to try that but isn't that where the fender joins the lower valence? It looks like a lot more than a trim piece, you mean remove the entire lower valence with the bumper?

sweet97m3 · 03-19-2006, 01:01 PM

From everything I can see the stud will remain attached to the fender versus the valence. Not sure I see the way on your appraoch Dave, although I am willing to try anything at this point. I can't get a wrench on the nut at all, not even a crecent very well and there isn't room to turn it.

I could cut the end of the stud out so there is less room needed to back it off, but I still can't get anything on it to turn it.

sweet97m3 · 03-19-2006, 01:49 PM

Dave, looks like you are right after all, there is a trim piece behind the bellows that joins the fender and the valence. I'll try and detach it at the top and bottom and go from there. Will have to wait a few days...I'm afraid my frustration factor calls for a cold beer and dinner right now....

Thanks for the thoughts again guys. The Pelicans come through again...I swear that this is really a support group masquerading as a tech forum!

spiff · 03-19-2006, 02:16 PM

I just went through this as well. I've never cursed so much at doing something I thought would be relatively straight forward. The aluminum piece on the passenger side I believe is to protect the oil cooler in case of crash. It is rigidly secured to the bumper. The easiest way I found to pull the bumper is to remove the screws holding the extension onto the fender (should be 2 on top and two on bottom. The rubber bellows simply bolts to the extension in the back and the bumper in the front. When you pull the bumper, the bellows and extension come with it. Depending on how rusted/seized the studs/nuts are on the bellows, you might either snap them off or turn them in the rubber, so you'd need new ones. It's better to leave the assembly whole and attached to the bumper.
Be careful though, you'll want to tape up the edges of the extension as to not scratch the fender when you're pulling the bumper. Another trick is if you pull the lense covers from the front of the bumper, you can carefully stick a screwdriver/pry bar between the bumper and the shock where it attaches. Prying the bumper off to loosen it is MUCH easier than trying to apply brute force to loosen it. Because of the aluminum oxidation, I found it almost impossible to just "pull" the bumper without the above method.

The only saving grace for me in this ordeal was that I knew I never have to put it back on. The C2 replica bumper replacing it is MUCH easier to install/remove.

Good luck. It's not too bad once you figure it out.

porschenut · 03-19-2006, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sweet97m3
Dave, looks like you are right after all, there is a trim piece behind the bellows that joins the fender and the valence. I'll try and detach it at the top and bottom and go from there. Will have to wait a few days...I'm afraid my frustration factor calls for a cold beer and dinner right now....

Thanks for the thoughts again guys. The Pelicans come through again...I swear that this is really a support group masquerading as a tech forum!

Yep, you got it. I didn't describe it very well but Spiff got it spot on. Especially make sure you tape the ends of the extension piece so you don't scratch the fender or valance when you slide the bumper back on.

Here's another tip: While you have the bumper off, now's the time to replace the check valves in the washer lines for the headlight washers. They're cheap, and a common failure point. I also replaced my washer pump which is attached to the front of the washer reservoir. Hopefully I won't have to remove my bumper for anything else for a long, long time.

sweet97m3 · 03-19-2006, 04:21 PM

Are the check valves the "L" shaped vs the "T" shaped? I'm thinking "L".

porschenut · 03-19-2006, 05:25 PM

They're the L shaped ones.