How does one remove the front bumper

[israndy]

Having to redo the film spray on my front bumper, this time I don't wanna mask and try to spray at odd angles. I wanna remove the bumper and spray it on a pair of saw horses.

I have taken out all the clips and 10mm bolts and yet I am unable to remove the bumper. It seems to be held at either side of the frunk where the body panels come past the headlights. Has anyone done this yet?

Video on Imgur

I do see that there appears to be a bolt that I cannot get to, perhaps running thru the black piece that can be seen around both the metal body and the plastic bumper. Not sure if that needs to be removed because it is completely inaccessible.

Ideas??

-Randy

 

[BLKMDL3]

Having to redo the film spray on my front bumper, this time I don't wanna mask and try to spray at odd angles. I wanna remove the bumper and spray it on a pair of saw horses.

View attachment 324515

I have taken out all the clips and 10mm bolts and yet I am unable to remove the bumper. It seems to be held at either side of the frunk where the body panels come past the headlights. Has anyone done this yet?

Video on Imgur

I do see that there appears to be a bolt that I cannot get to, perhaps running thru the black piece that can be seen around both the metal body and the plastic bumper. Not sure if that needs to be removed because it is completely inaccessible.

Ideas??

-Randy

Which spray film? Want to do that before my 2k mile Road trip

 

[israndy]

I am using 3M 90000 Paint Defender Spray Film

I bought 9 cans before they stopped making it

-Randy

 

[Asymmetry]

Brave, I wouldn't touch the bumper due to the sensor array.

Do you have access to a workshop manual?

 

[Yonki]

For those of you that don't have the inclination to watch the video, this is the only part of the front bumper we couldn't separate from the rest of the car:

The plastic bumper is attached to the steel fender via some sort of black plastic piece in-between. The black connection piece appears to be screwed onto the fender, and has two "prongs" that go into the bumper and latch We have to assume there's an elegant way to disconnect the bumper, but we couldn't figure out how to release the offer.

 

[dennisvab]

Randy, here is a pic of a bumper for sale on eBay. Take a look at the part that is not coming out for you. It looks like you need to pull that part of the bumper up and out.

 

[israndy]

There are two square holes in that part that match the place where I am unable to get the bumper apart. There may be a tool that goes over the 4 (2 per side) square pins and makes them release the clips. Just could not do it after a half a day of trying. Everything else on the car has been SO EASY to take apart it is shocking that I cannot figure this out.

-Randy

 

[Yonki]

Randy, here is a pic of a bumper for sale on eBay. Take a look at the part that is not coming out for you. It looks like you need to pull that part of the bumper up and out.

Thanks, that looks like what we imagined it would. We just couldn't figure out how to release the two clips in the square prongs that go through those square holes. There was a release on the top of each prong that we could get to, but there was a complementary release on the bottom that we just couldn't get to. Hard to even imagine a custom tool that would work.

We must be missing something simple, because as Randy said everything else was so well-designed and easy to disassemble/reassemble.

 

[albertkuo]

Thanks, that looks like what we imagined it would. We just couldn't figure out how to release the two clips in the square prongs that go through those square holes. There was a release on the top of each prong that we could get to, but there was a complementary release on the bottom that we just couldn't get to. Hard to even imagine a custom tool that would work.

We must be missing something simple, because as Randy said everything else was so well-designed and easy to disassemble/reassemble.

I just took off my front bumper and found these points are just clips without an explicit release — you just need to pry the bumper off. I found it easiest to use plastic trim removal prying tools, insert it between the two prongs and slowly work at it. Also helped to pull the bottom of the bumper out and in. It was a little nerve-racking and the plastic did bend a little but it survived and can go back on fine. I attached a picture of the clips so you can see what needs to be done.

 

[israndy]

Thanks. I never did add the video I took:

Are you saying you came from the underside and worked a plastic tool in there? I spoke to an employee at the Service Center and was told you just tug it quickly. Scary.

-Randy