Bumper alignment tips, tricks, possible hardware needed?

[Nate047]

Hey guys, I picked my car up from the body shop yesterday after having been without it since October. Long story short, they got the wrong bumper cover and decided to update my front bumper from early with the metal carrier to late with the kevlar carrier, without asking me first , and were ultimately not able to get my bumpers (front OR rear) aligned properly. I reached the point of frustration and wasted time and money with the shop that I had to just say fuck it, take the car, and try and finish this on my own and with the help of a friend. Thread with details is here: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...-having-issues

I have never had the bumpers off of this car before myself so I don't really know what hardware is in there, what commonly wears out, and what other issues may be causing these gaps. I got one suggestion in my other thread so far, so in addition to these for the rear bumper:

Pre 6/2002 is
2 x 51124015053

What clips and fasteners I might need to order before I jump in? I would rather order stuff I don't need and return it than have to do this a couple times. Here are some photos and a walk around video showing each corner.

Note: to avoid confusion these photos and video were NOT taken at the body shop who did the shitty work, I took these at the very excellent and professional wheel/tire/accessories shop Wheel Enhancement.

Video: https://www.flickr.com/photos/155556.../shares/YqK06Q

















All said and done, the car does present pretty well and I'm glad to have it back. Just want the panels to fit like factory which I don't think is too much to ask!

[antknee]

the way that front bumper is sitting, there's def something behind it thats keeping it from going all the way forward. Are the front bumper shocks shorter on the euro bumper vs the standard one? that might be why its pushed forward. Also check where the washer tank is....that may or may not be hitting the back side of the bumper on the passenger side. Best thing to do is probably peel the wheel well liners on both sides, and take a peek in there to see.

remove the passenger corner light and you will have a better view as to why that lower headlight trim piece isn't clipping in. If i remember correctly it just hooks on one side, and clips on the other. Yours doesn't look like its hooking into place. It also looks like the corner light is sunken in, and is preventing the painted trim piece from clipping in.

The rear bumper sliders are prob sagging (pretty common). That should be easily remedied with replacement ones.

[Nate047]

the way that front bumper is sitting, there's def something behind it thats keeping it from going all the way forward. Are the front bumper shocks shorter on the euro bumper vs the standard one? that might be why its pushed forward. Also check where the washer tank is....that may or may not be hitting the back side of the bumper on the passenger side. Best thing to do is probably peel the wheel well liners on both sides, and take a peek in there to see.

remove the passenger corner light and you will have a better view as to why that lower headlight trim piece isn't clipping in. If i remember correctly it just hooks on one side, and clips on the other. Yours doesn't look like its hooking into place. It also looks like the corner light is sunken in, and is preventing the painted trim piece from clipping in.

The rear bumper sliders are prob sagging (pretty common). That should be easily remedied with replacement ones.

Awesome thank you for the info. There actually isn't a washer bottle on the car right now, because they could not make it fit. They even got the bottle for the face lifted car and still could not work it out.