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so i need to get this bumper cover off my car, and im absolutely clueless as to how it comes off. What i thought were bolts/screws or something of that nature, instead appear to be some sort of plastic rivet. anyone have any suggestions for me before i get belligerent and break something?
They're a pushtab thing. I can't remember 100% off the top of my head, but I remember using a long screwdriver to pry them out. They're like plastic version of drywall anchors, if you're firmiliar with those.. they go in skinny, but then when you push them flat into the base the screw part buldges out and secures it in place. There's like, what, 6 or 7 of them ontop of the bumper. There's one bolt on each side of the top of the bumper, it's a bracket that bolts to the fender. The bracket is rivetted onto the bumper, so you'll have to drill the rivet out and then either rivet it back onto the new bumper, or do what I did and just grab a small bolt and nut and secure it that way.
On the bottom of the bumper, you'll have to unbolt those splash guards. Make sure you have WD-40 on hand, as a good 75% of those bolts were rusted in place to the metal clip that they thread into on the opposite side of the plastic bumper. With mine, twisting the bolt made the clip twist and tore the shit out of the bottom of my bumper. I didn't care because I was trashing it anyway, but if you're not trashing yours, I'd say use a lot of wd-40 and try and break the rust bond from the metal clip. Once the splash guards are removed, there's like 4 more of those pushtab anchor things underneath that go in around where the radiator is. There's also two bolts on the inside of each fender. You'll have to unbolt your turnsignals, too.
That's all i can remember from the top of my head.
Don't use bolts and nuts to reinstall it. . . The pushbutton clip things are really cheap, but also very effective. You should be able to find them at autozone or some place like that. I can get you some from my dad's work (GM Dealership body shop)
ok brian.. .what in the world did you pry on to get those damn things out!!!??? The bumper will break long before those retard clips come out. Im thinking about taking the snippers to them because i am absolutely clueless! i even wrapped wire line around the head of one, and wrapped the wire around the lever for my floor jack and yanked away at that. nothing!! the wire that was wrapped around about 20 times comes undone before the damn rivet does anything. the only reason im not in disbelieft is because every other aspect of the car seems to be engineered to be impossible to work on...
It's not impossible to work on, you just have to know how to work on it. . . lol The clips are easy. You use a pair of side-cutters, not to cut, but to pry. Use the sidecutters to grab the top of the pushbutton, and pry upwards. It's not rocket science. They are also reuseable, as long as you don't destroy them. GM uses them because they are cheap and easy to use. It takes less than a second to push in a pushbutton, but it takes much longer to do the same job using a bolt. See? It's their way of cutting production time and cost. Very smart method, actually. lol Just hard for the average joe to do anything to the car in his driveway anymore.
Don't use bolts and nuts to reinstall it. . . The pushbutton clip things are really cheap, but also very effective. You should be able to find them at autozone or some place like that. I can get you some from my dad's work (GM Dealership body shop)
I was only talking about replacing the one rivet that's on each of the metal brackets that go from the bumper to the fender next to the headlights. If you don't have a pop rivet tool, a simple nut and bolt is pretty easy and effective... especially since chances are you'll have extra bolts around the garage.
But yeh, do like Nick said and use dike cutters to pry those plastic rivets. They do pry up, just takes some work.
Last edited by meissen; March 5th, 2006, 10:58 PM.
Yeah, and the cutters are really just the right shape for getting under the edge of the button on there. . . Being the son of a bodyman has some advantages, don't you think? lol
i dont know what kind of rivets you guys are talking about, but these things WERE NOT pryable... period. the plastic that the things were mounted to was going to give before the rivet. I decided it wasnt worth it and introduced them to the dremel. i was done with it 30 seconds later
yep, thats what was on there. and i definitely heard the plastic that the bumper was mounted to cracking before there was any sign of movement from the rivet i was prying on with mulitple screwdrivers.
wasnt worth my time... id rather just go buy new ones than have a trashed bumper cover and mount bracket.
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