naitsirhc

So the bracket/nut that holds the front plate/plugs fell into the bumper. I took the bumper off this weekend to reinsert the bracket into the inside of the bumper. Of course when I went to put the bumper back on, it's not flush on the passenger side where the headlight/fender/bumper meet. There may be a gap under the headlight too.

The brackets that attach the bumper to the fender are in place as are the bolts. It seems that the passenger side of the bumper is a little "off". On the passenger side where the hood meets the bumper/fender it appears that the bumper is a little closer to the hood than on the drivers side as well. From what I saw in the service manual, there are hooks on the fender that attach to the bumper where the bracket/bolt meet as well. I plan to take the bumper off to fix the issue asap but wanted to see if anyone else had some insight.

There are a few threads about this, but most of the results have been due to the bumper/fender brackets missing. Mine are in place. The driver side headlight/bumper/fender seems to be flush. When re-installing the bumper, the black plastic pieces go under the clips on the bottom on the headlight brackets correct? Seems like they may require a forceful push as well.

freq

take your time and good luck.

naitsirhc

I got the bumper back on and the fitment is a bit better. There's still a gap where the front of the headlight meets the bumper. Looking at the bumper picture attached, can anyone tell me where the "Hook" labeled and blown up in "C" goes? Is the hook supposed to be on the fender and attaches to the bumper and/or vice versa?

Can anyone help me out and provide a picture of the Hook that's shown in that diagram? I'm just not seeing it on the actual car...(unless it't the L bracket with the 10mm bolt)

Topless in Reno

See Pic 5 in this thread for a view of the "HOOK" -- you can see it sticking out a little bit from the fender panel.

ETA: Here, I'll just point it out to you (ignore the red oval and yellow arrows because they're from the other thread):

Orjinal

Those hooks(I think they're called bumper stiffners) bolt into the bumper first. The bumper needs to be off the car since you can't really access them from the behind. Fit the bumper on(with the hooks tightly fitted to the bumper) and loosely fit the other bolts that attach the hooks to the fenders. Now you would push in/pull up to align the bumper with the headlight/fender, once everything looks good tighten the bolts while with keeping pressure on the bumper with your other hand so the bumper doesn't move around.


If your hooks are bent or out of shape you'll have a really hard time aligning the bumper. One of mine was bent due to an accident and it was actually pushing the bumper up as I tightened the bolt.

naitsirhc

I took the attached picture from another thread on here about a similar issue. The picture is the bumper stiffener correct? Is the piece on the left side in the picture the hook or the bracket that attaches to the hook on the fender?

Orjinal

Yea that's the bumper stiffner. The nipple on the end of it is alignment related. If I recall correctly it goes through a slot on the bumper it self. Once the stiffner is properly secured to the bumper, all you have to do is bolt it to the fender while keeping it aligned with your other hand.

freq

These are the "hooks", no? red circles.

naitsirhc

That's what I was thinking too...

The bracket on the stiffener looks like it's different than the "hook" in Reno's picture. That hook looks like its a part of the fender that attaches to the bumper.

Orjinal

That is correct. There is a nipple on the fender itself and on the bumper stiffner.