JupiterBMW
04-13-2013, 07:28 PM
Alright everyone, I feel the need to donate to the forum, and recent work led me to believe that we need this DIY... Firstly, I hear of too many people with complaints of the lower grilles turning white. Also, being able to take the front bumper off helps with a lot of other jobs, so I figure this writeup will pose useful... Anyway, on to the job!
1. Ideally, jack up the car to give yourself more room to work and help relieve strain on your back.
2. In each fender well, just in front of each front wheel, you'll see two 8mm bolts. The outer one needs to be removed on each side. Two bolts in total.
7883
3. On the under side of the bumper, there are two more 8mm bolts (on each side). Both of these need to be removed. The first one is in the small hole in the outer bumper cover (upper middle of the photo) and the other one is where the tab is (mine is already removed, lower middle of the photo). Take both of these out, on both sides, four bolts in total.
7884
4. Now comes the fun part. The big bolts. Holding the actual bumper on (the metal parts that's under your fancy M-tech bumper cover) are two large bolts. They actually have an external Torx head, but I didn't have the right torn socket. Instead, I found that a 6 point 10mm socket works just fine. That being said, there are two of these bolts. You access them from the underside of the bumper. There are large holes in the underside of the bumper. If you look up into those holes, you'll see the bolts. (This is where jacking up the car helps). In the following pic, you can see the holes, just on the inside of my splitters.
7885
5. You will loosen these bolts until they fall loose a little bit (you'll feel them rattle around a little) but they won't fall completely out. The reason for this is because the plastic guides for these bolts have small tabs on them to hold them in place. You have to get a hold of the bolts and actually pull on them to pull them past the small tabs. Once you do this, they will come completely out. Here's the tough part... Even my long reach needle nose pliers weren't able to get up there and grab the bolts. I found the next easiest thing was to push in fairly hard on the lower grille, at the outside edges of it. If you press the sides in until they pop off the tabs, you'll be able to see inside the bumper and see the big bolts, RIGHT there. Then you can just reach in and grab them and pull them down, letting them fall out of the bumper. The following pics show these bolts, the plastic guides with the little keeper tabs, as well as their location in relation to the lower grille.
7886
1. Ideally, jack up the car to give yourself more room to work and help relieve strain on your back.
2. In each fender well, just in front of each front wheel, you'll see two 8mm bolts. The outer one needs to be removed on each side. Two bolts in total.
7883
3. On the under side of the bumper, there are two more 8mm bolts (on each side). Both of these need to be removed. The first one is in the small hole in the outer bumper cover (upper middle of the photo) and the other one is where the tab is (mine is already removed, lower middle of the photo). Take both of these out, on both sides, four bolts in total.
7884
4. Now comes the fun part. The big bolts. Holding the actual bumper on (the metal parts that's under your fancy M-tech bumper cover) are two large bolts. They actually have an external Torx head, but I didn't have the right torn socket. Instead, I found that a 6 point 10mm socket works just fine. That being said, there are two of these bolts. You access them from the underside of the bumper. There are large holes in the underside of the bumper. If you look up into those holes, you'll see the bolts. (This is where jacking up the car helps). In the following pic, you can see the holes, just on the inside of my splitters.
7885
5. You will loosen these bolts until they fall loose a little bit (you'll feel them rattle around a little) but they won't fall completely out. The reason for this is because the plastic guides for these bolts have small tabs on them to hold them in place. You have to get a hold of the bolts and actually pull on them to pull them past the small tabs. Once you do this, they will come completely out. Here's the tough part... Even my long reach needle nose pliers weren't able to get up there and grab the bolts. I found the next easiest thing was to push in fairly hard on the lower grille, at the outside edges of it. If you press the sides in until they pop off the tabs, you'll be able to see inside the bumper and see the big bolts, RIGHT there. Then you can just reach in and grab them and pull them down, letting them fall out of the bumper. The following pics show these bolts, the plastic guides with the little keeper tabs, as well as their location in relation to the lower grille.
7886