Sagging front bumper.

[vortex2450]

For a while now I have dealt with a sag on the driver's side of my front bumper. The passenger side is tonight against the fender and hood but there is a visible gap on the left side, enough of a gap to side the headlight mounts. I have contemplated taking everything apart but wanted to have an idea of what I might need and have to do before hand.

I've heard this is a common issue so hopefully there is a common fix.

-josh

 

[rubydist]

There are several possibilities
You can usually see what is wrong from under the bumper but you might need to take off the inner fender liner too

 

[platoribs]

There are two stanchons/crash absorbers that can get bent or crushed or the unibody underneath can get bent. Look over the good side and get the orientation then rebrace the drooping side so it don't droop no mo. long bolts fasten the stanchon to the body.

 

[93rev2sev]

There is also a metal strip that's riveted to the bumper cover that has studs on it. Those studs break and can no longer hold the bumper cover flush against the fender.

The fix is to remove the bumper cover completely, replace that strip (I fabbed up a strip of aluminum and some small carriage bolts somehow when I did mine years ago) and replace the bumper cover. You can now use that strip with bolts in it to fasten the top lip of the cover to the fender.

 

[kevinspann]

If the bumper has been off, those studs are most likely broken.

The bracket - bumper relationship gets looser over time, resulting in more sag.

Also, if you go and pull up on the area where the front plate would be (damn you NC-ers) you can at least see what the bumper would look like...getting it to stay there is an issue. I think it will require some kind of shimming under the bumper cover to get it back up to where it should be.

I got mine better, but not great. You just gotta get under there and loosen up all the bolts, push it up and tighten, and hope it's better.



Also, lots of pseudo-innuendos in that.

 

[SHOCH]

I fixed mine 5 years ago by laying under the car, pushing up on the bumper cover, and jamming some round insulation (that you use on household hot water pipes) in the gap. Yes, my High Tech secret is out.
I also fixed those saggy pouches on the back of the front seats with a safty pin by pulling the elastic tighter, making it shorter.
More cheap secrets will be provided by donating to Beths Crank Cancer Survivor Fund.

 

[kevinspann]

Safety pinning the elastic is ftw. I did that on the door pockets on my fox mustang. Made everybody jealous.