Front bumper trim/cover removal (2000)

[AP9]

I just spent about an hour trying to get the plastic trim and cover off the front bumper, and just couldn't figure it out. I removed about a dozen different 7mm flanged hex screws (2 on each fender, 3 on each corner in the area under/behind foglamp, 2 in the center) and two of those push-in plastic connectors (breaking one in the process) and unplugged the foglamps, but the thing still wasn't coming off. What am I missing?

I'm not talking about removing the frame part of the bumper (with the four 18 mm bolts) -- in fact the reason I'm trying to get this plastic crap off is that I need to get to the nuts that secure those bolts; one of them keeps spinning so I need to hold it down with a socket or wrench, which is impossible to do with all the plastic **** in the way.

Any advice would be helpful, since I can't for the life of me figure out what else I could be missing, and the Haynes manual is about as useless as could be on this one.

 

[hasoan]

I just spent about an hour trying to get the plastic trim and cover off the front bumper, and just couldn't figure it out. I removed about a dozen different 7mm flanged hex screws (2 on each fender, 3 on each corner in the area under/behind foglamp, 2 in the center) and two of those push-in plastic connectors (breaking one in the process) and unplugged the foglamps, but the thing still wasn't coming off. What am I missing?

I'm not talking about removing the frame part of the bumper (with the four 18 mm bolts) -- in fact the reason I'm trying to get this plastic crap off is that I need to get to the nuts that secure those bolts; one of them keeps spinning so I need to hold it down with a socket or wrench, which is impossible to do with all the plastic **** in the way.

Any advice would be helpful, since I can't for the life of me figure out what else I could be missing, and the Haynes manual is about as useless as could be on this one.

I've never removed the plastic as you asked, but I HAVE replaced an old (entire) bumper that had spinning bolts... lets see... IIRC the bolts attach to a piece of rectangular metal mounting bracket that slides into the plastic. I think they are normally fixed in place but can come loose/broken easily (when messing with it.) Depending on what exactly you are doing, you might try pushing the plastic up or down (i dont remember which) and also just pulling at it. If the spinning bolts are during installation, I had to get creative with magnets and a lot of fishing to get those brackets into my new (to me from junk yard) bumper. Actually, I remember putting a piece of rubber fuel line hose on one of the bolts and fishing that... I don't know if that makes sense. I'll think about it some more.

Anyway, maybe I gave you an idea, but what is the end goal? To adjust the bumper? replace it?

Update: I think I remember that the "bolts" are part of those mounting brackets, and what I was removing was the nuts. If you can figure out a way to pull on the thing while twisting the nut, I think that might help. I'm not sure if that's what your goal is though.

 

[AP9]

Hmm . . . that sounds like a pain indeed.

Here's the story: A little while back I tried to remove the bumper after reading everywhere "Oh, it's so easy... It's just the four bolts." so that I could install my transmission cooler and auxiliary horn speaker, and begin combating hidden rust in the area. Well, I began loosening one of the nuts and realized it was more complicated than just that, and then some metal pieces (retaining clips of some sort?) fell out. I recovered two of them -- hopefully there weren't more. Then, I realized I couldn't get that nut re-tightened since there's no easy access to the bolt's head on the other side (head facing forward). Even though the other 3 bolts were untouched, this seems to have loosened the bumper, so if you look carefully it looks a bit misaligned as if I had a minor accident, and when I'm driving with foglamps I can see the light projection "shaking" as if the bumper is vibrating.

What I'd like to do is get the entire bumper off so that I can reposition my horn speaker and spray some Eastwood rust encapsulator, but if I can do so just by removing the plastic / fake chrome pieces, even better. At the very least I'd just like to get that nut tightened again on the bolt.


addendum:
And yes, what you're saying makes sense. I was thinking the same thing about pulling on the bolt somehow to spin the nut back on. Appreciate the advice -- it's a starting point.