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I'm undergoing the painful exercise of removing my rear bumper cover to get it painted then attach it back properly. I'm looking at all the fixings at the JLR Classic Parts Site:
Item # 25 - Part # JLM20563 - describes itself as Rear Bumper Fixing Kit but there's no indication of what's in it. I'm rather hoping that it's all the fixings I need including the support straps but everyone at SNG Barret and JLR has gone home for the day. Can anyone share that information with me today so I can get an order on?
I finally got my answer yesterday so posting here for the benefit of others. SNG Barret couldn't give me the information bu JLR Classics could. Basically, the kit includes all the components, in the numbers required, for the rear bumper assembly, excluding the two mounting brackets, the bumper beam and the bumper cover. It's actually more than I needed but good value compared to buying everything seperately.
I'm afraid not, it's horrible. All the mounting brackets are broken but that's fine - I can replace those and the bumper cover is in pretty good shape and just needs painting. The biggest challenges are the normal ones: the captive nuts in the mounting brackets have broken loose and so are just moving with the bolts, and the the four exposed nuts holding the mounting brackets to the body are rusted on (those inside the boot are perfect, of course). It's looking like I'll need to saw through the mounting brackets - which I'd rather avoid as I'll still need to get those exposed nuts out.
I know I've got some nut splitters somewhere so I'm going to try that to get off the exposed nuts then I can remove the whole assembly, including the mounting brackets in one go and then remove the bolts holding the bumper beam onto the brackets.
I've read all the articles and posts I can find and this feels like the a standard script. The only other thing I might try is to remove the bumper cover without removing the bumper beam which will enable me to get a set of molegrips onto the captive nut and maybe get the two large bolts out of the mounting bracket. It appears that is tricky too so very happy if anyone has got any guidance...
An update. While struggling - manfully I would say - to remove the bolts holding the mounting brackets to the body, pretty much the whole assembly detached from both mounting brackets. All that was stopping me from pulling the whole thing away was a single self-threading bolt at the very front of the bumper cover which the PO had used to hold the bumper on. As soon as I unbolted that, the assembly came away to reveal a whole load of horrors.
The clamps which hold the threaded aluminium collar inside the mounting brackets had pretty much turned to lovely aluminium powder. All but one of the bumper cover support straps was broken and someone had made a rather pathetic attempt to reattach them with what looked like chewing gum - probably some sort of silicone sealant. The bumper beam itself had clearly been broken in two, right in the middle, and a half hearted attempt had been made to stick it back together - possibly with superglue so far as I could see. I'm assuming some sort of low speed bump had broken all these bits and a cheapskate attempt had been made to try to make it look OK. I think one good speed bump, hit at pace, would have meant the bumper falling off.
The good news is that but for a crappy paint job, the bumper cover is in good shape so that's gone off to be tidied up and painted. There was no need to save the mounting brackets so a Dremel helped me remove them and cut off the bolts in ten minutes or so. I've bought replacement brackets from JLR Classics (20% off inthe spring sale) and a used bumper beam (I considered a new one but can't justify the money when the used one is undamaged for 15% of the new price).
I guess there hasn't been enough value in these cars until now to justify someone spending the best part of £600 / $800 on replacing the components after a rear end collision (make that over £2,000 if a new cover required). £600 would be over 30% of what I paid for the car! I like it so much and the rest of it is so sound, however, that I'm biting the bullet - £300 with the used beam so only 15% of what I paid. You can be sure that much Copaslip will be used uring reassembly.
I've attached some photos for your amusement:
What's left of one of the mounting brackets - no force was required to turn the clamps to dust. The mounting bolts. The captive nut at the top of the left hand bolt is the only item that isn't welded together - who thought all these different materials in one assembly on UK roads was a good idea?
I snapped an image of the car in the "Wheeler Dealer's Dream Car" Series 2 trailer. I don't know which episode it's in but I'm looking forward to seeing whether they picked up any of the issues I've found.
I got the bumper back, nicely painted, and attached the chrome embellishments and bumper bar - I'm now an accomplished pop-riveter! I'd already attached the new mounting brackets on the gaskets that came with the JLR Classic fitting kit along with the guide blocks. I took a guess where the two rubber grommets in the kit should fit as they were a casualty of the previous bodges. The bumper cover slipped straight over the guide blocks and onto the mounting brackets and I was able to insert the mounting bolts and spacers from below. It was much quicker and easier to drop the tailpipes out of the way to get a socket to them than try to tighten with a spanner so I did just that.
It turned out that I didn't use the adjusters to get things nice and snug before tightening up the bolts so had to loosen them off to do that. It now all fits perfectly and isn't banging and rattling around while I drive.
Total cost with the mounting brackets, fitting kit and salvaged bumper bar was around £300 - the JLR classic spring sale 20% discount was a big help.
New brackets before generous application of coppaslip on the adjusters. You can see the aluminium is corroding a bit after a couple of days of the elements so I also put some clear coating on them.
I couldn't find anywhere esle where these grommets would fit so hoping this is right - they certainly seemed to secure the bumper cover. Also did some repainting and rust-proofing in this area before refitting the bumper
It just fitted.
Newly applied paint is just a shade brighter than the 22 year old original even if the code matches.
I got the bumper back, nicely painted, and attached the chrome embellishments and bumper bar - I'm now an accomplished pop-riveter! I'd already attached the new mounting brackets on the gaskets that came with the JLR Classic fitting kit along with the guide blocks. I took a guess where the two rubber grommets in the kit should fit as they were a casualty of the previous bodges. The bumper cover slipped straight over the guide blocks and onto the mounting brackets and I was able to insert the mounting bolts and spacers from below. It was much quicker and easier to drop the tailpipes out of the way to get a socket to them than try to tighten with a spanner so I did just that.
It turned out that I didn't use the adjusters to get things nice and snug before tightening up the bolts so had to loosen them off to do that. It now all fits perfectly and isn't banging and rattling around while I drive.
Total cost with the mounting brackets, fitting kit and salvaged bumper bar was around £300 - the JLR classic spring sale 20% discount was a big help.
New brackets before generous application of coppaslip on the adjusters. You can see the aluminium is corroding a bit after a couple of days of the elements so I also put some clear coating on them.
I couldn't find anywhere esle where these grommets would fit so hoping this is right - they certainly seemed to secure the bumper cover. Also did some repainting and rust-proofing in this area before refitting the bumper
It just fitted.
Newly applied paint is just a shade brighter than the 22 year old original even if the code matches.