2007 Rear Bumper Cover

I recently went through the process of trying to figure out the best thing to do with a badly damaged rear bumper.

A new one?
Used?
After Market?
Cover vs Bumper?

I started a thread here, but thought I would paraphrase my discovers for someone else in this situation. In general creating a post I wish I had found early on.

The plastic part of the bumper that gets torn and ripped and needs repair is just the "bumper cover" assuming your bumper, which contains sensors and has a rigid impact bar are intact, then all you ned to replace is the "cover".

I got multiple quotes from my dealer and a good body shop (Los Angeles area and the cost for replacing with a factory part was between $800-1200.

The factory part is $350 and comes matte grey, getting it painted is approx $150 and then you could DIY a factory cover for approx $500.

I used PintNShip on ebay for a replacement color matched bumper cover that cost $263 shipped via Fedex. It arrived about four days later. I had read people are unhappy that the aftermarket covers are thinner and that the holes do not match up. My experience is that the difference in thickness when compared to my bumper was minimal and everything matched up great. The color is very good match and thought I can certainly tell the difference between the factory and the paintnship, I am thoroughly please with the results all things considered.

The DIY work was pretty straight forward, the one thing I did not realize or think about before I started was that all the trim along the bottom of my existing factory bumper had to be transferred to the new cover. All in was about an hour.

I purchased a bag of clips on Amazon for $10 that had 100 clips. I wished they had a smaller bag, but very glad I got them as I broke many of the older when removing the factory bumper. I now have about 75 clips if anyone needs some!

Clips.There are four clips you might need.
First the above mentioned clips

IMG_3946.JPG by silsurf posted May 16, 2016 at 3:40 PM

IMG_3945.JPG by silsurf posted May 16, 2016 at 3:40 PM

These come 100 to a bag on Amazon, I used about 15 of them. I just cut off the old ones which were brittle anyway.

There are four of these blue clips holding on larger pieces of trim to the bumper cover

Blueclip by silsurf posted May 16, 2016 at 3:42 PM

The seem very sturdy and I just re-used the ones on the old bumper.

The other parts are not clips, but 10mm HEX/phillips screws

IMG_3944.JPG by silsurf posted May 16, 2016 at 3:40 PM

I re-used these no problem, the only thing I would have liked to have but didnt are the receiving ends of these 10mm screws, some of them are embedded in the under chassis, but there are four of them the you have to remove from the old bumper and put on the new cover. They made to come out, but it would have been nice to use new ones, Ill try to find a picture of them.

Oh also there are these larger collars that act as washers for the two screws under the hatch that gets removed. One of mine is busted. But these can be replaced anytime.

Here is the video I watched to gear up for the job:

It was moderately helpful, but I wish the car was up on a lift so you could see where some of the bolts and clips are located. Once you get under the car it all makes sense though.

I guess thats it feel free to ask questions. I will post an image of the new bumper after I get the car washed.

Henry

IMG_3942.JPG by silsurf posted May 16, 2016 at 12:25 PM

IMG_3941.JPG by silsurf posted May 16, 2016 at 12:25 PM

IMG_3873.JPG by silsurf posted May 16, 2016 at 12:25 PM

 

PM me we will figure it out,
Henry

 

A bumper is no longer a bumper