Plastic bumber adjustment Q.

[hoveringuy]

I need to adjust the gaps on my plastic front bumper, mostly move the center down about 3/8". I know the sides are adjustable up/down, but how about the center of the bumper?

Do the shocks adjust up/down?

Hoveringuy

[talltorontoguy]

There's no adjustment on height as far as I know... could you put spacers on the bolts?

[Jordan]

You need to adjust your valance, not the bumper.

[hoveringuy]

The gap is excessive below the bumper and is also touching the 1" wide strip above the bumper, below the grill. I didn't think that strip was part of the valence, so raising the valence will only correct the gap below the bumper.

It seems like I need to lower the bumper to correct both gaps.

If the shock mounts are fixed, how do I correct the bumper touching on top??

[nando]

your valance is bent

[hoveringuy]

Here's a picture... how to fix??

[Van Westervelt]

Looks like you could have a broken/tweaked bumper from a light impact as well. You may be able to solve it with new bumper shocks if those are what got tweaked. Otherwise, its a new FG Bumper COre, or Valance.

[whowhatwhere]

the shocks can move up and down.

at least mine can.....

[Van Westervelt]

the shocks can move up and down.

at least mine can.....

That wouldnt make the center of the bumper appear higher than the outsides. :roll:

[hoveringuy]

Anyone have a similar to picture to compare it with?

[xLibelle]

its hard to tell what is actually wrong from the picture you supplied.

remove the bumper by droping out the screw from each shock. unplug the lights and pull bumper off the car forward. youll see each shock is held in place with two screws. loosen those up and get the shocks as low as possible. tighten back up, install bumper and insert the two screws again. before tightening these down, you can adjust the bumpers position laterally (fore,back,rt,lt). This should lower the front middle sectiong of the bumper. If its still not enough, pull the bumper back off and adjust the black metal brackets on the back side of the bumper core... CAUTION here. if you break these loose, you MAY have to seperate the core from the cover to put a Torx head on the other end of the bolt to hold it still to tighten down. (*explination at bottom of post on tips on doing this)
For the sides, its two screws per side, found on the inside of the fender. loosen, manipulate bumper ends to desired location, and tighten back down.

If your bumper still looks high in the valance slot the bumper sits at, then your body work is tweaked. First place to look is left and right of the oil cooler where the valence lower legs mount. bmw designed this to be weak, i think it could have been a little bit more beefy. The next factor about those mount points is, the lower radiator mount could be pushed back too. If any of this happened, the lower part of the valance is pushed in and that gap the bumper sits has been widened. you have to pull up on the valence to bend it back up.
Lastly, just from that picture alone, i see a gap under the kidney's that a little large, meaning your entire valance could be sagging. i think there are 6 bolts that can raise the valance position.

*before you destroy molding and clips, think logical! The plastic cover is held on by plastic expanding rivets. From the inside of the bumper, push the center piece of each rivet out, in that, you will have a bunch of little pegs caught inside the moulding before youre done. once pegs are removed, wiggle the cover off the core. to reinstall, remove moldings first, reassemble expanding rivets, mount cover over core and insert rivets. reinstall moulding strips.

[xLibelle]

a 325is with no oil cooler?

[hoveringuy]

I need to stop by Sears for a T55 tomorrow and I will take it off when I get a chance.

It has an oil cooler... it's in my basement. I'm replacing the lines because they were seeping at the fittings.

[Jordan]

You need to adjust your valance, not the bumper.

Not really interested that you don't think its the same part. You need to remove the grills, loosen 2 bolts attaching the valance to the core support, pull up, and retighten the bolts.

You do not have to remove the bumper.

[hoveringuy]

I took a closer look at it tonight and it IS the same part. I'll try pulling it up before I remove the whole bumper.

I've had the car for 8 years now... this has bugged me forever but I've done everything else but this. I've always meant to do a complete front end cosmetic refresh and the time is coming soon.