I knew when I bought my E30 (cabrio with diving board bumpers) that it had been involved in a minor front end accident like 15 years ago according to Carfax (on passenger side).
I got the car here and noticed the passenger side bumper was maybe 1/2 or 3/4 inch further in than the driver side. No one likely would have noticed something like this except me....
Anyways, I have prior experience with the bumpers on the E30 (I had a 318i sedan 25 years ago) and how to remove them, drill the shocks out, etc.
I removed the bumper hoping that I would just find my bumper shock was pushed in a little....and that I would just replace that with a new one and the issue would be fixed. However, once I got the bumper off, I realized the bumper shock had actually been pushed back a little on the right side into the bumper mount on the core support (so the right side of the bumper mount on the core support is also pushed back a little)....again, like 1/2 inch maybe. It was pushed back and a little bit to the right.
Thus, if I use a new bumper mount....the hole on the right side likely won't line up with the core support hole on that right side. I also see the tow hook cover on that side is bent a little.
My question is, is this an easy job for an auto body/frame shop to pull the right side of that bumper mount in the core support back straight? Then I can just buy a new bumper shock and it should line up. In hindsight....I wish I had just added a washer or two onto the piece on the back of the metal bumper and left the old shock....it likely would have solved the issue all the same. There is no other damage anywhere else on the core support so getting a new one is probably overkill, I would assume.....
How about the tow hook...is that welded on or screwed or ? Is that easy to replace? It's bent down a little on that right side.
Because the edges of the mount on the core support were a bit smushed in....I had to pull the edges up a little to get the old bumper shock off. Stupid me, when I was trying to reinstall it, I hammered on it to get it through a part of the edge it got caught on.....and I shortened the damn shock so now the old one is trash (other wise, again, I would have just put it back on since it still screwed in fine).
I got the car here and noticed the passenger side bumper was maybe 1/2 or 3/4 inch further in than the driver side. No one likely would have noticed something like this except me....
Anyways, I have prior experience with the bumpers on the E30 (I had a 318i sedan 25 years ago) and how to remove them, drill the shocks out, etc.
I removed the bumper hoping that I would just find my bumper shock was pushed in a little....and that I would just replace that with a new one and the issue would be fixed. However, once I got the bumper off, I realized the bumper shock had actually been pushed back a little on the right side into the bumper mount on the core support (so the right side of the bumper mount on the core support is also pushed back a little)....again, like 1/2 inch maybe. It was pushed back and a little bit to the right.
Thus, if I use a new bumper mount....the hole on the right side likely won't line up with the core support hole on that right side. I also see the tow hook cover on that side is bent a little.
My question is, is this an easy job for an auto body/frame shop to pull the right side of that bumper mount in the core support back straight? Then I can just buy a new bumper shock and it should line up. In hindsight....I wish I had just added a washer or two onto the piece on the back of the metal bumper and left the old shock....it likely would have solved the issue all the same. There is no other damage anywhere else on the core support so getting a new one is probably overkill, I would assume.....
How about the tow hook...is that welded on or screwed or ? Is that easy to replace? It's bent down a little on that right side.
Because the edges of the mount on the core support were a bit smushed in....I had to pull the edges up a little to get the old bumper shock off. Stupid me, when I was trying to reinstall it, I hammered on it to get it through a part of the edge it got caught on.....and I shortened the damn shock so now the old one is trash (other wise, again, I would have just put it back on since it still screwed in fine).
Attached Files
Comment