Rear bumper fitment issue

[turbodude]

Hello,

Ever since i got my car i have had one problem area with the looks of the exterior. The rest of the car is perfectly straight, all body panels line up, not even a door ding, etc. The driver side corner of the rear bumper seems to have warped away from where it should be. I removed the tail light to get a better look and the bumper itself is not torn or damaged, or missing any bolt's where the bumper attaches to the car or anything. It seems to just have gotten warped some how.

I am pretty familiar with body work and have installed numerous body kits before on other cars, many with having to prep and correct with fiberglass and such. I just thought this was weird and if anyone else had this issue. I reallllllllllly don't want to have to cut, fiberglass/bondo and repaint just for that stupid little corner, i tried to see if there was a way i could attach a bolt to the inside of the corner, to pull it back to where it should be to bolt it in place, but no luck really.

Any ideas? thanks! here's a few pics:

 

[krackit]

is the bumper a different white than the rest of the car? not a stock bumper?

 

[turbodude]

Both the front and rear bumper's are OEM and both painted the original factory Northstar white color. In person, the color matches the car perfectly. The pic's i know are not the best quality, . Plus the bumper is a little dusty. Now, i can not say for certain that the bumper did not come from another 97+ Northstar white eclipse. Maybe that is where the fitment issue lies.... But it is an original.

 

[woooop]

Its missing a clip or its broken or needs to be taken off and re-aligned. If you take the plastic off in the trunk you can see where a clip or two go into the bumper.

 

[Nasty Dream]

To me it looks like someone backed into you at that corner and made it buckle. You say it's all bolted in correctly? There are metal brackets that the bumper screws into (just under the tail light). Has the bracket been bent?

When all else fails, cable ties.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Been there i learned to deal with it or take off and redo it and see what you get, or leave it as is. To much of a headache trying to get that to line up. Im glad im not keeping this one too many body issues.

 

[turbodude]

Thanks for the responses, well i'm just gonna take the inside plastic off and tail light off again to look at it a bit deeper to try and figure it out as i was kinda rushed last time. I was unaware of any clips, so i'll pay attention this time. I'll take a couple pics of the inside bracket as well if i cant figure it and and will post them later tonight, or who knows.... maybe i'll be posting pics of it fixed!

 

[97ebaygst]

If all else fail put somw heat to it and see if u can bend it back. Now I've never taking my back bumper off so I don't know if something's in the way from letting u do that, but its an option if it allows it.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Once there off somtimes they neve go on the same, goes for my front and back, but it had them both off for painting.

 

[dsmcrzy]

I bet the bolt that goes there is broken or the bumper tab is broken. You have to take the tail light off and the plastic inside. There is a 6mm bolt that goes right there and faces forward. If you reach your hand in you can feel it but you cant see it. That should help you get started on it.

Good luck dude and sweet DSM!!

 

[turbodude]

Thanks, i'm actually on my way out now to play with it a bit to see. will report my findings later this evening!

 

[turbodude]

Okay, Fixed it about 95% of the way! I can live with that.

There was a bolt missing in the very far corner edge of the bumper which was making it stick out. (Thanks DSMcrzy) I found a suitable bolt, screwed it in there and it fixed it almost completely. still sticks out a small bit at the very corner but wayyyyyyyy better. I'll try to heat mold the very tip of the corner in place to finish her up. Thanks again to everyone for the quick replies. Here are some pics of what i did in case anyone else ever runs into this issue down the road.

 

[dsmcrzy]

Looks SOOOOOO much better!!! Glad it worked for ya!!