BLACK'98DSM
5+ Year Contributor
- 4,450
- 1,889
- Feb 9, 2019
-
Alabama
Is it required to remove the front bumper to replace the headlights? And also what are these little gears on the rear of the lights for?
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Could I remove the bracing and get to them from there or do I need to take the bumper all the way off?The gears on the back of the lights are you align them. If my memory is right, there is 1 bolt on the bottom of the light that you can't get to with the bumper on
I know it's not hard because i've done it before. But I have a really bad habit if breaking clips on any trim piecesI think you will need to remove it completely. It's not very hard.
^^^^^^^^Personally I think it is just easier to take off the front bumper, takes all of ten minutes. The headlight bolt behind the bumper is also a necessary component as your headlights will rattle if it is not securely in place.
Also the plastic bumper clips can be bought for bulk on any automotive retail site so I wouldnt worry too much. I have a baggy of 1000 of varying width fasteners that my car friends mooch from.
I had wondered about those as well, but not for the whole bumper.. I guess that's an idea I didn't think of.What's your guy's opinion on those button style quick releases (rod goes into a button and you press button to release)? I have 8 sitting on a shelf because I wanted to make my front bumper purely quick release but I'm not sure about how they'll act at highway speeds or any other issues I haven't thought of. (FYI was thinking about keeping on the bolts that sit on top of the bumper near the latch, so someone couldn't just come and quick release my entire bumper and take it home to do unspeakable things to it)
I always jack my car up to work on it. What I was saying is that I don't know if it's possible to reach the top and bottom of the bumper at the same time when mounting it so that I can hold the nut while I tighten the bolt. I will give it a shot when I get a chance for sure. This works out pretty good anyway because I have to remove my bumper to paint it.Anything is possible with a jack. Raising your car makes this much simpler (not sure if stock ride height could take the bumper off on the ground) and if you replace something with a nut and bolt, you should be able to reach under/around/do acrobatics with wheel liners and other stuffs.
I always jack my car up to work on it. What I was saying is that I don't know if it's possible to reach the top and bottom of the bumper at the same time when mounting it so that I can hold the nut while I tighten the bolt. I will give it a shot when I get a chance for sure. This works out pretty good anyway because I have to remove my bumper to paint it.
Sometimes I need luck with this car. My brother makes fun of me too because he drives a Subaru. heheI guess use threaded holes whenever possible in that case, will make your life easier. I was specifically referencing wheel liner connecting portions with that acrobatic bit. Good luck man.
What's your guy's opinion on those button style quick releases (FYI was thinking about keeping on the bolts that sit on top of the bumper near the latch, so someone couldn't just come and quick release my entire bumper and take it home to do unspeakable things to it)
I personally like quick release fasteners for other cars where its a pain in the ass to take off the front bumper, but with our cars its so fool proof I wouldn't bother. As far as stability at 70-100mph I haven't noticed any difference vs stock. Plus you earn cool points with the tuner kids if youre into that sort of thing.
Older cars are so much easier to wrench on than new cars. They don't hide anything, want to know how to take out your seats? look around for a while and you will find all the bolts. Meanwhile on newer cars you have to turn the car on, go into settings on the center display screen, hit "unlock" on seat bolts under seat settings, than you can pry the plastic bolt protector off to access the bolt.
OP I hope we have sufficiently given you way more information than you needed... Just take off the bumper to access headlights