Aftermarket Hood and Bumper

[G4LE00]

I recently got in an accident and had to replace my front bumper, hood, grill, and headlights...So I ordered everything on ebay and had the bodyshop put them on. There are large gaps in between the headlight and the bumper, and between the grill and the hood. I was told its because the parts are aftermarket and don't fit perfectly. But it looks like the bumper is just sagging a little bit. Is there any way the bumper can just be pulled up? Has anyone else had problems with aftermarket parts?

Here are some pics:

[abew330]

how bad whats the accident? maybe bent frame causing gaps

[haux]

My recent photos of bumper/grille replacement -> Bumper Replacement


The headlights were replaced shortly before this. Everything too was aftermarket. Disregard the long gap in the pictures of the old bumper, I believe my hood wasn't shut all the way.

In any case, we had some difficulty getting the passenger side headlight bolted on. One of the three holes would not line up, because of some bent metal (also had an accident a few years before). After some metal bending, we got it to fit pretty well.

There's a lot of cheap metal parts under there that get bent very easily. It's possible some of your front end stuff got messed up from accident.

Did you rear-end somebody?

[bigbird]

looks more like the bumper is sagging. from the pics, the corner lights line up perfectly with the fender and the headlight lines up with the corner lights. sure its mounts werent screwed up?

[G4LE00]

Yeah, I rear-ended someone, but the accident wasn't that bad. This frame was pushed in a little bit, but they pulled it back out. Heres a pic of the damage.




Yeah, now im thinking it probably is the mounts that are damaged, because the bumper sags about the same amount as it did after the accident... How hard is it to remove the front bumper? Should I attempt fixing this myself, or just leave it as it is?

[haux]

On my 2000 it was super easy. There are three bolts on top that go into these holes:





There are six screws at the bottom that attach it to the splash guards. If you remove those, remember how they attached to the clips. It took me a while to figure that out when I was putting it back on.

And lastly, it is bolted onto to the fender in each corner. You don't HAVE to remove the wheel and splash guard for those (I didn't), but it might make it a little bit easier. If you push back the splash guard a bit (each corner), you'll see where they are.


EDIT: Oh, there are also two brackets on the bumper guard that stick into bumper. If you push down on the bumper a little bit (where they are), the brackets come out.

[ghettosled]

i know this is about to sound very ghetto and not exact - so please take this with a grain of salt.

can G4LE00 use a block of 4"x4"x6" and a floor jack to bend the bumper structure back in place? i did this on a previous car that had the front bumper and hood replaced. i located where the metal supports were under the bumper cover, then used the wood to protect the paint and distribute the load a bit. it worked surprisingly well.

another less drastic method is to shim where the cover is bolted down.

[haux]

Do you have an update on any attempt to fix the gap?