bmwe21.net forums

Is this technical???

I'm trying to get the front bumper off but the o/s bolt is just turning in the bumper. I tried to unbolt the bracket from inside the wheel arch but I could only get the front bolt off, the rear bolt is just turning. They seem to be in a box section & I can't find any way to get at the bolt head. The front one is just a normal bolt & I assume the other is too.

How do you get at them?

Hi,
cut off old bolts with angle grinder or oxy/acet and replace with coach bolts.

Hi your talking about the bumper bracket bolts that mount from inside the box section?.. ahh there is a nut on the outside but a square headed bolt on the on the inside that sits in a captive housing.. if its able to move push it all the way back in and place a touch of pressure as if pulling the bolt towards you as try to undo the bolt... if not next route is as above...

take the bumper off its held on by one 13mm bolt on each side. you can wedge a screw driver or press the rubber on the outside of the bumper to hold the bolt in.

if your trying to remove the mounting legs from inside the wheel arch - angle grinder.

Pretty much as I expected then.

The bolt behind the rubber trim is just turning (as they always do). That will be the easiest to cut off & i can replace with a galvanised roofing bolt as I did on my 635.

The bracket into the wheel arch is more problematic. I've got the forward nut off & the bolt is now loose in the box section. With luck I can fish it out far enough to get the nut back on but tightening it up will be tricky. I guess it would be possible to drill through the bolt hole & out the other side of the box section & then use a long coach or roofing bolt to go all the way through.

I guess I'm going to have the same sort of fun getting the bumper off the parts car

Well I ended up cutting the chrome coachbolt head off in pieces.

However, that still leaves me with the bracket half off.

dannyboy wrote:there is a nut on the outside but a square headed bolt on the on the inside that sits in a captive housing

Given that it's a sealed box section, how do you know that? Have you cut open the box section? I have the nut off the forward bolt which won't push back into the box because it's too long & I can't pull it out to get the nut back on. I suppose I could try pulling it out as far as possible with needle nose pliers & use a Dremel to cut off as much of the bolt as possible. Then the head would drop back into the box & I could drill through the other side of the box section & use a long bolt through the whole box. I'm surprised BMW didn't do that in the first place.

I'm sure bodyshops must have got around this problem before.

It will slide out of where it lives. you need to loosen it as much as possible. Then pull the whole arm forwards.

I went out and took this pic especially for you as its hard to explain.

Or just get your angle grinder out. Cut them off. You can get new coach bolts.

If you don't have an angle grinder then buy one. Last tool you will need.

Thanks Nas, the photo explains it perfectly.

I just used a hammer to belt the assembly forward & out.

I will see about using some galvanised roofing bolts instead, possibly acorn nuts too so as to protect the end threads. Think I'll get some waxoyl into the box too.

no worries mate - when i did this the first time round i thought there was studs welded to the inner wing as well - luckily it was on a car i was breaking so i didnt care but the relief when i realised i could replace the studs.

I also used glavanised coach bolts that i had cut down, i coated them with copper grease afterwards and did the nuts up.