R26 Bumper Replacement

Hi All

After getting my new bumper and getting the spray job done i finally managed to get the time to fit it over the weekend. However i hit a few snags. Getting the bumper off was much easier than i expected (thanks to various guides). However when i changed over all the grilles and fog lights etc from old to new i got to having a look at the splash guard tray at the bottom of the bumper. This is picture below.



I saw that the air blades which directed the flow into the radiator were kinda clipped in and with a bit of fiddelling they came out however the tray was fixed in with various fixings around the front as pointed out below.





I tried pulling them up thinking they were clipped in but werent budging. Anyone else tried to get these off- if so how?

I

Next snag was the 2 thin strips of plastic which are fixed with 2 rivets at the side of the bumper which re used to fix the wheel arch to. i tried using a screw driver and star head but this did not fit or do anything. So all in all i couldnt fit the new shiney bumper- FAIL.

Does anyone know best was to remove and fix the 2 side trims and the under tray. I am intending on selling my old bumper (minor damage) so it may be worth me leaving them on and buying these 3 pieces and just refixing them. This is cost dependant tho.

Any help appreciated.

 

Meso

I bought the bumper from ads on here and got it sprayed at Brian Leighton garage mate.

The grilles are separate from the bumper and the costs soon mount tbh I needed the 2 upper grilles which are sold as a pair. You can also buy the under tray which have the air blades on it.

 

Thanks mate, I looked at them and wondered if they were rivots but as they weren't silver it threw me (honest). Turns out they are plastic rivots which I need to buy a load, drill the old ones out as you suggest and then get hold of a rivot gun. Easy !

 

Right all after the first failed attempt i gave this bumper repalcement a second go, this time armed with a drill and rivet gun i was able to remove the undertray and fix to the new front bumper. I gotta admit dismantling and re-fixing the entire front bumper is quite tricky but if you have the right equipment it is something anyone can do. All in all it took me about 2 hours to remove, dismantle, fix all fog lights and grilles etc and refix to the main car.

Here are some before photos








TBH the damage to the old bumper was very minor it only had a small gap under the drivers headlight along with small screw mark next the the reg and crack behind the reg plate but it was enough to get on my wick. :mad: All this from a small bump.

AFTER



back to the perfect fit following the new bumper (the nose of the old bumper had just lost the point below the renault diamond)




Front view- no screw mark or gap

 

After giving the new bumper a polish and wax i could really see the match of the paintwork. Paint done by Carl at Brian leightons- to say he only had the eyelet from the tow point to match the paint (i didnt leave the car) it was a spot on match. Cheers Carl




Compulsory shot of the entire car after its polish and clean. Used GTechniq C2v3 which is really easy to apply and gives a great shine and claimed up to 8 month protection (but im not convinced it seems more like 3 month for me as a daily driver).

Im now 100% happy again with the look of the car and will not be using it in the snow again!

The removal of the bumper was simple enough and guides from Andy bassett can be followed to remove it, although im not sure if its available on here. In brief to remove the bumper you need to:

- unfix the 3 bolt to the underside using a size 8 spanner
- un screw the star screws in the wheel arches (2 both sides) you will need to turn the wheels on full lock to access them
- Unfix the engine bay trim to the front and sides by removing all the torx screws
- unfix the 2 torx screws holding the bumper in place just above the head light
- remove the 4 no plugs holding the bumper in along the width of the engine bay.
- the bumper will then be free and can be pulled off.
- you will need to discconnect the headlight washers and fix the pipes into a loop to stop the screen wash leaking out
- you will neeed to disconnect the fog light power cable (below the passenger side headlight) this is a small yellow plug which easily disconnects.

Once the bumper is free removing the components is summarised below:

- the fog lights are fixed in using 2 star screw heads to each light (the same screw driver used for unfixing the wheel arches will fit this). The cable is clamped in to the bumper which can be removed by twisting the clamp upwards and wiggling off.
- the Renault diamond is fixed by 2 screws- same star head as the fog lights.
- the headlight washers can be unscrewed simply by hand and the hose is clipped into the bumper by small clip built into the bumper.
- the upper grilles are held in place in a typical French way- they are not fixed but rather held in place by hopes and dreams. To remove them you need to pull the bottom edge of the bumper down and move/ rotate the lower part of the grille out. The top will then slide downwards and out. Similarly to fit the grilles they need to be inserted top part in first and the bottom is rotated in. It is a bit awkward to do and you will need to flex the bumper downward to get the grille clips in. The clips on the grilles seems very britlle so this needs to be a careful bit.
- the lower grille is even trickier, this grille is clipped into the bumper and fixed using a ring type metal piercing which is fix though the clips of the bumper and the grille. To remove these a pair of pliers can be used to pull the ring off however i was not able to refix these as i didnt have the tool or fixing (whatever these may be- anybody any ideas??). Again the grille needs to be removed by rotating the bottom edge out first while pulling the grille out. Itis easier if you remove/ unfix the bottom splash tray first. Thus is because the lower part of the grille is clipped between the front bumper and lower splash tray and this helps to hold it in place.
- The splash tray is held togeather using 6 black rivets- these need to be drilled out (thanks to Mozzer24 for the heads up on this). The rivets can be seen by looking closely at the bottom edge of the bumper and teh fixings are visible between the bottom clips which are used to hold the splitter in place- 2 on each side and 2 towards the front of the bumper. The splash guard has 4 airblades/ fins which direct air into the radiator. I couldn't remove 2 of the fins as they seemed to be well clipped into place but TBH you dont need to remove them.
- the splitter is again clipped into the bumper and can be pulled out by rotating the bottom of the splitter down and towards the engine.
- The wheel arch trims are also riveted into the front bumper at the sides. These are fixed into place using 2 rivets each and are the 2 thin strips of plastic used to fix the side of the bumoper into the wheel arch bit below the headlights.
- in total you will need 10 rivets to fix the splash guard and any standard hand pop riveter.
- easy:cool:

Once all this is removed refixing it is done in reverse, generally it is awkard to remove some of the components but a bit of patience should see it pull off without breaking things. I would allow at least 3 hours from unfixing to re-fixing and you dont need to jack the car up.

I hope this posts offers some help to anyone wanting to repalce their bumper. Whilst this is not a step by step guide it should set the scene and prepare you with the right tools and what to expect along the way.

If anyone wants some more info about the front bumper feel free to ask.

Thanks for reading

Si