So those that remember back a few months (or have seen the car at UCKK or AutoX) know that I got in a minor rear-end accident over Christmas on my big trip back east. About 3 mph hit in Tucson, basically hurt ONLY the bumper cover (and a slight bit more....more on that below)

My insurance was big-time dragging their feet and turns out the other guy gave FALSE info anyways (which I will pursue that one!) so I decide to look into fixing it myself. Finding that the parts are about $200 ($195 to be exact, thru Subaru of Santa Cruz) and paint was $300.....it was pretty much a wash with my insurance deductible of $500. To keep it off MY insurance, I go ahead and get the part and get it painted.

I used Santa Clara Auto Body for the parts painting......excellent work (it is a VERY close match, if not exact.....not easy to do on a "metallic" color like Plat Silver Metallic!). I also had them paint my knockoff foglight covers (looks tons better than my previous rattlecan job) and my STI Grille. The STI Grille, from Subaru, did NOT match......it does now though

Go to remove the bumper tonight, and learned some things

1. We have STYROFOAM between our bumper cover and the structural bumper! This styrofoam was cracked in two (cleanly) in one spot, but ZERO damage to the structural bumper beneath. To reattach the styrofoam (the "loose" piece was in the right rear), I used duct tape.....lots of it . I'll know tomorrow when I drive the car (roommate had me blocked in the garage when I was done tonight), but I'll bet this gets rid of that annoying (and damn near impossible to find) "rattle" from the right rear of the car!

You can actually see this styrofoam (with the bumper installed) if you look above the license plate....push on the "white" stuff there and you'll figure it out.

2. The Subaru "clips" for holding on stuff SUCK! They break, are hard to re-use, are a bad design.....did I mention they SUCK!

To remove the bumper skin, first remove the taillights. This involves a few fasteners (that'll break most likely ) and then two 10mm bolts per side. Once the bolts are out, sort of pull the outside of the light away from the car (away from the car side) to disengage the rest of the light. After that, remove the additional 2 10mm bolts (one per side) that hold the bumper to the metal body beneath the light.

Next, remove the NINE clips that hold the bumper cover top to the metal. 4 are easily visible (2 below each taillight), the other 5 are between the lower edge of the rubber trunk molding and the cover itself (i.e. pretty well hidden.....and yes they are a BEEOTCH to reinstall!)

Go under the car now, and remove the 5 clips underneath (one dead center, two in the "corners", two next to the edge of the rear wheel) that hold the bottom of the cover to the metal.

Next, go into the wheelwells and remove the 10mm screw (one per side) that is near the joint of the bumper cover and sheetmetal at the top of the cover. This holds on the bracket that the top of the bumper cover is RIVETED to.

At this point, the bumper cover is ready to fall off . Have a helper help you remove it, disconnecting the license plate lights (4 philips screws) once you have it loose enough to get the screwdriver back there.

Move the license plate and bracket to the new cover. Drill out the rivets holding the side brackets to the old cover, and use rivets to reattach it to the new cover.

At this point, basically work backwards from the uninstall directions.

Took a couple of hours, taking my time.

Overall, came out pretty nice!

 

well my bumper is off also...



everything within the red outline has been cut out getting ready for the new metal...

man it hurts...

oh well, she'll be back on the road soon...

Tommy
www.mpjperformance.com
www.mpjforums.com

 

why did all taht have to be cut out???

 

well it started with this


all that stuff gets cut out to get replaced with new panels and bits and pieces...
parts of the frame was bent..

these guys do good work..so they just went at it..plus insurances covered it

Tommy
www.mpjperformance.com
www.mpjforums.com

 

ok... I was wondering cuz I have a dent on the passenger side rear bumper, and it bent the rear quarter panel a bit, not nearly as bad as yours. I am getting an aftermarket bumper and doing myself, having a shop bang out the dents in the quarter panel...

you just got me a little worried when i saw what they had to do, but your damage is much more extensive than mine...

 

Good news is the mystery rattle is very much less

Bad news is it is NOT completely gone

Oh well, time to keep hunting that mystery rattle....I think my swaybar mounts might be bumping part of the evap emissions system.

Got a better look at the paint today in the light......they did a remarkably good job on matching that paint!

BTW, if anyone wants the old cover (PSM 02 Wagon, with a couple cuts in it.....it MIGHT be fixable if you're good with fixing urethane and doing paint work) it is FREE for the next week until I throw it out or recycle it. PM me if you want it, I am in Santa Clara.