Sagging arse
06-15-2013, 06:03 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Sagging arse
It's been annoying me for sometime now that the bumper on MY02 is poorly fitting around the rear lights. I unclipped / unscrewed it today with the view of putting it right, only to find that it is aligned as best as it will go 
She is an old car so I'm wondering if this sagging is common? Admittedly most nice rear ends sag over time
Alternatively I wonder if its been replaced after and accident or something but can't find any record of such in the paperwork (which is really extensive from all 3 owners) and just fits badly.
Anyone else noticing this?
She is an old car so I'm wondering if this sagging is common? Admittedly most nice rear ends sag over time
Alternatively I wonder if its been replaced after and accident or something but can't find any record of such in the paperwork (which is really extensive from all 3 owners) and just fits badly.
Anyone else noticing this?
06-15-2013, 06:15 AM
#2
Mine's always sagged a bit on the right hand side. I replaced it last year after somebody drove into the back of me, but the new bumper is exactly the same as the original.
The brackets at the bottom are bendable, I guess they could pull downwards a bit too much. Other than that it's hard to see what else you can do.
The brackets at the bottom are bendable, I guess they could pull downwards a bit too much. Other than that it's hard to see what else you can do.
06-15-2013, 06:28 AM
#3
The bumper mounting brackets have ovalled holes; they may be re-aligned in order to make the shutlines consistent. The clip mounting edge on the bottom of the wings can also be bent about a bit.
It's very time-consuming, pulling bumpers on & off & tweaking the brackets, to get it right. That's why most make a pig's arse of it. It seems every time one pulls the bumper off, they never quite go back the same & I've had to tweak the Civic & 'Lude when swapping the headlights about.
It's very time-consuming, pulling bumpers on & off & tweaking the brackets, to get it right. That's why most make a pig's arse of it. It seems every time one pulls the bumper off, they never quite go back the same & I've had to tweak the Civic & 'Lude when swapping the headlights about.
07-28-2013, 01:11 AM
#5
Registered User
take the back light out, align the bumper, keeping the pressure applyed, drill a hole and install a rivit to keep it in the right place, reinstall light
07-28-2013, 01:18 AM
#6
I need to sort this out on mine to, when i removed my bumper the square location hole's along either sidejust snapped off, looking at photo's taken yesterday I was thinking i will need to remove it again and find a solution.
Some interesting thought shere already and pointers.
I think its fairly common, Lovegrova said he has the same issue
Some interesting thought shere already and pointers.
I think its fairly common, Lovegrova said he has the same issue
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07-28-2013, 02:17 AM
#8
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How sure are you that it hasn't been involved in an accident? lift the carpet and check the boot seals for any damage or replacement sealing. Also check for creases or pulls. I have a friend who purchased a 2003 ap1 which had rear damage, which needed a tug to realign the rear and it was hard work marrying the gaps and even after completion it still wasn't 100%
07-28-2013, 08:14 AM
#10
Ok had a go at the saggy arse today. basically it needs lifting towords the rear. The plastic locators along each side did't seem to want to move depsite lossening screws and not sure if this would have an effect.
It seems the rear of the bumper just wants to sag down at the corners
l
With lights out as suggested i shoved and pushed and managed to get the gaps closed and everything reasonbly lined up within the limitations of the tolerances of the body shell and bumper, things do not line up perfectly , the curve of the bumper and the wing where they meet at the light unit differs from side to side and is in now way a perfect match.
I found that i needed to bend up the location tags on the brackets under the lights to allow the bumper to lift up, indeed on the near side i let the bumper sit on top of these.
Then i realised i was missing a screw either side, although i dont remember taking them out form this location, I also added a self drilling seft tapper further along near the middle, there are lots of holes in the bumper with no corresponding brackets or fixing points , maybe that was as a result of cost engineering as the car went into production.
Any way photo's
You can see in the pic above shoving and pushing with ohter fixings removed you can get it to sit right, the porblem is holding it there, you can see 2 slots for fixings in the pic, I found there was a hole for a self tapper for the outer most on each side and its at this point i packed the bumper up with 3 or 4 M6 SS mudgaird washers\
Above I bent up the location tabs to alow the bumper corners to rise
The screw to the right is the one that seemed to have a hole in the bumper and a corresponding one in the bracket it's here that i packed up the bumper
This is the screw i added on each side to further secure the bumper, you can clearly see all the un-used fixing holes in the bumper in this photo
End result which is far better than it was .
TO further improve the fit the only way forward i can see is to make some brackets and bolt them to the big seam and use those to lift the corner. Also if you improve the fit by pulling the sides back, you then make the light unit fit worse. I suppose you could pack the light unit out a bit but them it would leak unless you made thicker seals
It seems the rear of the bumper just wants to sag down at the corners
l
With lights out as suggested i shoved and pushed and managed to get the gaps closed and everything reasonbly lined up within the limitations of the tolerances of the body shell and bumper, things do not line up perfectly , the curve of the bumper and the wing where they meet at the light unit differs from side to side and is in now way a perfect match.
I found that i needed to bend up the location tags on the brackets under the lights to allow the bumper to lift up, indeed on the near side i let the bumper sit on top of these.
Then i realised i was missing a screw either side, although i dont remember taking them out form this location, I also added a self drilling seft tapper further along near the middle, there are lots of holes in the bumper with no corresponding brackets or fixing points , maybe that was as a result of cost engineering as the car went into production.
Any way photo's
You can see in the pic above shoving and pushing with ohter fixings removed you can get it to sit right, the porblem is holding it there, you can see 2 slots for fixings in the pic, I found there was a hole for a self tapper for the outer most on each side and its at this point i packed the bumper up with 3 or 4 M6 SS mudgaird washers\
Above I bent up the location tabs to alow the bumper corners to rise
The screw to the right is the one that seemed to have a hole in the bumper and a corresponding one in the bracket it's here that i packed up the bumper
This is the screw i added on each side to further secure the bumper, you can clearly see all the un-used fixing holes in the bumper in this photo
End result which is far better than it was .
TO further improve the fit the only way forward i can see is to make some brackets and bolt them to the big seam and use those to lift the corner. Also if you improve the fit by pulling the sides back, you then make the light unit fit worse. I suppose you could pack the light unit out a bit but them it would leak unless you made thicker seals