Front bumper removal
 

Hi everyone, I started removing the bumper cover so that I can change the aux fan.. I was able to remove all the bolts without any issue except for 2 of them: http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/...r-removal.html (bolt #4 and 5)The problem is, the bolt and nut are spinning together. Unfortunately, these two bolts mount onto the front crossmember which is basically a tube. There is no access to the nut to grab it so i'm stuck. Any suggestions?

Drilling it would be a last option but then what do I do when it's time to assemble it back? I won't be able to connect the nut in the back.

I vaguely remember those. I think the nuts are held by a sheet metal retainer clip. One of mine spun, too. From my foggy memory, both can be replaced if you drill/Dremel them out. You could also epoxy a nut into place or put in a nut-sert...

Is it part 20 on this diagram? That's the nut held in place by the special retainer...

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=51_3899

Thanks David, I finally got the fender off. But yeah, that nut #20 is what I need to replace

I'm also having this issue as need to replace parking sensors, but some of the bolts just spin and dont spin out and some start to come out & then wont spin anymore.

How did you fix your problem?

The new nuts will come with new cages to hold them in place. Getting them off requires some futzing.

To get them off, I shoved a flat head under the washer and pushed the screw so that it's putting the nut against the bumper frame and just cranked on the bolt. Having someone else always helps. You can also use a long nose plier as long as you can get between the bolt head and the bumper frame.

I don't have the solution for replacing the bolts yet...I have seen some plastic piece that you can insert in the bumper frame then use the bolt to fasten but not sure how well that'll work. I will keep looking tomorrow and see how that goes...

Sorry to sound like an idiot but, could you elaborate on how you got the bolt out. I have the same problem after doing some work on one of my headlight assemblies.

I have heard of some people using wall anchors in the hole in place of the bolt clip. Not sure about that as a solution.

Hi Sykocis,

In my case, the nut was spinning with the bolt (the nut came off the little carrier thing) so what I had to do was, I pulled the bolt towards me and shoved the biggest flat head screw I could find and put it between the bolt (which had a couple of washers) and the bumper. That approach pulled the nut into the bumper and locked it in (so that it's not spinning anymore). It is very helpful to have someone help you since the screw drive will slip. Another approach is to use a long nosed plier...
Putting it back was a bit of a pain, I ended up not putting 2 bolts back on (I know some will frown here but I run out of time...
You can actually buy those nuts on ebay I think, can't remember the price but someone posted the part number in this thread and you just copy paste that on ebay and it'll come up. Good luck with it.