Rear Bumper Alignment
 

Long story short, I had a hitch (OEM one) put on among other things and when I picked up the vehicle, I noticed that the bumper was sitting lower and slightly further back on the left side compared to the right. The shop manager told me that you cannot do any adjustments and we looked at two other E53s and they looked the same with the left side lower and slightly back.

I never noticed anything being off before that (mainly b/c I never paid attention), so is this true that no adjustment is possible? Or is there a possibility that the bumper was not put on correctly? If so, what is the trick to get it right?

Here are a couple of pics showing what I mean. Also, no pic but the left side is not as far forward as the right side is.

http://gallery.me.com/migault/100011...12737056530001
http://gallery.me.com/migault/100011...12737056540001

You've got a Minnesota license plate that says "Minnesota" ???

haha funny how you noticed that xD

Try going to a good local body shop and see what they can do for you.

I guess I'm just an ass-man like Minnesota dude.

LOL... I just copied the top part of the plate over the numbers. :p:

A good local body shop is who did the job and told me no adjustments are possible. Then, I went to my local BMW body shop and they told me the same thing. :dunno:

Yeah I figured that part, just joking around a bit.

Honestly I have no idea about the alignment. Since so many people have done their own hitch installs I'm sure someone will chime in with some great info.

strange, not sure if i read it wrong but on the FAQ's installation guide of a Hitch they said to tighten the screws the allign the bumper correctly. this is from memory so i am not 100% sure

My bumper also sits lower after an OEM hitch install. No matter how many times I try to readjust, it doesn't sit any higher. The reason I believe is because the hitch cross bar and mounts replace the old bumper supports that hold the carrier bolts. It sits lower, so where the bumper rests on the new mounts, it's lower. I've read a couple other people on this forum with similar results, so I can assume at this point that it's normal.

Have you read through the installation instructions to see where it might help you out in the inquiry?

That's what I am hoping for. I know there are some tabs on the sides that the bumper slides in. I am wondering if there is a way that it could be slid in the wrong position and therefore be off side to side.

The instructions say nothing about it, but I remember reading the articles that one person had to wiggle it to sit it just right. Unfortunately, I have no pics of what that area looks like to see how it goes in.

Strange... Does yours sit lower on one side vs the other, or lower all the way across? Normal, really? :(