Bumper/tailgate issue
 

guys I have an issue: car was bumped and now when I close the tailgate or open it it runs the bumper. I felt around and seems like the inside bumper clips popped out. Any suggestions or thoughts or take to dealer and play dumb? No damage it was just I guess someone backup parking but non the less ...

Same thing happened to me the guys in my parking garage like to play bumper cars, I do have a pretty thick bumper guard that wraps around the bumper so there aren't any blemishes on it. Took it into the dealer and they admitted that the clips that hold the bumper on are subpar, obviously I'm not the first to complain about this. Luckily I'm still under warranty so they ended replacing the entire bumper. If they do it for you inspect their work after, they ended forgetting to replace the bolts that hold the bottom of my fender flares to the inside of the wheel well.

There have been reports in the past about this.... clips can pop off or become detached.

Do you think the dealer will fix it and not understand this was a bump? Your playing dumb might not force them into playing.

:cool:

Which dealer did you take it to?

Ard, this was a parking bump there are no blemishes and I've seen threads all over on those. I'm hoping they will remediate because a parking bump should not render the bumper useless. Every sigle other car I've owned has been bumped one way or another.

By the way I'm still under warranty its a 2013.

Mine is a 2013 as well and my dealer is BMW of Westchester. Your right a small kiss on the bumper should not force you to do a Fonzie fist bump to get the bumper back under the lower tailgate everytime you open it.:thumbup:

Sounds like you need to take this issue up with your automobile insurance company. Or, just pay for this small collision (bump) yourself. Perhaps, buy some new clips and do the repair yourself?

I don't see how this is a BMW warranty issue.

R&R the bumper skin, fix the clips, maybe fix broken clips is a 2+ hr job. You think a dealer will say "yes, cars should tolerate bumps, we will pay this out of our pocket" since BMWNA will almost surely deny for this claim.

I agree bumpers should be more robust- but you cannot settle claims based on 'it was reported as a minor tap'. Thats the crux of this thread: yes, BMW has a weak design. How hard was it bumped? Was it due to a weak design or a strongish bump?


Play dumb, say 'it looks like heat has caused this to pop up- I read there are issues with the clips that hold it in place'. Once you mention a parking lot bump you are done. IMO

Right, I did not mention a thing about the parking garage, I even left the bumper guard at home.

regdfry we're talking about parking and i'm going on an assumption that it was bumped because i noticed it after having been parked and went to open the trunk. it could as easily have been me leaning on the bumper while putting in a few heavy items. point is a bump or press or call it whatever should not yield clips to pop. thats poor design.

and ard i wasnt planning on telling them it was a bump i'm only assuming it was a bump because the car was on the street roughly when i realized this little predicament, i dont actually know how long it has been like that because i havent used the tailgate in a bit so for all i know its been a while. in either case i'm going monday.

My dealer replaced mine for me, but like Ard is hinting at, it's not a cheap fix. They had to replace my entire new bumper, and yes, they know it's a bad design and all, but your dealer won't do it if you remotely mention any sort of contact and they run the risk of getting the claim denied by BMWNA.

As far as I'm concerned I came out to my car in the garage at home and opened to trunk and when I closed my tailgate it snapped. I looked and saw it was rubbing the bumper. End of story

If it's the lower tailgate portion rubbing the bumper, that should be an easy fix. Couple of clips probably popped out of place. I mentioned my similar problem to my SA during a service vist. The tech came out and in literally one minute had put the clips back in place. Obviously a common problem.

yeah its the lower tailgate rubbing bumper fairly dead center. the issue is the bumper in that spot is not clipped in and i just cant figure out if the clips are broken or if it just snapped off. i tried to pop back in/on but dont know the proper way and have been unsuccessful. taking it to dealer will see what happens. regardless of the circumstances this should not be happening. i've seen at least a dozen reports on other sites and around which is a bit disconcerting.

Paradoxically, breaking off those two clips actually fixes the issue, w/o any adverse effect.

Well apparently as everyone said the internal skeleton with clip rail is busted so need new bumper. Do I use an Indy shop or bmw in house? And should I get aftermarket bumper or factory? Pros cons of each option combo!

Guessing they're not gonna cover it, huh? I'd go Indy over stealership any day

Why don't you just get some modern aerospace adhesive, squirt some where the clips were, plus a little bit more for general purposes, and place some weights on the bumper cover over said adhesive for the prescribed drying time?

It could work. . .

^^^^ This. I had the same happen to me yesterday! The clip is like an oblong socket under the top edge of the visible bumper. A small impact to the centrer of the bumper partially breaks the clip and the top part of the bumper is pushed up slightly by the broken clip and the touches the bottom of the lower tailgate.

It's an easy fix, half open the tailgate and get your fingers in and snap off the offending clip. Close the tailgate and put a heavy weight on the top centre of the bumper and leave car in the sun for a few hours and it will be flat again. Simples!

Sadly sounds like my actual entire clip rail is broken. Visually there is only a little bulge where I'm guessing the impact was but I can live with it all just for now can't use tailgate. Will talk to Indy shop to see if they can remediate without the added costs. That's for all the input. I tried to plea the bad design but that's barking up a really large tree

I just popped my bumper dead center last week when hooking up my trailer at night and one tab broke or popped up in the middle...my tailgate was rubbing/stuck as well so my method was to slowly pull back/away and up to get all three tabs in the middle off the clips and now I have a slight bulge but my tail gate opens w/o rubbing :) I'll RR my bumper later when I have time.

OK SO does anyone have any pictures of the inside of the rear bumper? today i decided to peel back the bumper again and noticed that i have all the tabs and that the only thing is they all popped out of their "rail" basically there is a channel and a slide in type "rail" i was able to pull back enough to put the center in but the 2 on the sides are very difficult dont have much room and affraid to brake bumper. very annoyed that the dealer said i need to change the bumper. anyone have any ideas how to tell if the actual "clip rail" is broken?

I don't have photos. But I have my story. The clips popped on my bumper a few months after picking up the new car. The lower tailgate used to catch on the bumper, and it scratched badly. Dealer had to replace the bumper. A few weeks after a new bumper, it happed again. Dealer was happy to replace the bumper again. I told them to wait a few years. Why fix something that's going to break again.

Horrible design, obviously a massive problem with the E70 design, and a real PITA. I've just come to a happy place with my crappy looking bumper. If this is the biggest issue with my car, I can't really complain, can I?

They don't 'pop' on their own, someone is hitting it.

I beg to differ. Two days after returning home with my new bumper courtesy of my $tealership (it took almost a week to replace the bumper because it took two tries to get the Carbon Black paint to match!?!? wtf?!?!), the clips 'popped' on their own. How do I know this to be the case? The car was parked in my garage and had not been driven.

And know that the $tealer wouldn't have replaced the bumper the first time if there was any evidence whatsoever that the car has been hit. There was not a mark or scratch or indentation of any kind on the bumper, other than the popped clips which led to the deformed top portion of the bumper, and the scratched lower tailgate. My SA and the service manager checked the car like a used car manager appraises your trade in, looking for any and every mark that might help them justify the lowball trade-price. They found NOTHING, because there was nothing to find!

I say again, it's a horrible design, something my SA was only too happy to admit after he realized this was a defect and not an owner trying to pull a fast one on the BMW warranty overlords. His words--"I am popping these clips back in all the time. BMW needs to change this design." Take it for what it's worth.

Well I have had my bumper right off mine and I can see no way it could come unclipped on its own unless the clips were broken, the bumper was deformed a lot, it was hit or it was incorrectly fitted.

I used this video as guide to remove my bumper for Execuhitch hitch install yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZWu6uL0abI
At 3:06 they show the clips.

I do see how one of the tabs can pop out. Each tab is held by a couple of plastic pieces. If the bumper moves from side to side even a little, the tab can slide off the first piece on the left, then off piece on the right. There's quite a bit of upward pressure the tab puts on those holding pieces.

I stand corrected if I'm wrong but how would it move side to side once bolted up ?

it takes very little (about 2mm) so slide off one of those clips. The bumper cover could move due to some other damage, too. That is just a suggestion :)

Oh I agree 100% if its damaged after being hit