How to Remove the Front Bumper

[Loren]

View this tutorial

How to Remove the Front Bumper

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Many folks have asked how to remove the front bumper to clean the radiators or replace the horns. So many that we thought it deserved it's own DIY here. We hope to add some pictures to this soon (since I keep forgetting to take them). Also see JeTexas excellent video DIY: Porsche 996 986 Front Bumper Removal Removing the Front Bumper 1. Remove the plastic rivet on the wheel liner (near the sidemarker). 2. Remove the center cover from the inside of the front trunk.

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• Author
  Loren
• Category
  Carrera (996) - Maintenance
• Submitted
  07/17/2007 06:08 PM
• Updated
  07/06/2010 08:56 AM

 

[salayc]

4. Remove the screws from the bottom side of the bumper. Remove the sheetmetal screws 6 and spacer sleeve 7 from the retaining strips on the left and right.

before these screws can be removed, it is necessary to remove the plastic rivets from the fender liner and push the liner out of the way.

[Loren]

1. Remove the plastic rivet on the wheel liner (near the sidemarker).

[gandrade1]

1. Remove the plastic rivet on the wheel liner (near the sidemarker).

Can I follow the instructions here to remove the from bumber on my 986?

Thanks,

Gustavo

Edited October 16, 2007 by gandrade1

[Loren]

Should be the same or very very close.

[Stefan]

Affirmed, the 996 and Boxster removal is almost identical. (I've recently done both). The process is very straightforward.

Note that most of these screws are torx screws.

Also, if you have two people it goes about twice as fast (as long as you have two sets of torx screwdrivers) and the actual removal and replacement of the bumper skin is a less hair raising with two people.

[rattles]

I did the bumper removal and radiator cleaning last weekend, followed the instructions shown in this DIY and found it to be a reasonably easy job. Loren just one point that may need a bit more explanation, in point 4 it says to remove screws and spacers 6 & 7 on the retaining strips on each side, there is no photo of the location in the scan you attached so maybe a brief mention of the location would help others, they are just forward of the wheels on the underside on both sides.

After doing the work I made up a simple attachment to fit a vacuum cleaner, it wont solve the problem completely but will remove a high percentage of the rubbish that finds its way in there before it turns to garden mulch and works its way between the two radiators. I plan to vacuum the radiators each time I vacuum the car from now on.

I cut the end of an old vacuum cleaner attachment shaping the aperture so it fits flush against the face of the radiators, connected it to a piece of flexible PVC pipe with some fittings from the local hardware store, about $5 all up. It works well.

Glenn

[wowgogs]

I just got my bumped off for the first time.. It went well.

The only thing I would add is that you have to get the wheel well covers out so that you can get the Philips head screw that comes up from the bottom into where the marker light is located.

Other than that it went very well

Thank you guys

Ryan

[Loren]

I just got my bumped off for the first time.. It went well.

The only thing I would add is that you have to get the wheel well covers out so that you can get the Philips head screw that comes up from the bottom into where the marker light is located.

Other than that it went very well

Thank you guys

Ryan

I usually just push it back and get it with a stubby phillips.

[kpl]

4. Remove the screws from the bottom side of the bumper. Remove the sheetmetal screws 6 and spacer sleeve 7 from the retaining strips on the left and right.

before these screws can be removed, it is necessary to remove the plastic rivets from the fender liner and push the liner out of the way.

I had the same issue and had to remove 3 torx screws from the inner fenderwell to get enough give to be able to get behind it to remove that #6 screw. Only removing the plastic rivit doesn't do it....at least on my car. Best to remove the front tires to get those three torx screws, though I managed without doing so

Edited April 3, 2009 by kpl

[JeTexas]

I did this over the weekend, so I videotaped it.

My apologies for the narration. I need to not drink beer while editing.

Hope this helps somebody.

Edited June 20, 2009 by Loren
Made video viewable here

[Loren]

Well done!

The only thing you might add is the air temperature sensor that is mounted in the bumper grill on Carrera's and some Boxsters.

Just snap it out of the grill. Then when you remove the air duct you can push the rubber grommet through the air duct and just let it hang while you work.

[X-UFO]

That is an excellent video. Thanks for posting.

You've made it really clear.

Good job B) B) B)

[kbrandsma]

Very good, thanks for posting!

[MikeA]

At the risk of sounding repetitive, very good video and well narrated. Timing is perfect for me since one of my horns stopped working and I will need to pull the bumper to get at it.

Thank you for taking the time to make and post the video.

[996noob]

I did this over the weekend, so I videotaped it.

My apologies for the narration. I need to not drink beer while editing.

Hope this helps somebody.

Fantastic! Thanks for making the video.

I'm going to attempt it this weekend.

[DublinOh]

Just another thank you...well done

[cmgleason]

As I was entering the expressway this guy in his 4 X truck deliberately moves into the only place I can enter so I hit the brakes & horn but HORN! I don't use the horn very much & this is on an 04' Targa with 15000 miles but I sure needed it then. Can't possibly be both horns but after reviewing the info on the site I figured that was all that was left & anyway I could at least clean the radiators while I was at it. Well it was both horns & a trip to Pep Boys for the double the decible model worked out great. Only issue was with the rivits by the wheel wheels. They took me forever to get out. I tried the lubricant but on my car there are two differant plunger type of rivits. There is the standard described in this thread which was relatively easy to get off but there is another type that has an off set plunger. You can tell the differance by the indentation on either side of the plunger suitable to fit a small flat blade screwdriver. The first one took me a good hour to get off. Use lubricant & work each side of the plunger until you get it all the way out. I moved it in & out to try to get the lubricant to work a bit better as well as side to side. I did this to release the interior wheel shields as I could not bend mine from behind the bumper to get to the interior screw under the side marker light. Many thanks for the video & write up. Btw I don't think both horns "suddenly" went out but rather one went & I never realized it and then the other just stoped an a very inconviniet time.

[jose]

Very Nice Info Thanks :D If you have more of those necessary videos let me know I'll be glad to see them.

As I was entering the expressway this guy in his 4 X truck deliberately moves into the only place I can enter so I hit the brakes & horn but HORN! I don't use the horn very much & this is on an 04' Targa with 15000 miles but I sure needed it then. Can't possibly be both horns but after reviewing the info on the site I figured that was all that was left & anyway I could at least clean the radiators while I was at it. Well it was both horns & a trip to Pep Boys for the double the decible model worked out great. Only issue was with the rivits by the wheel wheels. They took me forever to get out. I tried the lubricant but on my car there are two differant plunger type of rivits. There is the standard described in this thread which was relatively easy to get off but there is another type that has an off set plunger. You can tell the differance by the indentation on either side of the plunger suitable to fit a small flat blade screwdriver. The first one took me a good hour to get off. Use lubricant & work each side of the plunger until you get it all the way out. I moved it in & out to try to get the lubricant to work a bit better as well as side to side. I did this to release the interior wheel shields as I could not bend mine from behind the bumper to get to the interior screw under the side marker light. Many thanks for the video & write up. Btw I don't think both horns "suddenly" went out but rather one went & I never realized it and then the other just stoped an a very inconviniet time.

Edited September 23, 2009 by jose

[GulleyGulley]

Wish there was video for every repair. Nice work. Thanks for posting it.

[conscom]

Can anyone tell me if this instruction will also work on my 997 which I just recently acquired? BTW Thx for the great video gives

gives me more confidence to attempt this on my own.

[Loren]

Can anyone tell me if this instruction will also work on my 997 which I just recently acquired? BTW Thx for the great video gives

gives me more confidence to attempt this on my own.

No, the 997 front bumper is slightly different. See the thread here or here.

[fbgh2o]

Excellent video... I just did mine in under 2 hours (most of which was spend actually cleaning the radiators).

Edited April 10, 2010 by fbgh2o

[britdave]

Is removing the bumper really necessary ? Can't you just get in that space with a "very" small vacuum attachment ? Also how about putting some screening behind the intake vents,like screen on a window. Wouldn't that stop all that debris,without restricting air flow ? Another pain in the butt service that has to be performed,courtesy of Stuttgart eh ?

Edited September 7, 2010 by britdave

[britdave]

Any thoughts about putting some type of screen behind the openings ? Like window screen ? The air would still easily flow in,but NOT the debris. And does one really need to remove the bumper ?