Removing the rear bumper - broke the bolts

[DasWauto]

Does anybody have suggestions for any other way to remove the rear bumper, other than the 2 big bolts in the bottom? I tried to remove those but was only partially successful, as in the bolts broke and the bumper is still firmly attached.

[dcramer]

Did the bolts come out ?

[DasWauto]

Originally Posted by dcramer

Did the bolts come out ?

Nope, the two whole bolts are from the front bumper. They were quite a pain to remove. The shafts of the bolts in the rear bumper are still in place, the heads are in the picture.

[dcramer]

You will probably have to destroy the bumper, but I'm not sure.

[frankie591]

try a bolt extractor, otherwise you could drill the bolt out.

[T.Dot_E30]

Another way is to take off the molding/strips, then take off the bumper cover by removing all the little push in plastic fasteners. The rebar will be left secured to the car.

Then you either need to find a way to get the bolts that hold the bumper shocks onto the body, or drill a hole in the rebar so you can fit a socket on it. You'll need to remove the rebar with the shocks attached if you can't get those big bolts out.

I think for the rear you might even be able to remove a few of the shock bolts from inside the trunk. It was the front that I think I had to drill, it's been a while since I've done it on an e30, but it can be done since I remember those bolts always being seized.

[Yamahammer]

You can remove the bumper shocks from the unibody of the car from behind the valence, and one is inside the trunk by the battery tray IIRC. There are two per side. Then you can slide the bumper off with the shocks still attached and you can drill or beat or do whatever with the whole thing out of the car.