Front Bumper Clips Failing R34

[robjay]

Hi All,

I had a small hit on my front RH bumper and side panel - decent scratch and a fracture on the bumper. In addition the front RH quarter panel had a small dent.

This was repaired at a panel shop for approx 1200 - private job, paint job and panel beating was good enough although not pristine (what I mean is if you look closely you could see that some small specks on the bumper were not filled and sanded overall unnoticeable.

What got me annoyed was that the bumper clips that hold the bumper flush to the body work are no longer doing that, as a consequence there is a small gap - maybe 6 mm between the bumper and the front LH panel and spans maybe 15 cm front on leaving a visible gap - this was as a result of me hitting the bumper and probably causing some of the clips to break or snap.

So anyway I am disappointed that the panel beater did not fix this up - is it not reasonable that it would be part of the deal considering the FL panel and bumper had damage resulting from the one incident. In fact it was in the discussion at the time of quoting - we discussed that the bumper would need to be taken of (bollocks - they did not take it off) they also pulled my leg on - the GT badge needs to be taken off (bollocks no.2 the paint job did not go that far or anywhere near that)

Basically I feel very let down. The assessor said that its common on these cars and there's not much he can do(bollocks no.3). When I picked the car up I questioned them about this and they said it was not in the quote and neither was anything about the removal of the bumper and the GT badge)

I have had work done at this place before and thought fondly of them and unfortunately this time round they let me down, they also send out a customer satisfaction survey but for some reason they have not sent me one this time round - wonder why. I might try and get one from reception to see if it would do me any good - but given that I've been brushed off its probably a waste of time.

Question is - is there any place where I can send feed back other than complain directly with the beater? is there anything I can do apart from naming names - which I wont do (as much as I would like to though)

Last question - should I try and fix this myself taking the bumper off and trying to find the right clips and or reattaching the bumper flush by other means. Where on earth can I even get these clips? if not is there anybody out there that can point me in the right direction.

[robjay]

Its all RH not LH.

[34GeeTeeTee]

Its all RH not LH.

No harm in pulling the inner splash guard out and having a look yourself, if you are worried post some photos of the issue and i am sure someone will help.

[iwanta34gtr]

As said above, If you remove the splash guard you will be able to see the hole, clip and screw which holds the bumper.

The plastic clip which sits in the hole in the fenders may have just come out a bit and has not been put back in correctly - needs to go in a certain angle. From memory, the hole looks a bit like a '0'. so if attempted to put in sideways, will obviously not fit in.

If the clip is actually broken and is not holding in the hole correctly because its squashed or damaged, (which is what happened to my old R34 track car from taking the bumper on and off so much) to fix this previously, I just used some thick cloth tape, wrapped around the clip with it and then used a rubber mallett to smash it back in to the hole so it was nice and tight. Bit dodgey, but after this the bumper sit flush and it stayed that way for as long as I had the car.

If you want to replace the clips, go to a wrecker or put up a WTB post on the forums. Or if you want to get potentially bent over - call Nissan spare parts for a quote.

Hope this helps, good luck with it.

Edited January 28, 2012 by iwanta34gtr

[jase_c]

I am chasing some of these bumper clips too, wondering if some if the business traders on the site may sell or be able to source some...sure theres a few of us that may need a few?