After I bought my first car, I have to admit that I never knew the importance of tire rotation. I learned my lesson the hard way when the tread of my front tires wore down very quickly, while my back tires were still in great shape. I thought that the traction of the back two would make up for the front two. I learned I was very wrong one day when I slammed on my breaks while driving in the rain. I rear-ended the vehicle in front of me. Thankfully, no one was injured. However, I learned that if I had rotated my tires regularly, I could have avoided that accident. I know there are many new car owners who don't know much about cars, which have since became a passion of mine, so I decided to create a blog to share all my tips to help others!
Winter road conditions can deteriorate within minutes and cause a lot of small fender benders. In some cases, the bumper cover gets ripped and damaged and may need to be replaced. This is a project that most car owners can do themselves in less than an hour. The hardest part may be finding a replacement bumper cover at a low cost. The best thing to do is call the auto salvage yards in your area to see if they have a bumper cover you can buy at a fraction of the cost of purchasing a new one. Once you get the replacement bumper cover, here is how you can replace the damaged one with it.
You Will Need:
Remove Screws
The bumper cover is held onto the bumper with screws and clips. There are five screws on each side of the bumper cover that you have to remove and three clips called connectors in the middle of the bumper. Start on the passenger side of the car by removing the screws in the wheel well. The first screw is located at the bottom edge of the bumper cover and can be easily seen. The second screw is located at the top of the bumper cover. You have to pull back on the lining in the wheel well to expose this screw. You need to use a socket to remove these screws.
The third and fourth screws are located on the underside of the front of the car where the bumper cover
Remove Connectors
You now need to remove the connectors. The first two connectors are on the underside of the bumper near the middle of the front of the car. The bumper cover has "wings" that go under the car. The connectors are at the end of the wings. The third connector is located in the middle of the top of the bumper just above the grille. Slide the tip of the small flathead screwdriver under the cap on the connectors and
Take off Bumper Cover
Go to the edge of the bumper cover by the wheel well and pull the cover toward you. The bumper cover will come right off. You will see the bumper and a couple of Styrofoam blocks that you will set the new cover on as you install it onto the car.
Install New Bumper Cover
Position the bumper cover on the Styrofoam blocks on the bumper so the connector hole on top of the cover lines up with the hole
30 November 2016
