Howdy everyone,

I'm hoping other folks w/JCW aero kits might be able to help me out...I was washing my car a couple days ago, and when I started scrubbing the rear bumper, I "popped out" a small little semi-triangular panel that sits within a bigger black panel towards the bottom of the rear bumper. I figure it's supposed to be removable, for some reason, but I can't seem to get it to fit back in securly in the whole--I can put it in, but it starts looking like it is going to pop out again. I'm afraid to drive with it in a half in/half out condition, for fear I'll lose it on the road. But now I've got a big hole in my rear bumper.

Has anyone had the same experience? Why is this piece removable in the first place? Any tips for getting it to stay where it's supposed to go? Sorry if I haven't described the part very well--I'm hoping someone knows what I'm talking about despite my questionable description. Sorry too if this is a really dumb question--seems like this should be something that's easy to fix, but I can't figure out how! Thanks y'all!

 

Yes, I had the same experience. If you look underneath the bumper, they used what appears to be hot melt glue. That is the first time I had heard of that glue being used in an automotive application. I had to reglue mine. I also used hot melt glue, mostly as a test. I'm watching it to see what happens over time. I thought a clear RTV glue might be more appropriate.

 

Thanks for the reply! Glad I'm not the only one, although it's sort of a pain to deal with...thanks for the suggestions, guess I'll be doing the same.

 

Any idea as to the purpose of this punched-out piece?

 

It's where the rear fog light goes if you have that option.

 

So basically, if I get the JCW aero kit I better get the rear fog lights as well. Good to know!

 

Not quite that simple... as I understand you have to tear apart most of the dash and console to put in the toggle switch.

 

You can just buy the rear fog light lenses and pop them in, all it takes is 3 minutes. They sell them at outmotoring.com

 

When I bought my '09 JCW coupe with the JCW aero kit it did not have the foglights installed, thus no toggle switch on the dash. And yes, the dealer also infomed me that installing the toggle switch for these is insanely difficult and expensive, so I didn't.
I did buy the rear foglights and then bought a wireing harness kit that installs very simply and then enables the foglights to act as additional tailights and brakelights.

http://www.gominigo.com/BLK-MINI.html