Can I pop out black bumper inserts and put in chrome inserts? Does this need to

be done professionally or can I do it since there are black ones in place now?

Thanks! Also, does the quality vary from vendor to vendor with these?

 

Well if your black bumper inserts are Factory they have tabs on the edges that hold them in to the bumper (The chrome ones on my car do) as well as a hot glue like susbstance on those Tabs(se picture below) to make sure they do not come free. To remove the Inserts you must remove both bumpers (Not that hard to do cuase I have done it a few times), and remove the glue and push the tabs through the bumper and your inserts will come free.

 

vdubdoug - -
How about a short tutorial on rear bumper removal?

 

What ever you do don't copy Niello MINI in Sacramento. They replace my rear chrome due to cracks in it. They used a screw driver from the outside and had to repaint the whole bumper. Maybe the service guys had their kids in at work with them for the day and let them go at it.

 

well you need to jack up the rear of the car. As far as i can remember there are 7 fastners that hold the rear bumper in place.

Remove the 2 screws at the corners of the trunk.


Then you must unclip the wheel well molding on each side to get to the plastic nuts that hold the lower (smaller) wheel molding to the bumper on each side.

Then remove the screw in the center of the bumper just below the back up light.

Next remove the plastic phillips type plugs that fasten the wheel wells to the bumper (one on each side)
And you should be done.

It is easiest to work from the bottom to the top so you can reverse what I wrote so the bumper does not fall on your head when you undo that last screw....lol

 

Doug - -

Thank you!

 

Can't seem to get the rear bumper on my 04 CMS loose. I've pulled all the visible screws as well as the plastic screws that hold the body parts, but still can't get the bumper off. Am I missing something?