Got my s5 frt. bumper skin back from the bodyshop today, and I was trying to mount it, I noticed that the bumper seemed like it was short horizontally. If I get the studs started on the passenger side of the bumper and get it lined up with passenger side frt. fender, i walk over to the drivers side and notice that the bumper is about a inch short of the holes in the drivers side front bumper and the end of the bumper is about a inch short of lining up with the drivers frt. fender. so my question is how can this be? P.S. my car is a s4 car.

 

It is plastic, so it could just be that it's cold. The bolts should (and most often do) fit perfectly. Your best bet is to find a warm place to install it... or heat the bumper beforehand, but not to the point where it might harm the paint.

 

hmm true, it is ******* cold outside, and obviously I can't sit it out in the sun due to the shitty *** weather...could I maybe use a heat gun or something?

 

Be very very careful with a heatgun, you don't want to scorch the paint or the plastic. Your best bet is to just put it in your house near a heater for a couple of hours. But, once again, be careful that it doesn't scorch. I know that once paint is done it takes a good bit of heat to burn through it, but you can't be too careful, especially with fresh paint.

 

That, or your car has been in a wreck before. We just installed one this week in cold *** weather (35-40*) and it went right in place, save about 1/2" of gap in the beginning.

 

well my stock s4 bumper use to fit ok..and the s5 from what I can tell hasn't been in a wreck. The bumper did sit outside for about 3 hrs. in 40 degree temps. Is it possible that it could've shrunk some?

 

anythig up to 1/2" or so could be attributed to temperature. More than that, not really. Course, I'm no bodyman by trade, but I have removed and installed a number of front ends on these cars...never seen one that didn't damn near slide right into place.

 

well my inch measurement isn't exact...I just guessed..I've got the bumper in my house now, and I'm going to retry putting it on tomorrow....I was just curious if it was even possible for the thing to contract or not?

 

Sounds like you got the bumper off a 99/100th scale model s5.

But seriously though, try it again and make sure it is not caught on anything. Take a pic if you can. I'm curious to see how far off it could be.

 

*L* yeah like I said I'm going to let it sit in my house overnight, then I'm going to retry tomorrow, it it still doesn't fit I will take a pic then.

 

Are you installing a S5 on a S4?

 

yes i am why?

 

They don't line up perfectly

 

I've done the swap and never had a problem at all. You will notice about a 1/8" gap on each side, where the material of the s5 never mates up perfectly, but that is all.

 

they line up just fine...if you sent this bumper to the body shop it could be that it is a little warped...mount one side not even hand tight and try to stretch the bumper far enough to reach the other - then tighten both down. I'm not sure about the OEM ones but my aftermarket S5 nose (hehe no embossed mazda logo) is urethane...if the OEMs are urethane it could just be slightly warped in which case you could heat it up and "bend" it back.

 

ok...well that's what I am going to do is trying to heat it up....

 

what are s4 and s5, etc? I hate being a noob, but I am so I gotta ask stupid questions!

 

US= S4/'86-'88 S5/'89-'91

 

what does this have to do with my question? Thread hijack????

 

If you have any friends with an S5 try trading them and see if theirs fits?

 

well guys I got the bumper on today, I now know what was holding me up, my front mount piping was getting in the way, so I had to do some mild trimming of the bumper to get it to fit correctly. It was a pain in the ***, but I got it,and it looks a hell of a lot better then it did with the s4 bumper on there......thanks for all the help and input.

 

It was just a quick question. Excuse the F&#$ out of me!