I took the bumper of my Prius Prime 2019 off to do some diagnostics of my front active grill. Now I have a hard time installing the bumper back. The main problem is to engage the 3 clips on each side. I have been working on this for about two hours but have little progress. I tried really hard to push the bumper cover upward into the clips but I cannot do it on either side. what I was trying to do is demonstrated in the following video: I tried to push it from two directions but I cannot get the two outermost clips engaged. And my hands hurt so much… Any tricks on making this task a little easier?
The plastic loops on the bumper cover tend to get bent down easily... So you want to find those loops and ensure they are in a position to latch onto the clips. In older cars the loops can break off entirely and you'll need a plastic tool on your soldering iron to melt new loops on in place of the missing ones. The plastic to do this with is usually snipped off the inside of the bumper cover in a location that's not visible once the bumper cover is installed. Alternatively, sometime the clips will break off when removing the bumper cover and you need to buy replacement clips.
Another issue with the bumper covers not clipping onto the fender is the bumper cover alignment. It's the same issue on both the front and rear bumper covers. Instead of clipping in the bumper covers to the fender last, clip them in first so you can see the correct alignment. It might take a couple of shots at hanging the covers to get it right.
These should work. They come in multiple colors too. Bumper Quick Release, Mellbree Quick Release Trunk Front Rear Bumper Fasteners Fenders Holders Kit Compatible for Universal Car Bumper (Red 4 x Quick Release Tabs with 12 x O-Ring Fastener） https://a.co/d/febFtC5 Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Lol, why would you want to destroy the clean look of your car with those silly things? They are designed for lowered cars that are constantly hitting the ground when it's not perfectly flat, not for normal cars that need a much stronger fastener that never comes loose. Of course most people use duct tape... I've cleaned lots of duct tape residue off bumper covers after fixing them correctly. It's annoying!
As @PriusCamper said, it's easier to line them up and snap into place if you do that before installing the clips around the wheel well. It's OK to put in the clips on top of the front in the radiator area. That helps support it. Then lift up on the bottom of the cover to line up those clips you were trying to force into place. Now that you've beat on them when not lined up they might be kind of bent and hard to insert. If you also had the bottom fasteners off, save them for last.
Lol, those come in many colors as well. Have you seen the duct tape "fashion/bikini" shows? Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
