Prius Rear Bumper Cover loose and gap?

if you're doing alexendra's version, he gave the dimensions for his already several post back. As alexendra explained and having done the mods myself, I recommend his version rather. The one you are trying to figure out mindfk will cause the bumpers to expand outwards and will give you that Forest Gump friend Bubba's lower protruding lip look.

 

I actually tried this earlier. And so far it works!
My car was parked one day at Target and someone came in a bit too close with their truck. I was lucky that the driver was honest and waited for us to come back to our car. The body shop worked on the car, but this bumper thing never actually worked. It always popped out no matter what. I learned to deal with it for a while.

However, I read this thread and I had these small slim pieces of plastic laying around. They were originally from a SSD/HDD. I put some Grey 3M tape on it and cut to size. The bumper now "SNAPS" into place as it did before.

Just wanted to share this with you guys. Thanks everyone!

 

Where did you put the plastic pieces? On the rear bumper or the bumper holder? More pics please

 

holder/

 

Thanks for the info. My 2015 3 is having a saggy nice person issue. I'm sure these fixes will solve the problem.

 

Any updates on this? I tried the pads + 3m sticky tape and it didn't really fix my bumper sag. Sags more under the rear tail light instead of on the side. Not a lot but enough to bug me.

 

Try to inspect the two retainers:No.52575 and No.52576. If their situations are good, adjust their positions.
If If their situations are not good, replace them.
If the bumper cover is over-deformed, you maybe consider changing it.

 

Hi guys, was wondering if there were any updates to this topic. I found some instructions to remove the entire bumper and it seems like there are two clips that hold the top rear part of the bumper, on the left and right of the ledge, ledge being the thing below the trunk opening.


I was wondering if it was possible that this gap is due to the clip being broken? My gap is getting bigger and bigger I feel like. Of course the dealership won't replace it for free since I bought it used and the used car warranty does not cover this. And of course they said they have to replace the entire bumper.

 

On ours the gap got to a certain point, then got no worse. I put it down to a poor design, just leave it, not too noticeable.

 

You are correct in the fact that the entire rear bumper tends to not fit properly on the sides due to improper alignment at the bottom. I fixed mine with velcro and some screws. It still moves, but the gap is not nearly as bad as it was. The velcro minimizes movement and the 3M tape helps lock it in. The above guy with the 3M strips is your best shot. Cheap fix and it works. Dealer will most likely not be able to help you with this.

 

How do you adjust the bumper side retainer position? Is it just a matter of loosening a bolt, sliding it around, and then retightening?

 

Were you able to fix the side retainer position?
My 2005 was hit from behind at low speed and slightly pinched in. Installed new bumper but the sides won't hang on to the retainer very well. I suspect that the bumper is pushed in just enough to cause the bumper to fit wonky.
Any advice?

 

I haven’t been able to fix mine, the plastic from the bumper that rides on the clips is just too flimsy. I would be interested in some sort of aftermarket bracket solution that hold the bumper up in a diffferent manner.

 

Ours has had perenial saggy butt syndrome. We had a recent parking lot tap, and I mentioned the sag to the body shop. They managed to tighten it up somehow, not sure what they did. It might be slightly opening up again, not sure. I could ask them what it was they did. I'd guess some shims.

(Sounds like the stuff of infomercials: "do you suffer from perenial saggy butt...".)

 

We have brackets ....to fix sag

 

Nice, can you explain how they work? I checked out your website, I’ll probably pick some up!

 

Ordered the Torparts bracket and it helped my gap. Not perfect but I can live with it and these will prevent it from sagging more in the future.

Before and after

 

I followed your instructions and made mine from a broken IKEA shelf hook. These IKEA hooks are really cheap, made of PVC and have the exact thickness you described. Thanks for this tip!!!!

 

I use a cutting pad. It is very cheap.

 

The rear bumper on my 2011 Prius was sagging more than a quarter of an inch on the left side, so I came up with a fix that closed that Gap and is holding up just fine. I drilled a very small hole through the metal panel just behind where one of the bumper tabs (close to center side) would normally pop in, and a very small hole through that bumper tab. I then used a piece of piano wire with a small Loop to pull the bumper in from the inside and tied it off behind the little pop off piece for the rear blinker. The fix is completely invisible and very effective.