Prius Rear Bumper Cover loose and gap?

I have the same exact issue...I found all of the previous four pages of information super helpful.

I then came across a video on Youtube where this guy had a clever and easily doable solution for this problem. I'm going to attempt it and post before & after pics. Similar to the Kenstyle fix.

Enjoy;

 

Not sure if I’m doing this correctly, but here I go; has anybody gotten the dimension from the Ken Style bumper bracket? I’m looking to make exact copies. If anyone could help me out I would appreciate it.

 

I believe I have found the easiest and cheapest solution. Part can be bought at Home Depot or Lowe’s.

Everbilt Clear Bumpers 1/2” x 1”

Both sides of my bumper where hanging off because the clips weren’t “locking” in.

To fix I cut each clear bumper in half (long ways) otherwise the bumpers push the actual bumper out. I put them where the clips need the extra “push” up. Used a flathead screw driver to secure the sticky side down and then popped the bumper back on. There bumpers are soft enough to budge a little which is why how thick they are works perfectly.

 

Steven, can you elaborate on how you did this? Thanks.

 

I just brought my long-saggy bumper cover up where it belongs, using polyaramide twine from a bicycle tire bead and an eyebolt. The twine ties the rear of the bracket at the top of the bumper cover to the eye of the eyebolt. Threaded end of the eyebolt is through a hole drilled in bottom of the cover, with a nut underneath to pull it up tight. Works well, so far. Cost: $1 for the eyebolt.

 

Super straight forward. I cleaned the area of the actual car bumper, cut the rubber bumpers in half- long ways, stuck it to the spots where the clips needed a “lift” to lock in. Did it 4 spots on each side and it worked like a charm. Took 10 mins

 

Hi there. I am pretty much clueless when it comes to cars and the other day I kind of drove off the side of a curb when parallel parking. I checked my bumper and it’s now loose and there is a bit of gap. I am a new driver and a little paranoid that it is going to fall off if I go to fast. Can I try and just pop it back into place or something? thanks

 

Try pushing up-and-in at the back corners. It's not going to fall off; inside the hatch opening there's a screw at the corner: it'll still be solid.

But yeah, it's a pretty sorry situation, the "bumper" can barely support itself. Look through this thread: there's shimming fixes. I haven't bothered, and on ours the gap increases, front-to-back, quite noticeably.

 

Typical, because the cover is reasonably well supported up front near the wheel. Near the corner it is unfortunately not. I used strong string to tie mine up. (See previous post above.)

 

I’ve been letting mine sag and pop out towards the front of the rear bumper for a while. I always just walk by and tap it back it with my hand. If it’s a warm day, it just pops back out again. Like others have pointed out, the culprit is the the thin, malleable, plastic where it clips in. After checking out what some others have done, I got to work. I used a couple of old hotel door key cards, double sided taped them together for extra thickness, and then double sided tape on one side of the outside of the cards and cut them to fit where the tabs are. Once I popped everything stuck into place, it was better, but the back corner was still a little off. I removed the bumper cover screws in the back and popped it out more. There’s two more clips on either side, under the tail lights. They also had some sag to them, a little bit of play. I used what I had left of my “shims” and placed these behind the brackets to stiffen them up. This was helpful too. Finally, the grommet type washer around the screws that hold the bumper cover on in the back had a lot of play in them. For now, I just wrapped a little bit of double sided tape around those to fit the space better and lessen the play in the bumper cover. It is much better than before. I may still get a couple bumper cover quick disconnect clips that you see on people’s cars, usually on the front, but attach them to bumper cover near the rear screw and tail light. This will give a little bit more lift and tighten it up, while staying concealed.

 

Did anyone have success with mounting tape alone (so I don't need to remove anything)? Any tips with it, or recommended type?
(Edit: I just went ahead and ordered some 90# 3m tape even though I already had the 30# Gorilla tape.)

I'm sorry it's not just my Prius. It feels stupid to keep pressing it back in.

Mine really isn't that bad and has never gotten worse, I just hate it cosmetically.

It's my right-front and left-rear.

 

This appears to be a common issue. Most of us have gotten creative in our solutions. Some use double stick tape, others some type of clip fasteners, some glue and others, ..................tiny screws.

 

(First, thank you for your reply, Montgomery!)

Will the Gen 3 fix work on a 2005? If so...

I think I understand better now after watching some videos and re-re-reading this thread.

For starters I saw the screw to allow one to pull back the bumper. Until I saw that I wanted to just jam some mounting tape in the little gap, but realized I had no idea how much to jam or where and the tape is permanent lol.

I think I'll get some of those pre-made reinforcement plates. I think I understand better now after watching some videos. Wow those plates are like US$55 on eBay from Japan; I see a pair for US$17 on a Japanese site, maybe it'll let me ship to the US.

Toyota should be fixing this. It would really piss me off to spend US$55 on this myself.

 

I just got a small sheet of sheet metal from Lowe's, cut two short pieces approximately 1.5" wide, put them in a vice and hammered down a 90° flap. Then applied double sided tape under the flap and the back that adheres to the inside of the bumper cover. Then I cut a couple of rectangular pieces of 3/16" aluminum flat and secured them in place with heavy duty double-sided tape. This has been a very effective fix. In actuality, it's not so much the loose or ill-fitting sides that cause the sagging, but the very rear corners, since those areas are the heaviest. I found that the screws attached in the recessed area of each side is insufficient and if you lift the rear bumper with your hand, you can see there is usually up/down movement caused by the hole in the bumper cover being slightly enlarged. This is at least partly the result of repeatedly putting your feet or something heavy on the bumper. So, before step one above, I replaced the screws and plastic threaded insert, and with a floor Jack raising the bumper slightly,, enough to close the gaps, I installed larger machine screws and bolts, with washers on each side, and clamped it down to eliminate that shifting. Once that was done, I proceeded to the next step.

 

That has all the hallmarks of an effective plan, just hard to visualize. Did you happen to take any pictures in the process?

 

I'll try to upload some pics soon.

 

My car had that same saggy butt issue. I patched it with an eyebolt through a hole drilled in the bottom edge of the bumper, with the eyebolt's nut underneath. The "eye" end of my eyebolt is held up by cord tied to the end of the horizontal strip that's bolted to the sheet metal and that the top edge of the bumper cover is supposed to cling to. The cord must be a type that won't stretch under sustained tension. (I made the mistake of using nylon the first time.) Wire would function ok, but might rattle.

 

Well, my fix was short-lived. I'll be trying out a whole new approach which includes a strip of sheet metal, about 2" x 8", affixed to the inside of the bumper cover, with 3m heavy duty double-sided (auto) foam tape, with several neodymium magnets glued into holes that I'll drill into the plastic retainers. This may require filling the honeycomb-ish openings with epoxy to allow for the holes, so the mags will be flush. Will also place mags under each sheet metal tabs with the 90° flaps. Using Gorilla Glue to install six to eight neodymium magnets on each side should be enough to hold it in place very securely.

 

I tried something similar by removing the right side rear light, and drilled 2 small holes into the steel just above the bumper, so I could attach a zip tie. The hope was that it would be strong enough to hold the bumper in the proper, slightly raised position, to close the gap in the side. Didn't work regardless of the angle I tried, i.e., straight up, to either side, etc. It seems that in order for it to work I would have to tie it up at the very corner, just behind the side, but couldn't find a spot in that area to attach the ties.

 

Can you post a pic?