I was out scrubbing bugs off the front end of my car when i noticed something move. I thought my headlight was loose at first but futher investigation revealed the hold front end underneath the hood moves alot. if i grab the fog light area i can actually lift up the front clip! I was wondering if any of you guys have noticed this. I'm not sure if the the idiot that put my clutch in didn't put something back together right or if its normal. just seems like it should not be moving. guess i'll have to make a brace for it or something

 

mine is like that aswell

 

well that just sucks. you'd think it would at least be semi solid...

 

i hear ya. when i wash my car and rub on the front bumper i can feel it move on me. im always afraid im gonna push it off or something. but hasnt happpend yet

 

i wonder how hard it would be to fab a brace of something for it. make it a little sturdier.

 

I doubt you could do much to brace it... you can take the whole front clip off and it'll flop around like its paper... not much back there. The back end is the same way... give it a little push back by the rear wheel wells where the back end bolts on.... it'll move too.

These cars have the cheapest body work I've ever seen.

 

When changing back to summer tires this week I noticed the same thing ,Investigated a little and notice that behind the tire straight in where the splash guarding attaches there is a hole in the flashing that matches up with a hole in the metal on the back wall that looks like it would take one of those push in christmas tree things.
But its not there,if it was I think it would firm things up considerably.
Check it out.

 

I'll have to take a look... probably another one of those poppers... can you order those things? Do they have a part number? I had the dealer replace some a month or so ago when I was in for an oil change... I just need to get some.

 

It is just plastic with not much behind it. The only place where the bumper contact the body of the car is at the fenders. This is typical for any vehicle with a plastic front end. I manage a collision center so I get asked this question a lot. I just usually ask the customer to pick out any other car on my lot and pull that bumper. They are usually surprised at the results.

 

thanks for the info guys! It really suprised me to see how much the front clip moved. Hopefully it stays attached!

 

Dont forget your car was made by GM so theres half inch holes for 1/4 inch clips and bolts. Kenhebe is right though, i'm a bodyman. I see this all the time on all kinds of cars, most bumpers will have about 8 clips and 2 screws holding them on, thats why when you look in an estimating program its called a bumper cover, and the big rebar underneat is the actual bumper. Thats bolted on solid, thank god. ;-) Then they sandwich a peice of foam in between both of those called an absorber, for low speed impacts. Its not uncommon to see the cover get ripped off in a crash, but i still always think its funny when people take pictures and say LOOK! my bumper landed 20 feet away from my car! OMG!

 

If you need to raise the nose I found that you can put spacers between the energy absorber and the steel bumper. The whole front end is basically held up by the energy absorber. The entire center section is held on by plastic retainers while the only real "hard" attachments are where the fascia attaches to the front fender (3 bolts on each side).

 

Flexibility is good, guys.


Imagine running into a hard object:

Stock: Bumper flexes, may or may not scratch, but no structural damage.

Modified (fitment): Bumper cracks/shatters because it has no moving room

 

with as much movement it has going on i think i would bounce off of whatever i hit!