Rear Bumper attachment

[bronzebird]

Yesterday I noticed the right side of the rear bumper cover was a bit loose. It looked as though a clip had come adrift at the top of the bumper cover under the tailight.

Visited the Ford dealer this morning and they confirmed that it looks like a clip has stopped clipping the upper part of the cover to the fender. I have the Ford premium CARE extended warranty but the dealer tells me that replacing this clip is not covered under that warranty. Once the bumper is removed if they find that a Ford part (not a generic clip) is at fault they will cover the R & R of the bumper and the part, but if it is just a standard body clip it will not be covered.

I am about to take the car into a body shop to have the bumper removed and the clip replaced but before I do I wonder if anyone else has experienced this kind of weird (to me) kind of thing.

Bronzebird

[Lonestar]

Re: Rear Bumper attachment

I am glad you posted this. Mine is just as you described. I was going to craw under there this weekend and find out why. Let us know what your body shop finds wrong or missing.

[Borla Babe]

Re: Rear Bumper attachment

That is ridiculous, it doesn't matter what kind of a clip it is, FORD PUT IT THERE! Ford is the one who bullt the car, if it is falling apart, they need to fix it. Take the car to another dealership.


Just thought of something, call the parts department, have them look up the part # and tell you what brand clip it is.

[Gobird]

Re: Rear Bumper attachment

Sorry to hear that. But if it is a generic clip that is telling Ford that somewhere along the line that a non-Ford body shop did work on the car and that is why they would not cover the cost. IMHO

[bronzebird]

Re: Rear Bumper attachment

That is ridiculous, it doesn't matter what kind of a clip it is, FORD PUT IT THERE! Ford is the one who bullt the car, if it is falling apart, they need to fix it. Take the car to another dealership.


Just thought of something, call the parts department, have them look up the part # and tell you what brand clip it is.

Problem is they cannot tell what clip it is unless they take off the bumper cover. You can't see it with the cover in place. There are several generic clips and three specialty clips with FORMOCO part numbers.

Bronzebird

[Brad]

Re: Rear Bumper attachment

Once your 3/36 is up many things are no longer covered under the extended such as paint and interior, and water leaks, etc. I wonder if this may have something to do with their response

[bronzebird]

Re: Rear Bumper attachment

Yeah, the premium CARE warranty has a lot of exclusions I wasn't aware of.

The body shop has the car now and they will be taking off the bumper cover to see which clip is missing or broken.

The body shop owner told me that there are many parts on the T-Bird that have no FOMOCO part number such as plastic clips, bolts, screws, washers, etc. These are things that they call generic and NOT warranted if they fail. The original factory warranty does cover them but after that you are on your own, even when it means taking the car apart to get at the little devil that failed.

I'm hopeful that when they get it apart they will find a genuine FORD piece that is broken so I can get reimbursed for the labor but I doubt that will be the case.

Bronzebird

[bronzebird]

Rear bumper

Sorry:

Duplicate post

[V8 Cat]

Re: Rear Bumper attachment

Yeah, the premium CARE warranty has a lot of exclusions I wasn't aware of

Yes, this is a good warning for anybody approaching the end (not many of us left) of the FACTORY warranty. Don't get too comfortable as even the most expensive Ford extended warranty does not have anywhere near the coverage as the original factory one. You need to make sure any little complaints you have are resolved before the factory warranty ends.

[Ol'Dave]

Re: Rear Bumper attachment

Sorry for my little chuckle I just had. But I took my rear facia off. Wait till you hear what they had to go through. It does not come off as quick and easy as one might think. That is why they are hedging their coverage. TIME/Labor.

[Brad]

Re: Rear Bumper attachment

Is the rear assembly much different than the front? The front comes off in about 5-10 mins....VERY simple

[Ol'Dave]

Re: Rear Bumper attachment

Is the rear assembly much different than the front? The front comes off in about 5-10 mins....VERY simple

Well, it's not that it isn't simple, but, you have to disassemble the inside of the trunk as well, just to access the "clips".

[bronzebird]

Re: Rear Bumper attachment

Okay....just got my car back from the body shop.... Rosebud Collision is the shop with locations in Loganville and Snellville, Georgia.

(I gave them a plug because Eddie, the owner was more upset than I was about the extended warranty not covering this job).

They took out the right tail light assembly, loosened the facia at the left wheel well and shifted the bumper cover back to check the clips. One plastic clip had broken, but Eddie didn't like the fact that the factory only used one clip so he put two in that area to secure it better. Then he buttoned it back up and called me to come and get it.

There was no charge (thus the plug), as he says it wasn't that big a deal and my warranty should have covered it.

Bronzebird

[redbirdsal]

Re: Rear Bumper attachment

Okay....just got my car back from the body shop.... Rosebud Collision is the shop with locations in Loganville and Snellville, Georgia.

(I gave them a plug because Eddie, the owner was more upset than I was about the extended warranty not covering this job).

They took out the right tail light assembly, loosened the facia at the left wheel well and shifted the bumper cover back to check the clips. One plastic clip had broken, but Eddie didn't like the fact that the factory only used one clip so he put two in that area to secure it better. Then he buttoned it back up and called me to come and get it.

There was no charge (thus the plug), as he says it wasn't that big a deal and my warranty should have covered it. Bronzebird

That was very nice of Eddie/Rosebud Collision. The "plug" is well deserved!

Congratulations to you and your Bronze Baby!

[Sandgnat]

Re: Rear Bumper attachment

Okay....just got my car back from the body shop.... Rosebud Collision is the shop with locations in Loganville and Snellville, Georgia.

(I gave them a plug because Eddie, the owner was more upset than I was about the extended warranty not covering this job).

They took out the right tail light assembly, loosened the facia at the left wheel well and shifted the bumper cover back to check the clips. One plastic clip had broken, but Eddie didn't like the fact that the factory only used one clip so he put two in that area to secure it better. Then he buttoned it back up and called me to come and get it.

There was no charge (thus the plug), as he says it wasn't that big a deal and my warranty should have covered it.

Bronzebird

Service like that deserves to be quoted again. Plastic clips! Well that would explain. Wonder if there is something that will work that is metal?

Our 04 has never been to a body shop and both sides have a gap. At least 1/8 on the passenger side and about 3/16 on the drivers side. We've got about 50k on the car now and this has been getting progressively worse for some time.

Did the body shop give you a part number for the plastic clips? Will check with our dealer and see what story we get. Just visited them to get the refund for the 5 COPs we paid to have replaced so I know they will be SOooo happy to see us return. I might just try to install new ones myself if we get the same story.