Panel gap: Solved

WARNING, this is not a diy. If you can't do an oil change then you can't do this. Be smart and take your time, this is purely a guide

After reading through the complaints week by week I finally decided to take care of the bumper gap issue since I was installing a rear tow hook anyway.

I am blown away by how simple it is to adjust the bumper that no one got it fixed sooner.

I didn't take pictures for the bumper removal but essentually it's;
1 jack car up
2 remove ducting for trans cooler/ diffuser
3 remove push pins on bumper support bracket
4 remove 3 push pins from rear fender liners and pull away
5 remove screws holding in splash guards, (not completely necessary but easy)
5a remove screw on either side going through the bumper into the quarter panel
6 remove 2 push pins on either side on the bottom of the splash guard area.
7 remove center panel inside trunk, remove 4 hand driven plastic bolts
8 pull up and out to remove panel
9 remove push pin on either side and pull carpet back
10 disconnect tail light harness
11 remove 3 10mm nuts on either side of tail light
12 pull tail light out, and remove grommet with harness attached
13 start peeling back the side of the bumper
14 it will peel back all the way to the tail light area, it simple pops out.
15 pull down bumper so that the pin that slides into the tail light area disengages
16 with a helper pull from tail light area backwards, bumper will simply pop off
17. Be sure to remove harness before completely removing, its behind the passenger side of the bumper

Now the fun begins

Loosen all of the screws in this area and push up. Now tighten.



Next reinstall bumper, the lines were tight but I added these screws to prevent any future sagging. These are just simply 1/2 long self tapping screws. To be clear the screw is going into the plastic tab, no sheet metal. If you used a long one however it may hit the sheet metal.


Finished product



Close up


Before hand I had a 1/8 gap which was more at the tail light area.

Overall easy to do.

wow looks good!!

Looks good!! I think white and avalanche shows this gap more so than any other color. Mine in black, the gap is not that bad to start with, but very hard to pick it up. I'm leaving alone.

Been driving my car for a couple months now and the gap is very minimal. If it gets any larger I'll be sure to look into correcting it myself.

Nice fix. Might have to try it some day.

Great work! Mine is also black so any gap is barely noticeable. I did realign my front passenger fender to "catch" the front bumper tab by the headlight as it was assembled "untucked"

Great job. Headed to your place now...

Being that I was an auto body tech back in the day, if mine has gaps I will be doing the same thing. Great idea on the added screws! It seems like Ford should have put something there to begin with... Mine is Black but I'm very anal about things like panel fitment addle:

She's supposed to arrive on the truck today and they've been instructed to only do necessary PDI and install the splitter correctly :rant: After I give it a once over I will remove any exterior plastic in the presence of the salesman before signing any papers... Any issues WILL be documented and resolved!

looks great! Thanks for the write up.

[MENTION=17713]ARS1[/MENTION] - I need to check out your collection - I'm over in St. Pete!
Really want to see that GS!

Where are you picking up your 350?

stanglife said:

[MENTION=17713]ARS1[/MENTION] - I need to check out your collection - I'm over in St. Pete!
Really want to see that GS!

Where are you picking up your 350?

Click to expand...

Walker it should be there this morning sometime!

Thanks for the write up. I'm against putting holes in the sheet metal, but I may have to think this one over. Think it would hold Ok without the screws?
About how much does the rear bumper weigh?
Yeah, the lighter colors show the tabs worse than others because the dark colors hide in the gaps.

[MENTION=11290]xXANCHORMONXx[/MENTION] thank you for posting this! Unfortunately for me, I dropped my car off at my servicing dealership on Monday to finally fix my rear bumper fitment. Hopefully their body shop can do it correctly, if not, I'll have more to complain about, but I'll have this guide to use to fix it myself.

machsmith said:

Thanks for the write up. I'm against putting holes in the sheet metal, but I may have to think this one over. Think it would hold Ok without the screws?
About how much does the rear bumper weigh?
Yeah, the lighter colors show the tabs worse than others because the dark colors hide in the gaps.

Click to expand...

That's the beauty of it, the screw only goes into the plastic tab. It goes no where near metal.

You'd probably be ok with the screw but the bumper is heavy. A lot heavier than it looks

jwhite said:

Looks good!! I think white and avalanche shows this gap more so than any other color. Mine in black, the gap is not that bad to start with, but very hard to pick it up. I'm leaving alone.

Click to expand...

Exactly I had a 15 Ecoboost before this in gray and it didn't look as bad for sure.