Wow, you did manage to get gap closed up. I did not use a jack - just my shoulder to force up on the bumper. There's still stuff going on up above (clips, tabs, hangers) and some sort of a more permanent fix is definitely going to require complete removal and go from there such as you did.
Dan,I tried a couple duct tape and bailing wire fixes on the bumper gap today.
Gorilla Tape - not a good look - not recommended.
Second effort involved the bailing wire. I made a couple aluminum brackets to but down over the top of the outside mounting bolts that secure the exhaust tips to the lower bumper valance.
I found a folded lip above in the body structure that let me thread an 18 ga wire through it and down to the mounting bracket where looped it through and secured it. I nutted it down loosely on the bolt and started twisting the wire with a long 1/4 inch bolt in the middle which took up the slack. The I tightened the nut down to preload the support to the bumper and when I was tight I then finished up twisting the wire until it was picking up the load from the corner of the bumper pretty good.
Here are the before and after photos of the pass side.
I measured the gap with feeler gages just before the turn to the back side and the pass side closed up from.079 in to .037 in.
Here is the driver side before and after.
Not much visual change on this side but it did close up a little. I thought this side looked worse before I started but it measured at .045 inch when I got to this side and closed up to .035 inch. Maybe since I did the pass side first it had already closed up a little as a result.
It still should fit tighter than this and I don't have high hopes this is a permanent improvement as the wire will probably stretch a little with road vibration. Possibly it will hold it and prevent it opening back up again. But I think when I have time to pull the rear bumper completely I may be able to come up with a similar reinforcement. I would need to drill a small hole through the pinch weld and use some all-thread or dowel rod to build a more rigid hanger down to the bracket. Maybe even construct some sort of trapeze with aluminum channel to span across the bottom between exhaust tip brackets.
When I posted my pix upon arrival in late May, many here noted the very tight rear bumper cover gap. Kept in garage, it is never in the sun. One summer day, I parked outside. Upon my return a few hours later, the gap was much bigger.
How is the wire pulling down?? It’s clearly attached to the actual structure of the body and the bottom part is attached to the valance. Think of it being like how an exhaust hanger works.
