I’ve been asked a few times about rear diffusers, and I’ve spoken about how I took my rear bumper to get that optimal fit. Since I had to do some other work on the car, I went ahead and documented the process of removing the bumper.

All the tools required for this job. A torx-20, 10mm socket, socket extension, flat head screw driver.



Start with taking out the spare tire cover and then using the torx-20 to take out the tie down clips (4). Once you have those out you’ll want to remove the plastic cover that goes across the back of the trunk, where the trunk locks. To get this black trim piece off you’ll need your flat head screw driver to pop 8 little plastic type rivets. It’s also clipped in up near the lights, so you’ll need to pull on those to pop them out. (BTW) this was around the same time I replaced the trunk lights with LED’s (of course not required). I didn’t take many pictures of this process because I really do think most of you will figure it out just based on these directions.

Once you get that black trim piece out your trunk will look like this.


After pulling back the side liner which consists of popping a plastic plug up near the trunk arm you’ll be able to get to the side of the 1/4 panel. In this picture you are looking at the driver side and I’m pointing at the 10mm bolt nearer the rear bumper. The 2nd 10mm bolt is towards the front of the car, behind that black support (I never got a clean enough picture).


Another shot of that same bolt.


On the passenger side of the car there are 2 more 10mm bolts, this shows the one closer to the front of the car. The one towards the bumper is behind what looks like that silver air tank. It’s back there and you can get to it with the ratchet. I didn’t need to take other parts off to get to it, so just feel for it.


At this point, I go for the easy bolts, 4 which which are right across the back the trunk and hold the bumper on if you were to look at it straight on from the back.. Two are right in the center and two are towards the sides. Here is a picture of one on the side and what it looks like. Again a 10mm bolt.


Here’s a shot of that same bolt but from further away. Remember there is another one in a similar position on the other side.


The last two are right in the center and about as easy as they come.


At this point you are getting very close. The next two bolts are tucked up in the wheel well. To get to them you’ll need to pop the plastic rivet and use the 10mm socket on the other nut.


Once you have those off you’ll need to get at the 10mm bolt that holds the bumper to the car behind there. I’m pointing to where the bolt is located.

Here is a pictures of the bolt, yup another 10mm, and you’ll need the extension for this one.


You have all the bolts off the car, you should have (10) 10mm. Now you just need to go under the bumper from the ground and unsnap the clips, there are two. Some people remove the bolts, but you can just unclip them.


At this point the bumper is ready to be taken off, but don’t just yank. You’ll want to slide it back because behind each wheel the bumper not only bolts on but slides onto a clip. You’ll want to remember this because when you put it back on, you’ll want to make sure that you slide the bumper back onto both of these clips.


Lastly, while I don’t have park distance control, there is an electric wire and plug. I think it might be a sensor for airbags, but I’m not sure. I can say I refrained from starting the car just in case.


Ok!!! You are done and you can remove it.


Putting it back on, I let the bumper sit on the metal bumper support and work on sliding it back into those clips. Once you have that, help yourself out and put a few of the easy bolts just on the inside of the trunk, but put them on loosely. Then I would work on the bolts on either 1/4 panel, and go from there reversing course. Any other questions feel free to PM.

 

Great info even tho I dont own a E55 Thanks for taking the time to take pics and contributing this great DIY it will probably save a lot of time and headaches for people

 

i will be using this over weekend! Thanks!

 

You were one of the people I had in mind.

 

thank you for posting a DIY

 

great diy i needed this info as well. my rear bumper has an uneven gap where it meets the trunk. i will remove bumper to see what i find.

Thanks

 

Excellent write up!

 

+1................should make this a sticky.

 

What a friggin awesome DIY. THAT'S HOW ITS DONE!!

Thanks!!

 

Superb, thank you very, very much.

 

OH! I can't believe I forgot to post a time. Total time to take the bumper off was 40 minutes, it's really not that hard.

EVERYONE - Based on all the helpful information I've gleamed from this site and its members in just two months; taking the time to put this together was the only way I thought I could pay it back.

 

Thanks for taking the time!

 

Great write up and THANKS!!!!

 

Figured I would throw this out there as well so you have both in one place

Screen shots from the WIS on how to remove the front bumper:

 

Thanks for the DIY. I just used this to align one side of my rear bumper that was slightly off. I just unloosened the bolts on the drivers side and in the fender and was able to do it without taking the bumper off. Worked great, although some of my bolts were is slightly different places (close to where you pointed).

Will post pics later...

 

This thread would be awesome if the pictures worked!

 

Here are some supplementary pics for the bolts I needed to loosen to just adjust the bumper.

http://www.amgpost.com/showthread.ph...&p=819#post819

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

I backed into my garage post. Thanks to your posting I removed the bumper and took it in for repair and paint. You saved me hundreds. Many, many thanks!

 

I'm not sure why the pictures stopped working, they actually show the full links when you are subscribed to the thread and the pictures are still in my album. I went to edit the original but couldn't see how to, so I'll try posting it again here.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I’ve been asked a few times about rear diffusers, and I’ve spoken about how I took my rear bumper to get that optimal fit. Since I had to do some other work on the car, I went ahead and documented the process of removing the bumper.

All the tools required for this job. A torx-20, 10mm socket, socket extension, flat head screw driver.


Image: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/s...1560-tools.jpg


Start with taking out the spare tire cover and then using the torx-20 to take out the tie down clips (4). Once you have those out you’ll want to remove the plastic cover that goes across the back of the trunk, where the trunk locks. To get this black trim piece off you’ll need your flat head screw driver to pop 8 little plastic type rivets. It’s also clipped in up near the lights, so you’ll need to pull on those to pop them out. (BTW) this was around the same time I replaced the trunk lights with LED’s (of course not required). I didn’t take many pictures of this process because I really do think most of you will figure it out just based on these directions.

Once you get that black trim piece out your trunk will look like this.


Image: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/s...runk-liner.jpg

After pulling back the side liner which consists of popping a plastic plug up near the trunk arm you’ll be able to get to the side of the 1/4 panel. In this picture you are looking at the driver side and I’m pointing at the 10mm bolt nearer the rear bumper. The 2nd 10mm bolt is towards the front of the car, behind that black support (I never got a clean enough picture).


Image: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/s...-bolt-rear.jpg

Another shot of that same bolt.


Image: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/s...olt-rear-2.jpg

On the passenger side of the car there are 2 more 10mm bolts, this shows the one closer to the front of the car. The one towards the bumper is behind what looks like that silver air tank. It’s back there and you can get to it with the ratchet. I didn’t need to take other parts off to get to it, so just feel for it.


Image: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/s...bolt-front.jpg

At this point, I go for the easy bolts, 4 which which are right across the back the trunk and hold the bumper on if you were to look at it straight on from the back.. Two are right in the center and two are towards the sides. Here is a picture of one on the side and what it looks like. Again a 10mm bolt.


Image: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/s...unk-bolt-1.jpg

Here’s a shot of that same bolt but from further away. Remember there is another one in a similar position on the other side.


Image: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/s...unk-bolt-2.jpg

The last two are right in the center and about as easy as they come.


Image: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/s...lts-center.jpg

At this point you are getting very close. The next two bolts are tucked up in the wheel well. To get to them you’ll need to pop the plastic rivet and use the 10mm socket on the other nut.


Image: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/s...iner-bolts.jpg

Once you have those off you’ll need to get at the 10mm bolt that holds the bumper to the car behind there. I’m pointing to where the bolt is located.


Image: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/s...t-location.jpg

Here is a pictures of the bolt, yup another 10mm, and you’ll need the extension for this one.


Image: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/s...umper-bolt.jpg

You have all the bolts off the car, you should have (10) 10mm. Now you just need to go under the bumper from the ground and unsnap the clips, there are two. Some people remove the bolts, but you can just unclip them.


Image: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/s...lips-under.jpg

At this point the bumper is ready to be taken off, but don’t just yank. You’ll want to slide it back because behind each wheel the bumper not only bolts on but slides onto a clip. You’ll want to remember this because when you put it back on, you’ll want to make sure that you slide the bumper back onto both of these clips.


Image: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/s...mper-clips.jpg

Lastly, while I don’t have park distance control, there is an electric wire and plug. I think it might be a sensor for airbags, but I’m not sure. I can say I refrained from starting the car just in case.


Image: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/s...ire-bumper.jpg

Ok!!! You are done and you can remove it.


Image: https://mbworld.org/forums/members/s...21573-done.jpg

Putting it back on, I let the bumper sit on the metal bumper support and work on sliding it back into those clips. Once you have that, help yourself out and put a few of the easy bolts just on the inside of the trunk, but put them on loosely. Then I would work on the bolts on either 1/4 panel, and go from there reversing course.

 

Just want to give thanks to s4treg for posting this rear bumper removal DIY, which I actually used about a year ago!!

 

I used this on my 2007 E350 swapping out for a pristine bumper ($150.) on March 5, 2014. Great thanks for the effort to leave this trail of breadcrumbs. Sooo much more helpful than the shop manual.

Cheers

 

Is this guy a f*ck!ng legend or what?!! A trillion thanks for this great DIY

 

Thank you so much for the details. could you please advise if the e55 amg 2006 rear bumper can fit on my e320 2005 base. Thank you.

 

Yes it can no doubt.

 

Thank you so much for your prompt respond. I will buy it today and fix it then post the picture into this great forum.