New Lexus IS250 Owner Seeking Advice on Front Bumper Repair

[MS08]

Hi everyone, I’m new to the forum and recently became a proud owner of a 2009 Lexus IS250. I got a great deal on the car and have already invested around £1.5k on a major service. The car runs great, but being over 100k miles old, it has some minor cosmetic issues.

While detailing it myself, I noticed that the front bumper tabs were broken and secured with zip ties, and the plastic retainers were replaced with rusted screws. Also, the front bumper side support seems to have been shaved off. I’ve ordered a new side support bracket, and I’m hoping that installing it will allow me to properly fit the bumper.

As a beginner still learning the ropes, I’m wondering if this will be a straightforward job or if there are any tips or potential challenges I should be aware of. I’d really appreciate any guidance from this community, and I’m excited to be a part of this supportive group!

[scudney]

Hello Madhav and welcome to the LOC, hope you find the forum informative and educational, I am unfortunately unable to answer your questions directly as I have no experience on the subject matter, however hopefully someone will come along and help you out 

[steve2006]

It depends on your DIY skills but I have previously made replacement lugs and brackets on a 3D printer using PLA then plastic “welded” them onto the original position of the broken one reinforcing with wire if needed.

[MS08]

Thanks Steve,

Thanks for the suggestion! My DIY skills are decent, so I might give this a try, and I like the idea of reinforcing with wire if necessary. I’ll look into plastic welding techniques as well. Appreciate the advice!

[Linas.P]

On 10/18/2024 at 12:23 AM, MS08 said:

Hi everyone, I’m new to the forum and recently became a proud owner of a 2009 Lexus IS250. I got a great deal on the car and have already invested around £1.5k on a major service. The car runs great, but being over 100k miles old, it has some minor cosmetic issues.

While detailing it myself, I noticed that the front bumper tabs were broken and secured with zip ties, and the plastic retainers were replaced with rusted screws. Also, the front bumper side support seems to have been shaved off. I’ve ordered a new side support bracket, and I’m hoping that installing it will allow me to properly fit the bumper.

As a beginner still learning the ropes, I’m wondering if this will be a straightforward job or if there are any tips or potential challenges I should be aware of. I’d really appreciate any guidance from this community, and I’m excited to be a part of this supportive group!

welcome and good start,

Sadly it sucks to fit the bumper to IS250 and as many times as I tried I always end-up wondering if it is properly back on. That bracket that holds is just poor design, there are corresponding tabs on the bumper (or should be, but they often are broken), and if you match them, they should clip in, but again in my experience they barely hold anything. In the end bumper is secured in probably 50 different places, screws from wheel lining, bottom lip, underside plastics etc. and stays in place, but that support bracket really has no firm or positive feedback to whenever you clipped it in correctly or not, it only sorts of there to help you to hold the bumper so it does not fall of whilst you secure it in all other places.

It may be the case that I just happened to work on broken bumpers with broken brackets all the time and that is why my experience is like that, but I really missed proper "click" from these brackets. 

[MS08]

Hi Linas,

I hear you on that! I’ve actually ordered a few parts already and plan to put my DIY skills to the test—with a bit of super glue and some zip ties to see if I can make it work. If that doesn’t do the trick, I might have to see if any Lexus specialists or detailing shops around here have any insights. It’s mostly those little cosmetic bits that aren’t noticeable to most people, but as the owner, you can’t help but focus on that one spot every time! Fingers crossed my DIY approach works out!

[H3XME]

You can buy these bumper brackets.. They sell metal ones to stop it from hanging.

https://www.maclifterkit.co/collections/lexus-is250-350/products/mlk-is250-350-2006-13-front-bumper-gap-reducer