Rear bumper woes... help :(

[xkrisx]

First time actually posting pictures of my s13. I've noticed this since I bought the car, not exactly why its like this, was it installed it wrong? I've pulled it off once before, this is my second time stripping down the car.

I know its kinda a small issue, can't really tell from far away, but it bugs the crap out of me lol.

Basically, the bumper sits farther in than the tail lights/body. Plus the gap is pretty big between the body and bumper.
I was thinking of picking up another bumper to see if it has the same issue, but its quite hard to track one down here in hawaii. Has anyone seen this before? I've search the forums and was only able to find 1 older post but it was never solved.

Drivers side




Passenger Side


As you can see, where the black stripe is supposed to be is all lined up.

Pics of how she's sitting as of 30 minutes ago. so messy lol



vid if you can't see it in the pics. lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8phLcpV_gM

I'm in the midst of painting the car, currently hunting and fixing any rust, hopefully gonna have her painted by Wednesday I had masked off the hatch area, but realized later that I still want to pull the rear bumper o.o so you can see it hanging there lol. The color is gonna be a darkened BMW Steel Grey Metallic (closer to a black than actual grey).
I stripped the roof because the area where I was patching the rear washer nozzle I noticed hairline rust forming under the paint. Luckily I stripped the whole roof because it was everywhere! Especially in the 2 grooves above the door trim.

[ProudNissanFreak]

Not really sure about bumpers over there, but maybe a rubber strip as a temporary solution?

[xkrisx]

hm... maybe. Picking up another bumper tomorrow, gonna try that - hopefully my bumper is just bleh lol.

[Chaluska]

is the bumper foam, and support, and bracing all there? i got hit by a metro bus. he tapped me, and bent my bumper in.. i planned on getting a new one, so i let him slide. my corners are all good though still..

[xkrisx]

yeah, the bumper support/foam is all in there, Nothing appeared bent/broken when I took it off.

The guy I was picking the bumper up from was busy today so i'm picking it up tomorrow. Not exactly sure why the bumper sits so far in though, I mean if I line up the curves, it puts a a huge gap between the QP and 3 bolts that hold the side on (instead of under the tail light).

I wish I snapped a few pics before removing the tail lights, but u can see from the sides where the lower panel would follow

[xkrisx]

Here are some pics of where I think the bumper should be sitting to match the curvature of the body but as you can see it creates a huge gap. Nothing bolted in, i have the bumper propped up with a chair lol

It seems like my bumper shrunk. lol

[xkrisx]

so I picked up a new rear bumper today, and I guess my old one was smaller? sanded down to much or something?

anyway the new bumper looks much much better, i know its hard to see in the pics. It still sits slightly in if bolted all the way up but looks much better. I was thinkin of making a 1/8" spacer or something.




and if I add in a small gap, prolly fixed if i used a spacer.