Drivers
https://i.imgur.com/SUyMA.jpg

Passenger
https://i.imgur.com/mQCDy.jpg


As you can see the gaps are just a few millimeters wide, not really too noticeable but I was wondering if anyone knows what was causing this and how to fix it.

I took it to my mechanic(who also does body work) but he says he's not sure how it could be adjusted since all the clips and everything are on right, and the bumper lines up properly with the other panels. The last owner of this car had the bumper repainted so my mechanic said the bumper could be flaring out from the impact if there was an accident and they just repaired the bumper rather than replacing it.

Alternatively, he said I could buy new brackets for the bumper and he could try adjusting them but it wasn't a guaranteed fix, and the brackets are $50 each, and about $60 labour... $160 is a lot of money for a fix that might not even work so I was wondering if anyone here has had the same problem and knows how to go about fixing this.

Thanks!

 

Sorry for the double post, but I forgot to mention that the passenger side has a bit of wiggle room (I can push it in so that it becomes flush with the tail lights), but the driver's side not much at all.

 

It could be quite a few things causing that. The tail lights, aftermarket bumper, deformed OEM bumper, damage or distorted parts under the bumper causing it to not fit properly. You have to look at every single gap closely, to find inconsistencies. Just by the pics, I can tell the RT tail is too close to the quarter. There should be small gap there. Your tail light housing edge is touching the quarter edge. Something caused that to happen since its not right. Tail lights touching the quarter can rub away the paint over time on the 3G TL. The left side looks like something is either tweaked out of place under the bumper, or the bumper is itself is not right. If its an OEM bumper, there should be VIN tag, or OEM Honda bumper ID tag where the VIN tag was originally. Rear bumper VIN tag is on the bottom right trunk jam. The left light gap looks just a little tight too, on the upper area of the housing but its hard to tell for sure.

The tail light can be adjusted, but I would suggest a pro do it, and a pro that's familiar with TL's/Hondas. For a TL like this, it would likely take a few light taps with a rubber mallet to the mounting area on the rear under panel, to push the tail lamp outward increasing that gap.

Its likely that car was hit in the past, and someone did a crappy repair job. The RT tail looked cracked or chipped on the inner edge too.

 

My car suffers the same, it's the least of my worries with the others issues my car has.
But yeah, the part could be deformed, broke clip, lights not installed correctly etc..

 

These cars are notorious for that gap. My 04' has never been in a wreck and is like that. When my car was under warranty I brought in for that because the paint was wearing off of the upper surface under the taillight, they deemed it normal and would not cover it. My friend who owns a body shop said Saturn (when Saturn existed) would cover at issue such as this-he did all the Saturn warranty work for the local shop at the time. Pretty sad to think a cheap car such as a Saturn has a better policy than Acura. I think it has to do with the clip strip under the BC. It's a $16 part per side. If not that, it's the bumper cover slots that clip into the spacer/clip strip.

 

This is what the gap should look like. Blueracer is right as well. The tail gap can be improper from the factory. That's unacceptable for a dealer to play this off. The tail edge could rub all the way to the quarter skin metal, and develop rust issues. At minimum the tail should be adjusted out, and paint touched up on the inner edge. Its really simple for a auto body pro, and only takes a few minutes all together.

But, this was obviously repaired or messed with, and the repainted bumper is another indicator.