Quick question guys and I hope someone can help me who's done this already. I've been studying and looking at how to remove the rear bumper on my 05. I'm getting ready to install my Type S tails and I've seen a few other threads on where you don't have to remove the entire bumper to access the taillights. I was just outside looking at my bumper and I have the Aspec rear lip and just by looking at the circled area where I placed on the picture is going to be a pain in the arse to remove due to the tires and I don't have the appropriate lifts for my car to remove tires and I'm just trying to understand which bolts and screws will help for the bumper to just hang enough to get to taillights assembly.. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Anyone reallly?????

 

I was able to use a scew driver. It's a low profile right angle screw driver the handle spins to turn the bit to remove mine

 

Use your jack in the car and take your bumper off properly. If you've gotta do one wheel at a time then remove one side, put wheel back on, and go to the next side. Extra work but better than screwing up anything.

 

I see your concern, the a-spec lip wraps around the bumper covering the screws.
Honestly, the only way I do things is separate the bumper from the a-spec just enough to uncover the screws.

You have two choices to remove the screws without removing the wheel.
1. Philips #2 bit with pliers. Slow but works.
2. Socket set (use 1/4" ratchet with philips #2 bit). Works fastest.

Once you deal with the two screws, there is one left that screws up into the rear quarter panel.
This one you can just use a regular sized philips #2 screwdriver.

This is all assuming you move the A-spec a tiny bit out of the way so you have access to the screws.
It's not worth trying to remove the screws with the A-Spec lip in the way.

Once you do the same on the other side, you will be able to pull the sides out enough to remove the tail lights.

You may have to remove the clips on top of each exhaust tip for more room.

You may notice in the diagram that there are a few clips along the bottom middle. Without A-Spec, might as well remove whole bumper to remove tail lights.

With the A-Spec, these clips are replaced with nut and bolt, and I had a very difficult time removing them due to rust, and now that they are off, I left them off. You should leave them

Oh yeah dont forget to remove the two bolts (near the trunk).

That should be it, good luck.

 

I was able to get it done!! Unfortunately the whole bumper needs to come off to swap tail lights .. Not sure how some board members are swapping tails without removing the whole bumper but you have to remove the bumper to get to the screw underneath the plate that holds up the taillight. Anyways .. It wasn't as bad as the front bumper but it still took effort to get it done. It took me a total of 3-4hrs to get it done but the outcome is great! Love the new look!!

Thanks GP for the advise..

 

That right angle screwdriver made miracles for me today! Picked one up at Home Depot and I didn't have to remove any tires or lift the car up at all! Perfect! Thank you!

 

Hey! I know this thread is older, but when you remove the bumper are there 3 screws on each side by the wheels, and was the right angle screwdriver only necescary because of the a spec lip? Ill be taking off my bumper soon to install the a spec lip so i was wondering if that was a needed tool

 

Yes there are 3 screws in wheel well behind the wheel and my guess was he didnt want to remove the rear wheels and used angle screw driver instead