97 Camry rear bumper removal help

PAINT the bumper before putting it on

Haynes Manual for Gen. 3 (1992-1996) is available for around $20 or less and shows an "exploded" view diagram of the rear bumper including fasteners. While yours is a 1997, they've got to be very similar.

Actually, the Haynes generati1. Working under the vehicle, detach the plastic clips and screws securing the lower edge of the bumper cover.

1. Remove the nuts securing the bumper cover in each corner of the trunk interior.
2. Open the trunk lid and remove the clips or pins securing the upper edge of the bumper cover. Pull the bumper cover out and away from the vehicle.

John M. Darnielle Remove anti spam phrase from reply address to e-mail me.

Thanks! I will post my experiences

If you carefully heat the inside of the plastic bumper it shoud pop put rather easily. geo

OK, I successfully removed the rear bumper, popped out the dent in the corner (from backing into a telephone pole) and re-installed it w/o incident. There are a) two bolts on the outside, below the trunk door (one on each end) b) a row of clips on the top of bumber, below the trunk You pry open the inside screw, the groumet pops out c) unscrew 3 clips each on inside black panel behind tail light and slide the panel out. Repeat for the other side. This reveals 3 bolts in the tool wells. Open these. d) get under the car and unfasten 3 clips holding down the under side of bumper. These are similar to clips in step 'c' only these are bigger. You should be easily able to unscrew the inside screws, and pop out the anchors, but mine just kept on turning. I pried out the clips, and carefully cut them with a knife. I need to replace these now.

Took the bumper cover out, popped out the dent, fixed a ripped seam with bumper epoxy and hardner and fibre gauze. Cleaned out the bumper parts and installed it right back. The dented corner didn't restore to original shape, but for spending nothing on it, pretty darned good! Better than the $600 estimate, and an outrageous $900 one (including blending in the paint with the quarter panels)!