Guidance on replacing front bumper grill?

[Is this where the mcx7.com forums went? I used to be a member there--it's a been a while...]


Howdy-

After a minor accident, our 2010 CX-7 needs a few new front bumper area items. We got a few body shop quotes & I took time to tear down the front bumper & assess the situation, & it seems that we need just the following parts, which I've just ordered from Mazda Parts Unlimited:

1: EH44501T0H LOWER GRILLE $86.00 [the big black honeycomb grill]
2: EH4450170A LICENSE PANEL $26.64 [the black rectangular license plate mount]
3: EH4450111 ABSORBER $49.75 [the wide & skinny styrofoam block that takes the energy of low-speed bumps]

Not bad at all, price-wise. The main big bumper part has just a couple of scuffs that I'll try to buff out or spray over with touchup paint but will probably just live with as-is.

I wrangled the shredded grill out of the bumper--it wasn't too tricky--it's snapped in just with clips, but I did end up needing to cut it in a few places to be able to weasel it out.

Based on assembly drawings that I've found, it appears that this grill needs to be installed into the bumper from behind. This may prove tricky, as I hope to not need to remove the whole big front bumper. I think I can remove a panel from where the bumper meets the underbody & sneak the grill up through that slot & into place.

Does anybody here have experience with or advice on working on the front bumper area on a 2010 CX-7?

Thanks!
-Jason

You will have to remove the bumper cover but that is really easy to do. There are screws all along the bottom, screws and clips along the top of the grille under the hood, and screws in the wheel well. Once they are all out the cover will pop right off.

Thanks, for the info, horns. I'll probably get the parts in 1.5 weeks & tackle it next next weekend.

-Jason

Parts were a bit slow in arriving but the price & shipping were stellar.

Repair was straightforward. Took me & my father-in-law about 1-1.5 hours.

I didn't need to remove the front bumper cover completely. The styrofoam piece went in from the front, with just a little finagling.

For the grill, I undid about 20 fasteners under the chin, 1 in each wheel well, a couple of snaps under the headlights, & that was more than enough room to slip the grill upwards into place from underneath & then snap it in. There were about 2 clips broken on the bumper cover, so there's a teeny gap on the passenger side between the grill & the surround, but it really doesn't show.

The bumper has a couple of teeny scuffs, but not enough to warrant painting--besides, now the front bumper has "character" to match the rear bumper... :\

Body shop quotes: $900, $1000, $1200.
Fixed for $180.68 in parts, including shipping, plus a little labor. Merry Christmas to the wife! Oh, plus $20 at AAA for them to get me new plates from the DMV (but no waiting in line!)

Thanks,
-Jason

Looks great!

Thanks (in part) to you! :]

Hi,
I just ordered EH44501T0H (front bumper lower grille). It should be on the mail.
Can you please elaborate more on the steps to replace it? A video would be awesome.
This is for a 2010 Cx-7 without fog lights.
Thank you,

Hi Suchar-

I didn't take any photos or videos, but I can assure you that the replacement was straightforward for me & my father-in-law, both of whom have slightly above average mechanical skills & experience. It took us 1-2 hours.

We didn't need to jack up the car, which was a bonus. I had to lie on the garage floor to access several fasteners, but I'd much rather get dirty than be under a propped-up car!

Off the top of my head, I recall needing to undo many fasteners (screws & those awful plastic push-clip things) around the body-colored bumper, "fog light" vents, wheel well arches, & maybe the horizontal panel in front of the radiator.

I didn't need to entirely remove the body-colored big bumper--I just undid enough fasteners until I could pull it away & slip the new honeycomb grill upward into place from below.

Just poke around & pull on parts gently to see what's held in with flexure tabs, screws, or plastic clips. Then keep careful track of what fasteners went where, because you'll have a couple dozen fasteners removed at some point.

I tweaked the brightness & contrast on my previously attached photos to better show the grill--the photos I'd attached previously didn't show much detail.

Good luck!
-Jason

Thank you Jason, I will give it a try over the weekend (given the part arrives on time).

Done!
I had to completely remove tbe front bumper. It was a matter of trial an error to find the screws holding it together.
From there had to apply pressure to remove the grill, need to release a lot of clips holding it to the bumper. After that just snap in the new one.
There was a learning curve, couple o weird screws, couple o broken screw holders, a lot or cursing... But at the end I saved 300$ (Dealer quoted 400$, part was 100$) and also I'm very confident with the quality of the work.
Note this was my first body work diy!
Hope this post helps others as it helped me...