Thread: Dumb question time, bumper cuts for towbars...

Righto, never had to do this job before (as I usually don't fart about hanging towbars on poxy cars that have lots of plastic in the way). But, kids what hey - or more specifically kids bikes that no longer fit in said car mean that my beloved put in the order for a solution.

My solution is to hang a towbar on the thing for a bike carrier - which resulted in the expected "I didn't expect you to go that expensive" blah blah blah. But I managed to collar a brand new never fitted Hayman Reese bar with almost everything for $140, add the ECU module and plug cable for $107+gst&courier and the parts are worth about $300 which I didn't think was too bad.

Only part of this that is mildly concerning is chopping a 100x100mm hole into the center of the rear bumper to fit the new chunk of steel sticking out the back - any particular wise words from those of you that have gone down this route and chopped a bumper and not managed to destroy the paint? Measure x3, cut x1 obviously. Masking tape, and cut with a grinder or the like with a few mm spare to take off with a file or the like?

Mask it, very small thin wall hole saw in all four corners, then four straight cuts will the jigsaw and a fine tooth blade. Clean it up with a file and a nogaburr.


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Originally Posted by MSL

Mask it, very small thin wall hole saw in all four corners, then four straight cuts will the jigsaw and a fine tooth blade. Clean it up with a file and a nogaburr.


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Sweet, this is only a three-sided cut so should be easy haha.

if using a jigsaw use a reverse tooth blade , cuts on down stroke , less chipping or a multi tool/ skullsaw .

Yeah, it won't be a jigsaw I think - if only because it's going to be a prick to hang onto to do the cut at the bottom edge like it is. The instructions suggest a small rotary multi tool - I think I have a very fine metal slicing blade for that and it might just about be perfect for this job...

A bit of thin wood as a cutting guide might work taped down, I'll see. The design of it seems to conceal most of the cut, which is nice. Apparently it's a 2 hour job start to finish - but that doesn't include waiting for the courier!

Just use a grinder and a cut off disk. Be careful, they go thru plastic like butter

Do it all the time to brand new vehicles.
Mark it out well.
Drill holes in the corners.
Use an air saw or battery multi tool to cut the bumper.
Use as small pinch weld or similar around the cut to hide any imperfections and make the hole look neat.

Dremel type tool with cutting wheel is good for fine neat work

Originally Posted by cambo

Do it all the time to brand new vehicles.
Mark it out well.
Drill holes in the corners.
Use an air saw or battery multi tool to cut the bumper.
Use as small pinch weld or similar around the cut to hide any imperfections and make the hole look neat.

That pinchweld idea is good, I was thinking about something like that. Now, where to get a 350mm piece of the right (tiny) size haha. Thanks, confirms where my head was at. (That's somewhat amazing in itself as well)

Para rubber sell it, otherwise try an auto upholsterer who might just have some offcuts

Thanks, all fitted now. I guess this version of Outlander has a slightly different rear bumper being the facelift model and last of the line prior to replacement with the new generation in 2022. The rear bumper had two skins (inner back, visible at the bottom and the outer painted version). Quite easy to cut, but the act of cutting the clearance removed the central clip that secures the two skins together at the bottom...

I ended up snipping a side out of the pinchweld edging and using that to support the two pieces and hold them in position, starting the pinchweld on the bottom inner skin then snipping the inside half of the pinchweld off then clipping it to the outer. Could have used the next size up pinchweld in honesty, but if it falls off I guess I can change it out. The other issue I had was that the towbar outfit's rear plug loom just didn't really fit - it was long enough to fit on the left hand side of the bumper and be secured to the outer painted skin but at that location the trailer cord was jammed against the spare tyre. There were only two possible places to fit the trailer socket on either side of the towbar with the moulded in bulges, reinforces and stiffening ribs inside the bumper and the left side hits the spare wheel with the right hand side location being about 30mm too long for the factory supplied loom. The pictures in the installation guide did not show that rear bumper. I suppose it was alright, but it just didn't sit well in me to leave a cable jammed against something like that. I ended up getting an extension end I had spare off another trailer (a male-female plug lead of 600mm, replaceable end to go between the drawbar and towing vehicle) and fitted that semi-permanently to the car cable tying the connected plugs up on top of the towbar tube out of the way. It works...