MINI Cooper R50 - R53 Front Bumper Removal

In order to access certain components on the MINI, the front bumper and carrier must be removed.
Now, this sounds a bit difficult, but actually is quite easy and only takes about 30 minutes to accomplish.

Begin by jacking up the front of the car and secure it with good jack stands. Now climb underneath the front of the engine. At the rear of the splash shield are two Phillips head locking screws. As you turn them, they eject from the subframe, releasing the rear of the shield (See Figure 1).

The front edge of the splash shield is secured with three 10mm bolts at the rear edge of the front bumper cover. On some cars, only the center 10mm bolt is visible from the outside. On our car, the bolts are somewhat hidden up above the lip of the bumper cover. Use a ratcheting 10mm wrench to access these two bolts. You will have just enough room to access them (See Figure 2).

Remove both front tires and remove the wheelhouse liners. These are the plastic shields that line the inside of the wheel wells and prevent dirt and debris from getting inside the engine compartment. For each side of the car, there are two Phillips screws along the top of the liner (See Figure 3) and 8 plastic expansion rivets placed at various points in the liner (See Figure 4). Remove the two screws at the top and then the expansion rivets by unscrewing the center portion. Here's where it gets a bit tricky. Sometimes, the outer part of the rivet will turn along with the center part. You will need to hold the out portion of the rivet stationary while you unscrew the center part. Once you get the center part about 10mm out, you simply pull the rivet out of the liner (See Figure 5). Don't forget the rivet on the bottom edge of the car at the rear of the fender.

Now if your car has fog lights, grab the bulb housing and turn it counter-clockwise to remove it from the housing and set them aside (See Figure 6). Now move up to the top of the bumper cover. There are small access holes on either side of the radiator. Inside, you will see the two electrical connections going to the front turn signal assemblies (See Figure 7). To disconnect these, grab the bulb housings for each connection and turn them counter-clockwise. This will release the housings.

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