Taking the front bumper off a Ford Puma is the gateway to a lot of other jobs. Radiators, the air conditioning condenser, intercoolers, headlights and anything else in the front end all start here. It is not a difficult job, but it is one where rushing costs money, because modern bumper clips are cheap plastic and they break if you pull in the wrong direction.
This is the sequence from a 2021 Puma that came in for a condenser change. The bumper itself took about half an hour once the order of the fixings was clear, and nothing was broken, which is the actual measure of success on a job like this.
The key thing to understand is that a Puma bumper is held by four separate groups of fixings: along the top, up inside each wheel arch, along the bottom, and then a set of hidden clips at each side that only release once the arch liner is out of the way. Miss any one group and you will be tugging at a bumper that is still firmly attached.
Cold plastic breaks, warm plastic bends
If you are doing this outside on a cold day, the clips are noticeably more brittle. Where you can, work on a warmer day or let the car sit somewhere warm first. It is also worth buying a handful of replacement clips before you start, because they cost very little and there is nothing more irritating than a bumper that will not sit right because two clips gave up.
What You Need
The UK Car Owner's Essential Guide
- Every dashboard warning light explained
- Fluid, tyre and service checks you can do yourself
- How to avoid getting stung at a garage
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Step-by-Step Guide
Take out the top row of fixings
Open the bonnet and work along the top edge of the bumper where it meets the slam panel. There is a mix of T30 Torx screws and 10mm bolts along here. They are all visible and self-explanatory, so the only thing to get right is taking all of them out before you start pulling anything. Keep the Torx and the 10mm bolts in separate piles, because they are not interchangeable.
Release the inner wheel arch liner clips
Turn to one front wheel and look up inside the arch. The liner is held by about seven of Ford's push clips plus three 10mm bolts running along the bottom edge. The clips are the type with a Phillips head in the centre: you give the centre a half turn with a screwdriver and then the whole clip pulls out. They do not unscrew all the way and they do not lever out, so if one is fighting you, it has not been turned far enough.
Only free half the liner
You do not need the arch liner out of the car. It is fabric and it bends, so once the clips and bolts along the leading edge are out, you can simply fold it back out of the way to get at what is behind it. Removing it completely just gives you a second component to refit and more clips to lose.
Unclip the arch liner from the bumper itself
Where the liner meets the bumper there is a clipped joint between the two. Gently prise the liner away from the bumper so the two separate. This is a genuine fixing rather than a friction fit, and if you skip it you will be pulling the bumper against the liner and wondering why it will not come. Do this on both sides.
Find and release the hidden side clips
With the liner folded back, look along the top of the bumper edge where it meets the wing. There is a row of clips here that you cannot see with the liner in place. Get a small screwdriver behind the first one and pop it, then put your hand behind the bumper and give one sharp, confident tug. The rest of the row releases together without damage. Half-hearted pulling is what breaks these, not firm pulling. Repeat on the other side.
Remove the push clips underneath
Get under the front of the car and work along the bottom edge of the bumper, where a row of push clips runs through into the undertray. Take all of them out. At this point the bumper should feel loose all the way round, and if any part of it still feels anchored, stop and find what you have missed rather than pulling harder.
Ease the bumper forward and free the bonnet cable
Draw the bumper away from the car by a few inches, enough to get your hands behind it. Before it comes any further, release the bonnet release cable from its latch on the bumper so it does not get dragged or kinked. Prise it gently out of its guide at the side.
Disconnect the fog lights and lift it away
With the bumper pulled clear you will find a wiring connection to each fog light, two pins each. Press the tab and pull them apart. That is the last thing holding the bumper to the car, so it now comes away completely. Put it face down on something soft, or lean it against a wall on its edge, because a scratched bumper is a much more visible mistake than a broken clip.
Refit in reverse, checking gaps before you tighten
Going back on, connect the fog lights and route the bonnet cable first, then offer the bumper up and start the side clips before anything else. Get the top fixings in loosely, check the panel gaps against the wings and bonnet are even on both sides, and only then tighten everything and refit the arch liner clips. Replace any clip that came out damaged rather than reusing it.
What This Job Gives You Access To
With the front bumper off, the whole front end of the Puma opens up. The radiator pack, the air conditioning condenser, the intercooler and the cooling fan are all reachable, as are the headlights and the crash bar behind the bumper.
It is also the first step in a condenser replacement, which is the job this particular Puma came in for. If that is where you are heading, there is a full walk-through of the rest of it on the site, and it picks up more or less where this guide finishes.
Worth doing while you are in there: look at the state of the condenser and radiator fins, because stone damage and blocked fins are common at the front of any car and are far easier to see with the bumper off than through a grille.
Why Clips Break, and How to Avoid It
Almost every broken clip on a bumper job comes from pulling in a direction the clip was not designed to release in, or from pulling gradually rather than decisively. A clip is meant to come apart in one sharp movement along its own axis. Slow steady force just stretches the plastic until something splits.
The second cause is not knowing a fixing is there. That is why the sequence matters on this car: the hidden row of side clips is invisible until the arch liner is folded back, and pulling the bumper before releasing them puts all the load onto clips that were never meant to carry it.
Buy a small assortment of Ford clips before you start. They cost very little, and having them means you fit new ones where needed rather than reusing something that has already been stressed.
Common Mistakes
- Pulling before every group of fixings is out. Top, arch, side and underneath. Miss one and something breaks.
- Trying to lever out the arch liner clips. They need a half turn on the centre screw first, then they pull straight out.
- Removing the whole arch liner. Unnecessary. Free the leading edge and fold it back.
- Forgetting the liner clips into the bumper. The two are joined, and pulling the bumper against the liner damages both.
- Tugging timidly at the hidden side clips. One confident pull releases the row cleanly. Hesitant pulling snaps them.
- Yanking the bumper right off with the fog lights still plugged in. Ease it out a few inches first and disconnect.
- Ignoring the bonnet cable. It runs to the bumper and will kink if it gets dragged.
- Tightening everything before checking the gaps. Offer it up loose, get the panel gaps even, then tighten.
