End bumper rubber at the rear

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Did UK cars have these and are they worth installing!? Or do they just hold water against the body / rub or vibrate the paint away!?

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toopy

Club Member
Never heard of, or seen those before, and besides i should imagine they would look pretty hideous :eek:
 

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Too funny!! And agree but I keep seeing them on cars and wondered
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
They filled a fairly obvious gap and (apparently) cured a source of wind noise. Their side benefit was safety-related. Primarily to stop pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists from being 'hooked' by a too-close rear bumper.

Simple, elegant, functional and part of the original design of the car. What's not to like?



 

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Thanks Alan! [emoji106]

Love the wheels on that orange car!
 

Paul_S

Club Member
Ah, that makes sense. When I saw them before I assumed they went around the bumper bracket to prevent it damaging the paint.
 

toopy

Club Member
Ok, fair enough, they dont look as big and obvious as i was imagining, but the rear bumper is hardly a 'pedestrian hook'
you would have to be up close and personal to get caught by the bumper, even in busy traffic! at that point your foot would probably be under the tyre anyway! :p
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
Ok, fair enough, they dont look as big and obvious as i was imagining, but the rear bumper is hardly a 'pedestrian hook'
you would have to be up close and personal to get caught by the bumper, even in busy traffic! at that point your foot would probably be under the tyre anyway! :p

If we want to start second-guessing design and safety decisions made around 50 years ago we could be here all week. The fact is that a forward-facing bumper end was seen as a risk (for Japan's narrow urban and suburban streets, where traffic literally does share space with peds and two-wheelers) and this was a good solution, as well as solving a couple of other issues.

Your aesthetic judgement is very likely being biased by the fact that you have not seen any on a car up to now (or simply never noticed) and are therefore seeing it as some kind of 'change'. Much like the comments some people make when they have never seen a Japanese market car before ("I prefer the original" being a classic...) it's quite often the case that it's simply the shock of the new.
 

Farmer42

Club Member
Had these on mine (see pic) before I got the Harrington replacement bumpers which didn't have the bit to attach them. I thought they looked ok. They are now in a box in my garage for safe keeping.
 

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AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
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I quite like them, but I like the bumper rubbers also.

Have to say, they have really grown on me too. They sorta give it a "finished" look.

I like the wind noise purpose - it's totally wasted on my car and with my exhaust. [emoji13]
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
Had these on mine (see pic) before I got the Harrington replacement bumpers which didn't have the bit to attach them.

What bit is missing on the Harrington bumpers? The E4100 rear bumper end rubbers simply have a recess which the bumper ends slot into, and are held against the body by the bumper. There's no bracket/attachment. They simply form the filling in a sandwich.

Are the Harrington rear bumper ends a different shape to the stock factory items?
 

Farmer42

Club Member
It's a while since I changed them but from my recollection there was an extra bolt underneath that held the end in place with a nut that sunk into the rubber The end that I have is different to the one above (see pic) which has a hole in the middle sort of confirming my bolt theory. The Harrington bumper didn't have the bolt or the hole in the right place to put one and I didn't fancy drilling a new bumper after spending £700 odd on them. It was definitely not held in place by the bumper only against the body. Maybe this was a 2+2 thing & didn't apply to the 2 seater.

What stops the ends falling off otherwise or being easily nicked?
 

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Woody928

Events Officer
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You learn something new every day.

Not a fan myself however I also don't really like over riders fitted either, sometimes less is more imo.
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
It's a while since I changed them but from my recollection there was an extra bolt underneath that held the end in place with a nut that sunk into the rubber The end that I have is different to the one above (see pic) which has a hole in the middle sort of confirming my bolt theory. The Harrington bumper didn't have the bolt or the hole in the right place to put one and I didn't fancy drilling a new bumper after spending £700 odd on them. It was definitely not held in place by the bumper only against the body. Maybe this was a 2+2 thing & didn't apply to the 2 seater.

It's a feature of the 2+2 ('2/2' in Japan) versions. Not the same as the 2-seater version in the original post.

 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
What stops the ends falling off otherwise or being easily nicked?

Well, if fitted correctly, and presuming that the body and bumper are both correct too (not always the case on these old cars) the end pieces are firmly held in place between the body and the bumper. They are the filling in a sandwich and cannot be fitted/removed without unbolting the bumper end. The bumper end locates in the slot moulded into the rubber.

It might sound iffy but it works perfectly well.
 

Farmer42

Club Member
Noted. The original post didn't say anything about 2-seaters, it just asked if UK cars had bumper ends and an untrained eye such as mine would not have known the pics were of the 2-seater variety. Your pic clearly shows the bolt which was not there on the Harrington bumper which is why i didn't attach them.
 
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