Front bumper and Grille. Facelift vs original fittings.

Can I fit a pre-facelift bumper and grille to a C3 with the 2005 facelift?

andersondo wrote:Can I fit a pre-facelift bumper and grille to a C3 with the 2005 facelift?

Hi andersondo

Yes, its been done before, but the other way around, I think.

If I find the link, I will add it

pre facelift to facelift citroen-c3-questions/c3-pre-facelift-to ... t1228.html

XTR bodykit citroen-c3-questions/xtr-bodykit-t1442.html

Wing removal citroen-c3-questions/bodywork-wing-remo ... t1188.html

But I still can't find the one where they actually swapped the parts over and said it fitted ok

Thanks for the reply.

One of the garages I called last night said that If I used a pre facelift bumper and grille, I'd need to replace the bonnet and both the headlights. He also said that the wiring to the headlight blocks would need to have different plugs fitted. Can you confirm this? I can't find any documentation online.

andersondo wrote:One of the garages I called last night said that If I used a pre facelift bumper and grille, I'd need to replace the bonnet and both the headlights.

You can look up the headlights online for the C3 and see they cover 2002 to 2009 which is early model and facelift. The model changed in late 2009. I think the garage may be confused.

The bonnet stays the same over the facelift, the bumper changes and so does the grill which happens in 2006.

Post 2009 everything bodywork wise changes.

The reverse facelift was a success. Here's what we found out.

The headlight units are identical. They didn't change at all with the 2005 facelift and so attach to the same places. It's easy to break the clips and attachment points on the headlights so don't force them in or out if you can help it.

The front bumper and grill must be changed together. You can't for example use the pre-facelift bumper with the facelift grille.

The front bumper has three attachment points, two onto the wings and one onto the bumper bar. The bumper bar attachment point moved with the facelift but the attachment points for the bar onto the body are the same, so it'll be easier if you also replace the bar. If thats not an option I don't imagine it would be too hard to fashion a bracket.

The grill has four attachment points, two bolts onto the body and two screws into the radiator support plate. The attachment points for the bolts onto the body are the same but the points for the screws on the plate moved. You can drill two holes in the grill above the attachment points to work around this.

It may also necessary to cut away some of the plastic on the grille around the bonnet catch so that the release lever can move.

You can undo the front clips on the wheel arches and turn the wheel to get at the bumper bolts on the wings, but it'll probably be easier if you remove the wheels and the arches.

Hope this helps someone.

andersondo wrote:The reverse facelift was a success. ......

No pictures .....

andersondo wrote:The reverse facelift was a success. Here's what we found out.

The headlight units are identical. They didn't change at all with the 2005 facelift and so attach to the same places. It's easy to break the clips and attachment points on the headlights so don't force them in or out if you can help it.

The front bumper and grill must be changed together. You can't for example use the pre-facelift bumper with the facelift grille.

The front bumper has three attachment points, two onto the wings and one onto the bumper bar. The bumper bar attachment point moved with the facelift but the attachment points for the bar onto the body are the same, so it'll be easier if you also replace the bar. If thats not an option I don't imagine it would be too hard to fashion a bracket.

The grill has four attachment points, two bolts onto the body and two screws into the radiator support plate. The attachment points for the bolts onto the body are the same but the points for the screws on the plate moved. You can drill two holes in the grill above the attachment points to work around this.

It may also necessary to cut away some of the plastic on the grille around the bonnet catch so that the release lever can move.

You can undo the front clips on the wheel arches and turn the wheel to get at the bumper bolts on the wings, but it'll probably be easier if you remove the wheels and the arches.

Hope this helps someone.

I am sure it will. thanks for this

No pictures .....

I didn't take any while the work was being done. If you could tell me what photos would be useful I can take them.

andersondo wrote:I didn't take any while the work was being done. If you could tell me what photos would be useful I can take them.

It would be great to see how the front, front and side and the side look with the new parts

There is a slightly different way to add images to the forum from other forums, but its simple enough and the instructions are here .