Broken Front Bumper Brackets

[Jkay98]

So I took off my front bumper to get it painted because all the embedded bug splats. When I got it off the bracket that bolts to the fender all the tabs that are riveted to the bracket were broke. This also explains why the one corner had a small tear in it which the painter said he should be able to fix it. The bumper appears to be original since it still has the sticker on dated 2002. The previous owner must have abused the front bumper because the chin spoiler is all scraped up. Or the dealer when buffing the car used too much pressure and broke the weak plastic tabs.
Has anyone had this issue if so how did you fix it?
I am thinking of making some new tabs to rivet to the bump and the bracket although the rivets will probably interfere with the fit next to the fender. I may have to grind the rivets down and/or try to recess them into the plastic bumper.
I am hoping the person that is painted it knows of a way to fix it.

 

[big dad]

I thought somebody would have answered your post by now, oh well. Any competent body man should be able to do this with some of the various epoxys that are available to them, some really strong stuff out there.

I just went through this a couple weeks ago on my friends car. Just remove all the old rivets carefully, then epoxy the tabs in the correct order to the bumper cover, let it cure for a day, then re-rivet the bracket back in place. If you use a little to much no biggie it'll sand down. Good luck.

 

[Jkay98]

The person who is repainting the bumper is thinking about drilling new holes and riveting it back on but the only issue would be clearance between the cover and fender. He is going to try and recess them and grind the rivets down.
Actually one of the tabs on the one side was not even riveted to the bracket.