I plan to remove my front left wing tomorrow, is it straightforward or are there any gotchas?

 

I haven't removed mine, but took most everything else apart. It looks like just bolts. All visible. Wheel well liner has to be removed. There may be a hidden bolt somewhere but you wouldn't enjoy it as much if there wasn't something hiding on you.

 

Haven't removed the wing, but I have removed the complete "plastic" bumper assembly. There are three bolts on each side which hold the bumper to the wing. The "nut end" is captive / welded to the wing. Mine were quite rusty and one broke away which made it even more awkward to remove. Might be worth a good dose of penetrating fluid the night before you get the spanners out.
Also - headlight removal is a complete pain. Top torx bolt is OK. You only need to loosen the one at the side - the lamp assembly slides in. But .......... there's one underneath which is a brass bush in the plastic and will probably have rusted solid.
I eventually got mine apart, and then stuck it back in with araldite and a small cable tie to keep it firm until set.


Others might know better, but I wonder if it's worth the exta hour or so to remove the complete bumper - makes access to the wing a lot easier I would imagine.

 

After you remove the bolts holding the bumper to the wing (much easier after taking the headlights out), the bumper will just hang from the plastic tabs holding it along the top. I don't think removing those and taking the bumper completely of will help with the wing removal.

 

johns55 - yes - you're right. But - with the complete bumper removed, it's much easier to get the headlight out particularly if that stupidly designed steel bolt into brass bush has seized solid.
If necessary, you can then remove the bracket that the headlight is attached to underneath along with the headlight.



I guess it's swings and roundabouts, but worth considering maybe ??

 

Thanks for the suggestion guys, I took it off this evening. Lots of sheared studs as expected, I'll start a new thread tomorrow on the wing return and put up the pics I took today.