85-89 Golf/Jetta owners update to 90-92 bumpers-
85-89 Golf/Jetta with 90-92 bumpers, this upgrade is commonly known as "big bumpers". The 85-89 Golf/Jetta has thin black bumpers and the 90-92 Golf/Jetta has body colored, aero kit looking bumpers. The newer bumper will fit the older cars. Simple modifications need to be made. Most companies sell aftermarket parts. Aftermarket = junk! You will pay more for original VW parts (sometimes three times as much) but it is worth it. Aftermarket bumpers usually don't fit, are not shaped right, and in the case of my front bumper cover on my Jetta....fall off the car! The 90-92 bumper covers used the Jetta front support and the early Golf support for the rear. This means that if you have a Jetta, you'll have to change the rear support for a 85-89 Golf one and if you have a Golf you'll have to get a 85-92 Jetta front support. I hope this didn't confuse anyone, here it is again in simpler terms.......you need a Jetta (any year) front bumper support and a Golf (85-89) rear support bar on either car for the bumpers to fit.
The next thing needed to be done is change the plastic bracket retainers (left and right), this is the thing that the ends of the plastic bumper slides onto (gray piece pointed to in pic above). Part# 165 807 193B -front and 165 807 193A 01C for the Golf and Jetta. The old retainers in front are held in place by one hole/plug and the newer ones have two holes/plugs. Place one of the plugs from the new retainer into the factory VW hole, in the body, and mark the bottom hole to be drilled. Please take note to the angle of the retainer. The new hole should be drilled directly under the factory hole. Now, on to the rear. If you have a Jetta, the retainers will not have to be changed; the 85-92 Jettas use the same retainers and you just need to slide the new bumper cover onto them. Golf model owners will have to change the retainers for the 85 & 86 year model, the 87-92 Golfs all have the same retainers. Once you have the correct support bars and retainers the bumpers just slide on and snap to the support bars. Now, for the turn signals. The turn signal lens assembley is different between 85-89 and 90-92. The 90-92 lenses will be needed for the newer bumpers. The 90-92 lenses are held into the bumper cover with one screw, where as the 85-89 are held by the bumper support bar by two screws. The 90-92 bulb holders are different from the older ones therefore they will have to be changed. The 90-92 bulb holders have the same connection on the end of the wire as the 85-92, so they will plug right into the older wire connector. Note: print or bookmark this page if you are going to do this because most kits do not come with instrutions. Since my GLI 16V already had the fender flares, I can't help you with that. The bumpers will fit without the flares but don't look as good. The flares are pop rivited on and the side body molding has clips that snap into holes in the body.
Rabbit (Golf I) owners update to European (small) or Cabriolet (with body kit) bumpers-
Euro bumper info to come. The picture above shows the components of the Rabbit Cabriolet body kit. This kit is a bolt on body kit for the Rabbit. I have not personally done these modifications so I have no tech info for you; however, I do know that it is possible. If anyone has any info on this install please email me.
Type I "Cal-look" (American name) or Europa (European name) bumper is a nice upgrade for any 68 and up Beetle. It will fit the Beetle perfect, but for the SuperBeetle there are some modifications that need to be made. This bumper is sold everywhere and is still produced in Mexico today. It is basically a bolt-on for 68-73 Standard Beetles. I have seen it done to 74 - 77 Standard / 79 Super with the impact bumpers, it is just one bolt on each bracket for those year models. 71-73 SuperBeetle owners will have to obtain European or Mexican bumper brackets for it to bolt up right. The American bumper brackets can be made to work if the outer end of the bumper bracket is shortened by about 3 inches (cut off the outer end where the bracket bolts to the bumper). After the bumpers are bolted up, do the wiring. You will notice only two wires, these are for the turn signals, one positive and one negative. The reason there is no wires/bulbs for parking (marker) lights is because the European and Mexican cars have no side marker lights; instead they have a small 4 watt white bulb in the headlamp. I used some side marker plug type lights (just the plug and bulb, not the lens) from an early Audi 4000, drilled a hole in the housing and pluged them in and wired it up. I haven't seen too many Beetles done right like this, most just don't have side markers at all.