I took it off !!!

[jeepney_driver]

Yes I did and I found something interesting!

Today I removed the front bumper of my 'o7 Compass and discovered some sources of noise. I found that the bumper has a cushion material that was fastened with only one plastic rivet. The black grill insert was fastened by flimsy little spring washers. These items rattle when you drive over rough road. If you bang on the plastic bumper you will notice some rattles from these loose parts.

1. Remove the fastener from the cushion
2. Remove the flimsy washers from the posts of the grill insert.
3. Remove both cushion and grill insert.
4. Clean with glass cleaner or ammonia based cleaner such as windex etc. to remove the dust and other grime.
5. Apply rtv silicone to mating surfaces.
6. Reinstall cushion and grill insert. Make sure that there is no more rattles.
7. Reinstall fasteners
8. Apply more rtv silicone to edges of cushion and on top of fasteners.

BE CAREFUL NOT TO APPLY ANY SILICONE TO PAINTED SURFACES AS IT MIGHT BE DIFFICULT TO REMOVE

RTV will cure in about half an hour.

On the photos you will see what I did to eliminate these rattles. I applied RTV silicone (GE) to the parts to glue them to the bumper. And while the bumper is off. I looked for other sources of noise. The radiator mounts also make noise and the rubber shields located on the sides of the radiator also make noise. I also glued a couple of 4 square inch foam to the front of the steel bumper to isolate it from the plastic bumper. And one more thing... while the bumper was off I replaced the single horn with two horns from a volvo. Now the horn is much louder and sounds european.

[w4rh4wk]

WOW nice job! what year/model Volvo did the horn come out of? I can't stand my horn! .... maybe ill install a train airhorn

[Northcompass]

cool. Question do you have to take the front cover off to replace the horns ? I have a set of road runner Meep meep horns I could install on my Jeep

[jeepney_driver]

While the bumper was off, the horn is very accessible. Since the volvo horns don't have a grounded body I have to use two wires and ground one side of the horns. The volvo horns came from a '86 model and I got it from the auto recyclers. I cleaned it up and painted it blue. One horn has a higher tone than the other which makes them sound good.

The original single horn has only one wire because the body is grounded. I also have a "bad boy" air horn which is already installed but not wired yet. I'm just waiting for the weather to warm up a bit before I wire it up. I will install a relay and switch to select which horn I want to use.

[Slurfi]

Hm, here in Sweden we hear to much Volvo horns so I like the stock horn.
But the Meep Meep would be nice tho.