Alert If anyone is considering turning their 2016 Lincoln MKX into a toad…

[Neemer]

Bring it to me. I just finished mine. Documentation for the base plate says it takes four hours to install. It took me a solid week.

I need to apply what I just learned. I can probably do yours in three days. Maybe by the time I do my fifth one I can have it down to the manufacturers’ suggested four hours.

But act fast. Memory and skills fade rapidly at this age.

 

[Underboss]

Oh please, the manual said four hours, I did it in 30 minutes

Then again, it is April Fools day!

I do not want to mess with the way the valances are now installed. My luck, chipped paint or worse, broken plastic clip

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

Our MKX was sitting in the garage with the front removed for about a month. Only able to work on it for a couple hours at a time.
Thought I would have it done in a week since it only takes a “few hours”. Hah!
Each time I worked on it, was getting more nervous that I would forget how to reassemble it all.

 

[Neemer]

Thought I would have it done in a week since it only takes a “few hours”.

It took me a few hours just to unbolt the facia from the quarter panels. Those bolts are in a near impossible location and they will devour your morning.

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

It took me a few hours just to unbolt the facia from the quarter panels. Those bolts are in a near impossible location and they will devour your morning.

Are you referring to the bolts that are hidden in the wheel arches? Having to remove a bunch of grommets that hold the lining in the wheel arches, pull the lining back with one hand, then holding the right sized tool reach past the lining, then very slowly scraping/peeling the skin off the back of your hand (since we don’t have a third hand to help hold back that stiff lining while also trying to find the bolt and not being able to see where you are working…
After a few futile attempts and a few choice words, taking a mental break.
Then try, try again…

 

[DennisT]

Our MKX was sitting in the garage with the front removed for about a month. Only able to work on it for a couple hours at a time.
Thought I would have it done in a week since it only takes a “few hours”. Hah!
Each time I worked on it, was getting more nervous that I would forget how to reassemble it all.

When we had our first one done by a local installer (Hyundai Elantra Sport), he said his wife came out once, saw all the parts on the shop floor, and asked if he was going to be able to put it back together

Could I - yes, but do I really want to - nope. I’d rather write a check.

We had the jeep cherokee done at a local hitch shop in Bradenton FL. Took them a day and $4500 all in including a new 10k towbar.

 

[Neemer]

Are you referring to the bolts that are hidden in the wheel arches?

Yeah, and I’d like a few words with the sadistic SOB that thought that was a good design.

 

[Neemer]

Took them a day and $4500 all in including a new 10k towbar.

I like DIY projects and thought I would save $$$$ by doing it myself.

Given the number of trips I had to make to the hardware store to replace broken drill bits, it was probably a wash. Whatever metal that bumper is made of isn’t of this world.