Towel Bar Issue

Good evening everyone and Happy New Year to you all. I am a novice at this so please bare with me. I'm trying to figure out how the contractor installed this towel bar? It's not staying sturdy and it is drooping when we put the towels on it. It looks like silicone caulk but I'm not sure which is obviously why I'm here. My girlfriend tasks me with the job of getting it fixed. I can either call a contractor to reinstall or I can "DO IT MYSELF"! Which is what I'm opting to do. So my question is what is this plastic stuff that you see in the pictures? Is that, in fact, the silicone caulk that I mentioned earlier. Now, in theory, I can just slip the bar right over these plastic stubs that are protruding out of the wall. Unfortunately, however, (and as mentioned before) the bar moves. There is some noticeable give that wasn't there before. So my question is simple - How do I fix it? Can someone walk me through the steps to correct this issue? I appreciate all comments and answers in advance. Thank you all very much.

 

Towel bars usually have a bracket that is mounted to the wall, then once the bracket is sucured, the fixture mounts to the bracket with set screws. So I guess my question would be, are there brackets on the back side of the round ends and set screws, or not?

If not, the best sealant to use is Schluter Kerdi Fix. You can get it at Lowe's or Home Depot. Pick a color that matches the grout.

Clean off all the old silicone with a razor first. Apply just enough Keri Fix to fill the back side and make contact with the wall. Mask the area around the towel bar with painters tape to keep excess Keri Fix off the tile. Have a couple sticks cut to prop underneath the ends of the towel bar. Have one cut to brace the towel bar to the opposite wall. Then affix the towel bar to the wall, using the sticks for support. Clean off the excess right away with acetone.

 

3 of your pictures show screws through a grout line and plastic brackets of some sort. The last picture of the actual towel bar shows it fastened not through grout lines but through the middle of tile. I would remove the set screw on the one pictured in the final picture and see if it differs from the other ones you have pictured.

Easiest solution, as I have never installed a towel bar with plastic wall brackets, is to purchase a new bar, of similar length and replace the plastic with metal hardware to ensure a lasting repair.