sheanichole

Hello, I am a first time Audi owner, and have only had the car just under 2 months. It was in pristine condition, however I noticed the driver side fog light grill just went missing one day a few weeks ago. My sister noticed it too and went and messed with the passenger side, and it just popped right out too.

I ordered some replacement grills from eBay, but how do I get them to stay in? It looked like the original one was just stuck in there with some double side sticky tape. Should I take it to the dealer and have them do it? I don't understand how a car that has 68k miles on it doesn't lose the foglight grill until right after I buy it. I drive 3 miles to work, not like I'm offroading it or anything!

I was really proud to own my first luxury car, but surely did not expect parts to be falling off it this soon. Well I really didn't expect parts to fall off at all. I've been a die-hard Mazda fan for most of my life, and drove my last Mazda6 for 5 years. No parts ever fell off of it. I've never had a part ever fall off of any car I have driven. Will Audi fix this if I just take to an Audi dealership? (I bought it used from a Toyota dealer). It's kind of embarrassing to have these gaping holes in my front bumper of my brand new (to me) car.

Macallan21

It's plastic and glue, calm down. Audi doesn't use some magical glue that is different from Chevy or Toyota's glues. They all probably buy glue in barrels from 3M.

Just look at where the grill goes and see if you can use more double sided tape -- or my preference is some auto cement (comes in a red tube) for $5 at Autozone.

audi8k

Could it be that a previous owner broke the plastic hooks, and made a "quick fix"?

What has been reported by forum members is that the hooks brake easily when trying to remove the cover in cold temperature.
The user's manual (page 110 in mine) notes:
"The trim cover is secured to the bumper by several retaining hooks.
Do not use force when removing the trim cover to avoid damaging
it."

It has also been reported by forum members that they found the easier way to change the fog bulbs is to access from the back, so using glue does not make it impossible to change bulbs.

Macallan21

I undid 3 screws in the wheel well liner and changed my foglight bulbs. Took about 2 minutes per side.

sheanichole

Thanks for the advice about the auto cement. I wasn't sure really what to use, and it really seems like something I could do myself, as I'm sure the auto place would probably charge a lot.

Idk about the fog lights themselves, they both work so I just want the grill back in there to cover the ugly hole. It's good to know that you don't have to take the grill off to change the light, hopefully I won't have to change them for a long time.

I still love my Audi, the car drives like a dream, but I am disappointed at parts falling off of it. My thought is that it happened at the car wash. That's the only thing I can think of that I've done with the car since I got it that would put stress on it. I still don't think parts should just fall off of a car that easy though. I ran my previous cars through countless car washes. Maybe Audi got the bad batch of glue?

jfo

These are not glued or taped on by the factory and don't easily come off or fall out. They have tabs that snap into slots in the bumper. Do you have the tabs? It sounds like the previous owner may have broken them off since you have tape there.

JJJJJJJ

jfo is exactly right, some idiot broke them and then half-assed them back in with tape, go buy new ones and they will pop into place nicely, unless some idiot broke the bumper cover too. pop them in then tug on them to make sure they snapped in nicely.
if they don't, tie wrap them in

bowdidge

I removed a fog light grill and had the same problem getting them to stay in. In my case, I noticed none of the latches - top or bottom - were catching, and guessed that the grill just wasn't in far enough. I tried pressing hard with no luck. I then tried a tapping the grill in front of each latch using a block of wood and a mallet; the latches all stuck in place immediately. It didn't take much force, just a solid few taps.

Pro tip: be very careful not to drop any screws when you're changing headlight bulbs, or you'll get to pull out the fog light grill too!

Robert