gawalla

(I posted this in response to a Return4Deposit post from a long time ago, but it doesn't look like it posted correctly.)

After loving this S8 for the past 6 months, I have found that it catches curbs all the time. I am super careful now after shooting my license plate off into space a couple of times (again, cartoon-like as R4D said).

Today, my luck was not so good. Never heard a thing when I pulled in, curb not too high, etc. Backing out, I feel a little pressure, and thinking that there was an incline and a slight sinking part of the parking space, I give just a touch more gas.

Next thing I know, the whole d@m()d bumper pops, the 3 mini grills shoot off, my license plate is 10' away, and I look at the right side, near the fender - it's hanging down and out about 4-6"!!!!

I call my advisor at the Audi service desk, he says, no problem, happens all the time, bring it to the body shop here and we will get you going. Happily I drive over ... and then 60 minutes later, I get the call ... I have about $700 of work to be done! $250 in labor and $375 for the front bumper spoiler, the rest is clips, etc.

I am out of my mind now ... a terrible design deficiency, documented dozens of times, careful driving, and a $700 bill. The body shop guy says, "Hey, I am giving it to you at "list" - 10% off retail pricing, it's the best I can do." When I ask for the part number he gives me the 2 page estimate of parts, but cautions - "we don't install any parts here that we don't buy due to too many customer complaints. Plus we are in business to make money." Nice, I say, that's very nice.

Question is, I googled the part number of the spoiler (4D0807110B3FZ) and came up with www.jjbumpers.com - who shows a "list" of $180 and a net price of $135. Clearly, I am getting ripped off by the stealer, but don't know what my options are and I don't have the ability to do the work myself for a variety of reasons.

Can anyone give some advice for a guy in Northern VA who would love to not to have to shell out this crazy amount of money???? I need help quickly so I can tell the guy to put my bumper back on and get my car out of that place if that is my best option.

thanks in advance

Rtrn4Deposit

Happy to try to help.

When I did mine, I was able to put it back together for about $5.00.

Do you have all the parts? Is the front bumper damaged at all? How are the headlight washers?
Usually the washers get trashed too and they are pricey.

The front bumper slides in like a dresser drawer and is only fastened to the reinforcement by 2 small screws located behind the license plate mount. The usual damage is that the holes in the bumper get blown out too big for the screws to hold it.

My solution was a trip to ACE hardware. I got 2 fender washers and 2 longer allen head screws. I used the fender washers to help hold the bumper cover on, and used the longer screws to compensate for the extra space. Works great.

If I do it again though, the bumper will be wasted. Reassembly is very easy if the parts are still usuable. If not, then the parts are very expensive as you are finding out.

I'd try to have the cover repaired if possible. Post some pics and I can walk you thru it. Good luck!

R4D

gawalla

Wow, that is terrific.

Unfortunately, I had already made a trip to the Stealership when I posted - so they took the bumper off "to assess the damage." Since my post, I have found out that it's apparently going to cost 3-5 hours of time to put it back on with the current configuration of damaged clips, etc. One way or the other, I am out $50 per hour for labor, so at least $150, more like $250 just to get the car back.

I am thinking that I just call it a day after the car comes back since I will have at least a few new clips holding it on ... any thoughts?

ohbw

You may just need to loosen some retention nuts, put things back in place, and retighten, as I did. Mine was in the same condition as yours and it didn't cost me a nickel to put it right again.

PaulW

Most have fixed it themselves....there are a bunch of plastic clips or fastners that hold the inner bumper to the outer plastic bumper.

Considering what you have into already, unless you just want to pick the car up and the bumper seperately, you probably want the dealer to fix it for you.

If you're handy, you could probably do it for less than $50.

How much time/money do you have? A lot of money or a lot of time?<ul><li><a href="http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/Body/frontendremoval.html">Some details on the front bumper</a></li></ul>

skiracer1313

I continue to be amazed at the level of detail you provide, the photos highlighting key points. I have been very intimidated at trying any of these myself, until I saw the photo of your kids w/ gloves on doing the work! Any chance they would enjoy a trip to Colorado to work on my car?!?

gawalla

I couldn't agree more. YOu guys are terrific with quick, correct and reliable help.

End of story: I paid $250 to get the bumper back on; seems to be in pretty well with only one corner edge along the right fender slightly off. I will check it out tonight once I can get into my garage out of the rain.

I might end up just proactively using some of your suggestions to make the thing is on there really good.

thanks again for all the help!