scottndsky

Hi folks,

I’m looking for advice on what to do about this damage to my front bumper. Some knucklehead swiped the front of my 2010 when he suddenly threw his car into reverse to back into a parking space he had already passed. He didn’t see my wife behind him (despite it being a convertible) and grazed my LF end with his RR end as he backed in while turning to the left. An insurance claim is has been filed and we fully expect his insurance to cover the repairs.

How do folks normally go about fixing bumpers? I’m struggling to embrace the idea of repairing and painting the existing bumper. My main fear is that aftermarket paint jobs are never as good as the original factory paint – especially over time. Is replacing the bumper a viable option? Can bumpers be had with the original factory paint (Ibis in this case)?

Any suggestions or advice are appreciated!

Cheers,
Scott

MP4.2+6.0

Since they won't be painted, either way you will get a paint job. On the other hand, any plastic trim piece with scrapes just gets replaced outright. From what I see, looks like your existing bumper cover will get repaired and repainted, and then the fog light trim and grill replaced.

Mitodad

Once you get it fixed you might want to look into getting a paint protection film put on full front ( entire hood, front fenders, both entire bumpers and rocker panels along with mirrors. The best I've seen so far is from Xpel You can check out you tube search for autosupershield for example. Thel'll be doing my 2014 a7 after it swims over from Germany on July 15th. The film is self healing ( pour 120 degree water on it for subtle surface probs and they disappear. In your case it the film may have kamikazes itself while saving the bumper but has a 10yr warranty. I selected my installer base on Xpel website. Their locate installers listed everyone. I opted for factory trained. There were two close to me in Florida. I went with the one that Xpel rated 6 out of 6 rather than the closer installer who was rated 4. Can browse the web and search these forums, particularly the a7/s7 gang.

Bazz6666

I'm afraid your worries are true about the paint quality of the factory compared to an aftermarket fix.
Every time on the past I had such a job done,you could see the sewrling marks after few washes on that piece.

spijun

Changes only the left side of the bumper cover, not a complete bumper

scottndsky

So, it is true these bumpers (left or right) cannot be ordered from the factory in their original colors?

How much does that left side bumper cost? What is the PN?

Thanks,
Scott

spijun

S/N: 8R0-807-107 C (7x8 with parking aid + 8x1 washer system
Comes primed, without color
Price in Europa 180 Eur

m1964

If you live in a big city and park on the streets a lot, and go to supermarkets a lot, I would just leave this damage alone- there is always another one of those drivers like the one who did the damage.
if you are going to sell the Q5 then of course the damage needs to be fixed - a good body shop can re-paint Q5 bumper just fine (ask if they use water-based paint).

scottndsky

Whew... Everything is OK now. :-)

As expected, the other guy's insurance picked up the tab for fixing my bumper. The grand total was just shy of $2000. I ended up paying about $350 of that myself to include painting the right side bumper as well. The right side was not damaged in the accident, but it was pitted and scuffed enough that it was going to stand out if I didn't paint both sides.

Long term, I'm still concerned about the durability of non-factory paint. It sure looks nice right now, but will it stand up to road debris as well as the original paint? I suspect not, especially considering that parts of California have regulated body shops to use water-based paint now.

scottndsky

Yes, they used water-based paint. I dare ask... Is that a good thing?