Girlfriend has informed me she clipped a wall going backwards, and managed to completely detach the front bumper. Is this normal. She reckons her and her friend managed to just clip it back on. I thought it would be a bit more secure than that?. should it have bolts etc?
Hope to investigate further when car is back home.
Neil
"Is this normal." Sure is when you hit hard things!!
Upon further investigation, there appears to be no bolts. Just holes where there should be some. May have to drill couple of holes behind number plate, to put some screws through, and stop the thing falling off again.
Neil
If you're talking about the plastic cover, then there are no fixing holes.
The plastic covers clip into the real bumper; which is fairly heavy steel.
It's possible that (some of) the retaining tongues molded into the plastic cover have been ripped off in the incident.
Keep in mind that if you bolts the cover on and a similar incident occurs, that the cover will not simply be ripped off, but will be kinked and perhaps permanently deformed around where it's fixed to the metal. Also, more force will be transmitted to the body of the vehicle. Plastic popping off reduces damage to the rest of the car.
For now, as a temporary measure, I have put 2 selftappers through the bumper behind the number plate. The whole bumper surround, inc the indicators etc, is missing something. The only locating areas were on the wings, and bumper assembly slides into them. Was solid once in place, but pull it forward and it fell off again. Looks like several tags have been broken off in past. There is also some odd shaped holes, that must have contained something. There is a solid piece of very strong looking plastic affixed to the car. Didnt see any sort of metal bumper at all. Hopefully the screws will at least stop the whole lot sliding off for now, if she brakes hard, plus will also allow the assembly to pop off still, if anything happens again. Will try to think of a better fix when the weather isnt so bad. Suspect whole assembly replacement is only option, inc the big section fixed solid across the front, as the holes are damaged.
Neil
I'd silicone that cover in place. :-)
"Neil" wrote: [Please attribute quotes ]
The cover should "click" into place. Unless most of the tongues have broken off. The "big bumper" model features securing clips that poke through the slots in the steel support into the plastic cover from behind, helping to hold the cover in place. The clips could be lost in an accident and/or the corresponding locators in the cover damaged.
The straight piece behind the (big) bumper is STEEL on my car; a
1990 Wolfsburg-built GTI. The steel is part of the chassis. It provides stiffness and strength to locate and align the front. The car must not be driven without the support in place and tightened to spec.MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.