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

On my 2003 Jetta there are about 8 big head torx screws around the
grill and vent areas, and 4 per side in the fender liner area that
hold my bumper in along with the slide in slots. Nothing fancy but I
can understand them getting pealed off. Where I live I see peeled off
bumper skins every day along side the road. Those big screws tighten
down over some slots in the plastic bumper. Just look at the peeled
off skin and it will make sense.

On Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:11:55 +0100, "Neil" <neil1 (AT) bollocks (DOT) tesco.net>
wrote:

"Is this normal." Sure is when you hit hard things!!

"Neil" <neil1 (AT) bollocks (DOT) tesco.net> wrote

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

"Neil" <neil1 (AT) bollocks (DOT) tesco.net> wrote:

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.
--
/"\ Bernd Felsche - Innovative Reckoning, Perth, Western Australia
\ / ASCII ribbon campaign | Science is the belief in
X against HTML mail | the ignorance of the experts.
/ \ and postings | -- Richard Feynman

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

On Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:32:24 +0100, "Neil" <neil1 (AT) bollocks (DOT) tesco.net> wrote:

I'd silicone that cover in place. :-)

"Neil" <neil1 (AT) bollocks (DOT) tesco.net> wrote:
[Please attribute quotes <http://learn.to/quote>]

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.
--
/"\ Bernd Felsche - Innovative Reckoning, Perth, Western Australia
\ / ASCII ribbon campaign | Science is the belief in
X against HTML mail | the ignorance of the experts.
/ \ and postings | -- Richard Feynman