00 S4 Front Bumper Removal Help?

tonyburon · 05-19-2009, 10:30 AM

I'm changing my timing belt, and have spent the last 2 days attempting to remove the front bumper. I can only seem to move it about an inch before it wont give anymore. I have pulled and pulled every which direction there is, and cannot get this bumper off.

I am looking for any and all advise from people who have helped or have done this themselves. Any pictures or art from microsoft paint would be helpful at this point. I have searched a couple of threads about this, and all i can find is people saying its a PITA, or "use force".

If it helps I can post a video of how much it will move. I just need to have the camera ready.

ALso, i have read this forum:
http://www.audi-forums.com/b5-forum/...-belt-diy.html

Very informational by the way (appreciate the write up), docurley states:
"A8. Pry the bumper (with strong hands) away from the fender at the wheel well to pop it out of the guide that it is mounted to. I had difficulty with this and was surprised how much force I had to use to free the bumper from the bumper guide. Pop out both sides."

**docurley** · 05-20-2009, 06:48 AM

Did you unbolt the undertray?

tonyburon · 05-20-2009, 09:18 AM

If you are referencing the underbelly pan yes. followed all the instructions in your guide, but i can't find these 3 bolts as pictured from your guide

00 S4 Front Bumper Removal Help?-eng63-06.jpg

Are these not allowing the bumper to be removed?

I like your write up on the timing belt removal better than from blauparts. Comparing my instructions from blauparts, and they dont mention removing these bolts.

**docurley** · 05-20-2009, 09:46 AM

read this and see if any steps are missing.

1. Take off front bumper.

a. Jack car up and put on jack stands. ( I removed both front wheels to have easier access to wheel well liner).
b. Remove underbelly tray by removing screws both near front bumper and towards rear
c. Remove bottom front 3 screws holding wheel well liner towards front of car from both sides. Only the bottom one is absolutely necessary, but it made things easier for us.
d. Pull out fog light grill by pulling straight out. Toughest clip for us was the ones in the top.
e. Remove bumper retaining bolt located on the bottom inside where the grill was pulled out from. (should be next to fog light) It’s a long bolt so you will be there a while.
f. Remove weather stripping from front of car.
g. Here is where it got tricky for us. You are supposed to push in firmly on the bumper from one corner, push down on the edge by the fender well then pull away to unclip the bumper. It was very difficult so we used a long screw driver to help pry the clip from the inside of the fender well, made things A LOT easier. We only did the first one, after that the other 2 (one more on top and one in bottom) came off easy.
h. After doing both sides pull bumper straight back about ½ foot to get access to washer fluid hose by the driver side lamp. Unhook it from the body and it will drain all fluid off.
i. Unplug fog lights.
j. Pull off bumper and put it to the side.

tonyburon · 05-20-2009, 01:50 PM

Yep, i got all the way up to "G". I have tried a long screwdriver, but was extremely careful at this point. I needed a little guideline as to how these bumper alignments are setup. I will follow those instructions and update.

This is all just embarrassing, I'm sure everyone is thinking "If he can't get a bumper off, how is he sopposed to change a timing belt?"

I appreciate anymore input and ideas. Thanks again.

r1de23 · 05-20-2009, 09:42 PM

it is rather tricky i think, i just got mine off last week. i was pulling the hell out of it. i finally pulled forward near the fender and rocked it back and forth. it wont pull out, go forward and aft of the car... it takes some serious force to, so man up on it and pull that sh!t off.

r1de23 · 05-20-2009, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonyburon

If you are referencing the underbelly pan yes. followed all the instructions in your guide, but i can't find these 3 bolts as pictured from your guide

Attachment 5752

Are these not allowing the bumper to be removed?

I like your write up on the timing belt removal better than from blauparts. Comparing my instructions from blauparts, and they dont mention removing these bolts.

hey i didnt remove those bolts, i couldnt find them, move on...