Think Body Shop Warped my Bumper. Need Advice Needed.

M

motobuild

New member
*Not sure if this is even a proper forum to post this on. But if anyone has a suggestion for a different forum it would be greatly appreciated.



Try to make a long story short. Purchased my Audi with some slight bumper damage (I would say a 1"x2" chunk of paint missing). I would assume from previous owner backing into something. And other slight scratches etc....



I owned it for about a month before getting it repaired. And in this time never noticed any other damage to the bumper other than the missing paint. No dents, no warps etc....



ANYWAYS. Had it repaired. And on pickup, he mentioned there was some other damage and had to use a heat gun to get it back into shape. At that time only thing I noticed was excessive orange peel, so he took care of that.



About a month later, after washing. I noticed a lump (think opposite of a door ding) near the right edge of the bumper. And then another more in the middle of the bumper. The one in the middle is pretty hard to see, the one on the edge does show very well when clean and sunny out.



Took it back to the body shop, and he told me there is nothing they can do, that it was like that when I brought it in, etc....



Took it to another body shop (getting some aftermarket parts painted), and had them take a look at it. He said that it can be repaired, but it would cost about $500 (the cost of the repair in the first place, Alaskan auto body shops are pretty pricey). And it should have never been given back to me in that condition.



Just looking for some advice on how to handle it. Or if maybe I can try to repair somehow.



Will post pics tonight.
 
Do you have any rear shots of your car taken before the repair? You may want to look at that and see if the bump may have been present before the repair.



I had similar issues: I noticed a bump on the rear bumper slightly protruding out in an unconspicious area after my rear bumper was repainted. I was outraged and immediately notified the bodyshop. The bodyshop repaired it under my pressure.



A few months later, I came across some old pictures of my car, and noticed that the bump was actually there before the repair. Oh well.



What happened was that I focused all my attention on the old damage, and never paid attention to other less noticeable damage. After the repair of the bigger damage, I started noticing other smaller damages that were there all along.
 
No I don't have any old pictures (didn't feel a need to take pictures of a bumper missing a bit of paint lol). So yes it is possible. But there is also another one in a area that I am 99% sure did not show a bulge like it is now.



Will take pics as soon as I get home. They are just odd though. To me, if it was caused by damage to the bumper, they would be a crease, or a dent, or something not perfectly round. These bumps, look like if you were to take something from the back of the bumper (say a rounded screwdriver) and push the bumper out.



My guess is when he repaired it using heat, he ended up deforming the bumper.



Also I think something is shady, if he is saying it is unrepairable. But when I go to a shop offering money to repair, they say it can be repaired.
 
Ok here are some photos. I am BAD at taking photos (need to read up). Here is the most obvious one, and still somewhat hard to see in the photos (hence the red circle).



And yes, I know my car is filthy. Spring detail is coming up;)



385434520.jpg


385434521.jpg


385434522.jpg
 
You've got a couple issues here...



Did you initially pay the shop to repair ALL the damage to your bumper cover? If so, they obviously didn't do it all and/or correctly. If you didn't and didn't notice it until now you really have no recourse. Regardless, heat is a viable tool to repair plastic (and metal) and I've never seen damage like this come back weeks later. Was there repair within the exact area of the denting? It looks like that dent was created from an impact that caused the bumper cover to go back into either the edge of the absorber or reinforcement causing an outward protrusion.
 
Oh yeah I am aware that heat is very common to repair a bumper. And I agree, with no previous documentation (pictures), I am probably SOL.



The damage was actually on the other left side of the bumper. So I could see where the previous owner ran into something it would damage that corner by the bumper flexing. BUT what is odd to me, is that there is one or two more very similar marks just like that more in the middle of the bumper. i.e. not on the edge like that.



The initial estimate went like this (3rd place I went to, been there before and have done AWESOME work, but I have found out that the older body man is gone and has been for awhile). I asked them for an estimate to repair my bumper. And then the person that wrote the estimate came out and took a look and wrote one up. I was no specific to the damage. All I said was "repair the bumper". I did not use that term intentionality, I guess I just figured that to an experienced body shop worker, they would repair what needed to be repaired.
 
The similar crease in the center of panel could also be caused from the bumper wraping around something behind it. The plastic on those Audi's are pretty thin and soft and it doesn't take much for it to dent. There's protrusions all along the absorber and face bar(reinforcement) that could cause this.



If you didn't notice and/or complain immediatly after picking it up, you really don't have much recourse I'm afraid. Even if there's not signs of impact.



Was this repair part of an insurance claim?
 
No it wasn't part of an insurance claim. If it was, I would have plenty of recourse. I went back 3 times shortly after I picked it up, but could never catch the "right person". I honestly didn't think much of it, as I had it in my head, that they would fix it no problem i.e. Lifetime warranty on all work they perform (according to my paperwork from them).



And I was thinking about trying to heat it up a bit, wrap a block in a MF towel and see if I can "push it back". At least try to smooth it out a bit. Probably won't try though, as fear of messing it up even more.
 
Their warranty is for the paint and their workmanship. Try what Flastime is asking(which is a good suggestion) and crawl under your car with a flashlight to inspect behind the cover.That may tell you if they did repair in that area. Usually the repaired area is stiffer then the bare area and you can tell a difference. If there is stiffness around that dent, they might have repaired it wrong(workmanship).
 
Well I just went a took a look. And without removing the bumper, I won't be able to see anything. Very large plastic brace (that is not warped/cracked/etc...) is right behind it.
 
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