advice on bumper replacement [Archive] - Dubnet Volkswagen Enthusiast Forum

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vtjetta

01-30-2006, 12:25 PM

Help!
I don't know much about cars, but I'm REALLY sick of being treated like I don't even posess any general intelligence when I go into repair shops, and then getting ripped off! :evil:
So... I have a 1999 Jetta, and for several years now, the Front bumper has been loose where it attaches to the drivers side fender (the bolts along the front of the wheel well got ripped out when i drove too far over a parking lot curb and then backed out of the space, whrenching the bumper forward. Not the smartest move on my part, but more careless than stupid.) Recently, I had an incident where my anti-lock brakes froze up, locking the right front wheel from turning. I was in the middle of the road, and called a towtruck to pull me home. Because the front wheel was the issue, I had to be towed from the front--bad idea for a Jetta!!! The way the tower hooked upnder the car and lifted it, it broke another large piece of plastic. This piece (and I'm sure I'm showing my ignorance by not knowing the name of it, but I can't find it on any parts pages) was attached along the back, underside of the bumper, ran all the way across the front of the car, and extended back about two feet under the engine block. Presumably, its purpose it so keep slush and other road debris out of the engine block.

here are my questions for those of you more knowledgable than me:
1) how crucial is it that I replace this part (I do live in a very snowy town.)
2) is this the kind of thing i need to go to a body shop for? or a VW dealership? or just my trusted mechanic? (he doesn't generally work on VWs.)
thanks :wink:

Calabi

01-30-2006, 01:34 PM

I'm trying to get a better understanding of which piece you are missing. I, too have lost an underbody panel and you can see from the pictures below it was originally underneath the front passenger side of the car. The first two pictures show where the original piece was before it broke off and the last picture shows the area behind the bumper on the passenger side.

Can you tell where your's is missing from these pics?

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/6141/jettaunderside19ub.jpg
http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/6628/jettaunderside33xt.jpg
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/6678/jettaunderside28kt.jpg

Yeah...not very pretty under my car, :oops:

vtjetta

01-30-2006, 01:54 PM

Calabi

01-30-2006, 02:02 PM

in response to calabi's question about which piece...
this piece was actually attached just inside the wheels, slightly farther back. where your first phots shows "remains", it might actually be the same piece, which started behind the bumper section. I just talked to a friend about some of this-- he thought the name of the piece might be "rock guard."

I'm sort of waiting for others with more technical experience to chime in, but I don't think its purpose was to prevent crap from getting IN the engine block.

Rather, I believe it was partially protecting the oil pan, in which case it would be good to have (ever had a squirrel bottom out under your car? I have...lol). Anyway, I've seen aluminum skid guards for MINIs and such for sale and an aftermarket solution such as this might be the answer (both for protection and cost).

On a side note, I think the original piece was worthless. Somehow I believe mine became loose and on a rainy day got weighed down with water. I'm driving along and hear this skidding noise. By the time I figured out what it was, I hit a section of freshly paved road (chip sealed!). Before I got to the next exit it had ripped itself off and that was the end of that.

EDIT:
The broken portion in my pictures is the fender liner and possibly the spash guard. If your fender liner is broken, that piece can be bought from the dealership for maybe $20 and installed yourself relatively easily.
As for the splash guard, it prevents crap from spashing into the engine bay.

TisforTurbo

01-31-2006, 01:55 PM

sounds like the fender liner to me