I'm very sick about this.

Saturday, after a real nice "spirited" ride with my Father-in-law, I pulled the 928 into the driveway and bumped the driver's side nose into the house. I have to angle towards the house, back up and then pull forward into the garage. I wasn't paying attention to where I was and turned to say something to my FIL and wham! It still sickens me to think about the sound.

I wasn't going fast, in fact I was close to stopping, but it was enough to push the front turn signal and running light in about 1/4". The fog light position seems ok though. The nose will need repainted (again) and the black light trim cracked. None of the lenses were broken either.

Looking at it tonight, I can't seem to find a way to pull the light housings back into position. Could I have hit it hard enough to bend the steel bumper in?

Here are some ugly pictures.




It's hard to see from these pictures but that vertical support is about 1/4" away from where the nose cover starts. On the good side, that support is up flush with the cover.


The passenger (good) side


Does the bumper shock look compressed?


The good side


I'm sure you can imagine how angry and embarrassed I am about this. I came here first for encouragement and sympathy before I go to the "big board" for advice and possible chastising.

Any ideas on getting the lights into position before the repaint? It's already scheduled for the w/o 6/27.

SUCK! Good luck getting it fixed. I can't tell if the support is pushed in, but it sure might be... BTDT...well, not this exactly, but my wife backed in to my S4 back in '99, a rear ended a guy in the S4 in '97 and then a girl side swiped my '92 GTS in '09...

Oh man I feel for you. I would be sick as well. Maybe someone in your area can help.
Good luck and keep us posted.

Brad

I can't tell, but will hope for the best.
Data point; the bumpers are aluminum.

Rick - there is no doubt that the shock collapsed, and maybe sprung out a bit. That is what they are designed to do and they save the car. They are one time use however, so you will need to replace them both, even though you hit only one corner. This is the reason why the light housings aren't lining up properly. It is very unlikely that you bent the aluminum bumper rail.

It's not as bad as it looks - these cars are amazing in slow speed bumper bumps. I did that to my prior 86 (someone backed into me at about 5 mph in a parking garage in downtown Pitt), and in the rear of Bleumax, some kid pulled forward and ran into me at about 5 mph at a light when it changed from red to green (no paint damage on that one - just had to replace the rear shocks).

For my 86, I used Chuck's Auto Body on Perry Hwy in the North Hills. He works on my friend's 944 too. He did a nice job with the work ((412) 364-9292).

Good luck with it.

That sucks, but it might be an easy fix.

I've not done this, but have heard that it works. Get a basketball and make it flat. Stick it by the collapsed shock, between the bumper and the body, then pump up the basketball. I've heard it will push it back out most of the way.

Just replace the bumper shock. They are relatively cheap and will solve most of your fitment issues.

BTW, the basketball trick DOES work for the body panels, but not to correct the bumper shock itself, as they are a one-time useage thing.

Thanks for all the advice and condolences guys. I'm feeling a little better today. But not much.

Before I call Ed's repair shop that he suggested, (Thanks Ed!) can I replace the bumper shocks myself? What do I have to take off the front to get at those?

I'm having a hard time understanding this whole thing though. What got compressed that caused the shock to collapse? Did the aluminum bumper rail bend in temporarily on impact then not spring back out? Isn't the light housings surrounded by the al. bumper rail? Does the bumper shock push against the al. bumper rail?

Sorry for all the questions.

Light housing mounts to the Al bumper, that is attached to the car by the bumper shock. That bumper shock is not designed to "spring" back out. It just controls and slows compression and then stays compressed. That is how they were designed to function.

Once collapsed they stay that way and your fog lights no long sit in the correct place in the bumper cut out.

To get to them (there are two of them) you have to remove the ZILLION bolts that hold the bumper cover to the car... You will probably want to get a new body beading gasket for when you put it back on too...

+1 what James said, and don't worry about the aluminum rail in a slow speed impact. I can almost guarantee it wouldn't have been bent. It's just the shocks. Read Dwayne's thread about the front cover removal and repaint - best tutorial on that subject that I've seen. An S4 isn't all that different from the earlier styles on these disassembly procedures.

Well, I went ahead and turned this into my insurance co. I'm just going to have it all redone professionally instead of (trying to) doing it myself. My guy that did the nose repaint last year will do it all after the insurance adjuster looks it over and writes up the claim. I have total confidence that he'll do a great job. I'll post pictures after the operation.

Thanks again everyone!

linderpat;5282 wrote: +1 what James said, and don't worry about the aluminum rail in a slow speed impact. I can almost guarantee it wouldn't have been bent. It's just the shocks. Read Dwayne's thread about the front cover removal and repaint - best tutorial on that subject that I've seen. An S4 isn't all that different from the earlier styles on these disassembly procedures.

I don't see this at Dwayne's Garage site. Is it at RL maybe?

Found it at RL

Did the same thing on my 81 about 15 years ago, came back from getting my eyes tested and still dilated, and hit the garage corner in exactly the same place! Front cover sprang right back out and only needed some minor touch up. Good luck with the repair.