How-to remove an A2 front bumper cover.

Little Dog

A2OC Donor
European-Union
It will take me a little while to transfer this How-to and update the pictures, I'll remove this comment when complete.

How-to remove a front bumper cover, Part1.

This job is recognised as an easy job, however it is difficult if you are tackling it for the first time and don't have clear instructions. The purpose of this How-to is to guide the first time bumper remover.

The bumper is two aluminium bars behind a plastic cover. With the cover removed the front of your A2, if you own a TDi, will look like this:

IMG_6912.JPG


The cover has to be removed for various jobs including:

Horn replacement

Condenser replacement

Radiator replacement

Inter-cooler replacement

Required Tools

In addition to a jack and axle stands a small selection of Torx bits will be required with suitable drivers. A trim removal tool is useful for removing spreader rivets along with a screw driver with the point ground flat for positioning the spreader peg.

The tools I used were:

Screwdriver with point ground flat

Trim clip removal tool

¼ drive bit adapter and Torx bits (T25 required)

¼ drive ratchet, extension and T bar

3/8 long reach Torx bits (T30 required)

3/8 drive extension and T bar

¼ drive deep M10 socket

IMG_6952.JPG


Sequence of work.

Not quite how I did the job as will be apparent from some of the pictures but next time I will do the job this way.

Remove the bonnet and store in a safe place.

Remove the head lights, just two screws securing each and remove the electrical connector at the rear. Store safely, also a good time to polish if the lenses have started to yellow.

Picture

Remove 6 spreader rivets securing top of cover

Picture

I found pushing the spreader peg a little at a time then levering with a trim clip removal tool allowed me to remove all rivets complete with pegs

IMG_6890.JPG


Support front of A2 on axle stands and remove front wheels. The method I use for lifting and supporting the car is safe and effective but not Audi recommended practice. The car should be supported by stands that don't damage the aluminium at the jacking point. The car can be lifted using the Audi jack with the car chocked so that it cannot roll.

IMG_6899.JPG


Remove engine bay under tray, it is secured by two M10 nuts and X Torx screws. I find a finger ratchet very good for this job, it never over torques the screws and it’s a good tool in confined spaces:

IMG_6896.JPG


Loosen front half of both wheel arch liners, there are two spreader rivets each side, the first is easy to find and the second a little concealed:

IMG_6900.JPG


Also a Torx screw each side

IMG_6897.JPG


I then pulled the front of the liner from behind the wing, it was a bit tight against the wing lip so probably not something I would do in winter. I wouldn’t do this on a steel car either as paint damage would result in rust. A2 wings are plastic and therefor there is no need to remove the entire arch liner.
 
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How-to remove a front bumper cover, Part2

Each side of the wing is now secured by a white plastic clip and 4 Torx screws. The clip and two screws can be seen inside the headlight aperture (just one screw in picture):

IMG_6898.JPG



They are quite difficult to locate:

IMG_6904.JPG



The second two can only be seen with the cover removed. This picture should help you locate them

IMG_6906.JPG


Once all 8 screws are removed spring the white clips and pull the cover forwards. Support the cover until the fog light wires are detached:

IMG_6911.JPG


Job done the bumper cover can now be moved away from the car. One final tip to aid reassembly, which is a reversal of the above, once it is empty everything has gone back on:

IMG_6913.JPG
 
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I have followed this today .. the above narrative really helped, although you omitted having to deal with countless bodges and pieces of creative engineering (old crash damage repairs across the black plastic chin piece involving pop rivets on the underside, non-standard fixings being used in place of the correct screws and plastic push-rivets) that added at least two hours to the process! Many thanks for your photos, it really helped when I got to the bit where I'd unscrewed all the screws and yet the wings wouldn't release the bumper ends - eventually realised the 'speed nuts' were retaining the ends of the screws so they were holding the bumper ends into the groove in the wing. Once those had been dislodged I was able to release the cover. Replacement with @A2Steve's island green cover and a whole pile of new fixings was considerably quicker and easier, although it has gone dark!
 
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