Driving home last night, a bit windy - branch falls off tree and hits the bumper.

Could have been worse, missed lights, etc but still - Arse!

 

Anyone have a bumper removal guide?

Haved just found post #39 in the Manual thread, very handy (there's a bodywork manual, looking at it now)!

That's upsetting, good luck in repairing, there aren't many meteor grey in this area so if I wake up to find my front bumper missing I'll have a good idea where to look.

That's not good :(

 

At least it should just be a bumper replacement.

Try applying some gentle heat and it might pullout, or at least reduce the visual impact

On my fabia I used a heat gun and a pry bar to push it back to shape - it was 99% better - not perfect but that was from a wall, not a branch!

Driving home last night, a bit windy - branch falls off tree and hits the bumper.

Could have been worse, missed lights, etc but still - Arse!

 

Anyone have a bumper removal guide?

Xpower has removed a Front bumper from a VRS might be worth a review of Xpower's past posts.

Unlucky. I got home last week with a poor sparrow rammed through the bottom spoiler which left a bit of chipped paint. The front assist radar guard had fallen out at the top and hung by the bottom studs. That popped back in but a chips away guy thought it best to leave. Like you I was relieved that the damage wasn't too bad and the lights were ok.

Failed to remove the bumper after much cocking about, removed all the bolts (or so I thought) and pressed down the clips as suggested by the guide (for a non vRS bumber as it happens) but it wasn;t moving.

In the end just wedged some tape-wrapped levers / screwdrivers into the damage and made it slightly better. It's far from perfect but it'll do until it gets more damaged in future

 

Doesn't look too bad now. Do the headlamp washers still work?

Xpower did a guide for a vrs bumper, used it to get mine off to swap to a black pack grill.

Looks a lot better now though so good job

Headlamp washers good I think, I have a sidelight warning on but have no sidelights, DRL looks to be working fine.

I'm pretty sure you will have sidelights (I have on my bi-xenons), they are next to the projector lamp behind the silver plastic deflector. They are 501 (W5W) bulbs and easy to get to - I have swapped mine with canbus LEDs.

Driving home last night, a bit windy - branch falls off tree and hits the bumper.

Could have been worse, missed lights, etc but still - Arse!

 

Anyone have a bumper removal guide?

Not seen you about in this one yet - seen you in your O2 a few times when you were parking on Henry Street I think (about 100 yards down the hill from my house).

Hey Andy, Henry Street (had to look it up) is when taking the kids to the library on a Sat am and unable to get parked just outside, not had to park there in the MK3 yet.

 

And yes - found the sidelights bulbs and had a look (someone has stuck blue ones in there, not that you can actually see them!) and they light up and no warning light any more, something must have just been a bit loose.

 

All in all it could have been a lot worse.

My sidebulbs were blue too, I think the car came out the factory with these fitted.