Smashed upper grill – best fix?

[Jaqoda]

Hi all

 

I recently bought a nice clean Octavia vRS:

 

 

After about a month of careful driving my wife decided to bump it at 3mph and smash the upper front grill  

 

FFS!

 

Anyway I have now discovered the upper grill is a part of the entire front bumper, the rest of which is absolutely fine.

 

So my question is, what's the best fix for this? 

 

New bumpers seem to be in the region of £400+ which seems excessive.

 

Aftermarket grill and plastic weld? Any recommendations on what will fit? 

I've seen this part - http://www.superskoda.com/Skoda/OCTAVIA-III/Octavia-III-front-grille-in-OEM-honeycomb-design-KI-R

Which looks pretty good, would I also need the black grill surround to fit this and how much should I expect to pay for plastic welding it in?

 

And in the meantime is there any downside to driving without the upper grill? I need to make a long distance trip soon and don't fancy finding out on the M1! 

 

Cheers all
 

[J.R.]

Are you certain?

 

It looks just like the Yeti where the inner grille and outer surround are seperate part numbers, not exactly cheap but a whole lot cheaper than a bumper, the cost of which will be a lot more once it is painted.

 

If its the same as the Yeti, and I'm certain that it is, the inner & outer grille clip together and both are clipped into the bumper.

 

The garage is most likely telling you porkies because getting them apart without breaking the expensive chrome outer surround is difficult and you need to be motivated as the owner who is paying the bill, the garage has a different motivation, they just want to sell you a new grille, surround and bumper making their margin on the parts plus the painting and labour, that way it all just clips together easily.

[Jaqoda]

 

Happy to be corrected if that's not the case! If I can just order a new grill then I will be doing that. Does anyone know the part number I need?

 

I can't seem to find the OEM grill on its own, just the grill surround and the aftermarket part I posted a link to.

[pist0nbr0ke]

Indeed it is part of the bumper and plastic welding is the only way to replace it, even if you can find the grille on its own. (Sometimes ebay list them, where a breaker has been careful enough to remove it.)

 

Plan B is the Superskoda one as you have already discovered.

[Jaqoda]

OK great, thanks for the swift replies everybody. Looks like the grill will be the first mod then!

 

Any idea what I should expect to pay for plastic welding? It's not something I've ever had to deal with before.