Sad day my fellow Corvette enthusiasts...I parked my car at work and when I went out to go to lunch, I noticed a scuff on the front bumper. Luckily, I have a clear bra and that is what was scuffed, it didn't go through to the paint; at least that's as far as I can tell right now, I'll pull the bra off to see for sure at a later time when I have the time and money to replace it.

But upon further inspection, I noticed some more damage. There is a seam where the hood and the front bumper meet, and the ends of the seam are located right along the head lights and the front bumper comes to a point there. I noticed that one of those points was sticking up funny so I tried to push it back down, but it just popped up again when I let go. I took a good look on the inside and it appears that a little clip of some sort has been broken.

That's when I decided to take it into a shop because it was going to be more than what I wanted to do on my own. When I got there, the guy took a look and pointed out the broken clip, but he also said that probably wasn't the only thing wrong. He said the seam looked too wide and that something must be bent under the bumper, but he'd have to remove it to know for sure. He said removing the bumper was a 5 hour job...THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT, CAN IT???

I think the guy just doesn't want to do such a small job as replacing the clip and he's telling me the bumper needs to be removed to "up sell" me. What do you guys think? Does removing the bumper really take 5 hours?

Thank you!

 

5 hours? Nope, no way. I removed mine to install a splitter. Removing the bumper cover took less than an hour using conventional hand tools. At a shop it shouldn't take much more than 30 minutes. You do have to remove it to replace that clip. If the shop wants 5 hours of labor to remove it you need to find a different shop.

 

I've removed mine in about 30 minutes. I'll bet a shop could do it in 15. I would seek an alternate shop.

 

You don't even have to remove the bumper to replace that clip.

 

I removed mine in about 30 minutes

 

I had the same problem. Took 15 minutes to fix. this link has the part numbers.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/c6-tec...icking-up.html

 

Actually there are two pieces that combine to hold that part of the bumper down. Make sure that both are replaced if broken.

 

I've had my front bumper off a few times. Never longer than 30-40 minutes to remove.
Good Luck with the fix.

 

+1 DIY and go back and tell the guy how it's done I can get the front bumper off in 30, but if it's you first time, plan on taking a little longer.

 

Thanks for all the replies here, it has been most helpful.

 

hes most likely basing his price on the probability that there is more damage which may take that additional time to repair. possibly paint work, ect. especially not knowing, not being able to see with that bra on it. he might have also been quoting labor times based on insurance bull crap that they deal with. body shops generally have to raise labor times because they get short changed big time when it comes to insurance paying out. i remember not long ago when body shops would only get paid $40-50 dollars an hour under insurance. meanwhile regular repair shops get more than double that. i wonder what he was going to charge you per hour? what else was he going to do besides removing the bumper? those would be the questions to ask.

 

Ehhh, I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt, as you have, but I really don't think any of what you said applies.

First off, I told him that I had a clear bra and it didn't look like the paint was scratched at all. He took a closer look, rubbed his hand on it, and agreed. And just to reiterate with him, I told him that I wasn't even worried about the paint for the time being, I just wanted the broken clip replaced and the bumper properly seated.

I also told him that I wasn't reporting any of this to my insurance and asked for a ballpark quote on the job. That's when he went into the whole "removing the bumper is a 5 hour job" routine. I don't remember his exact words but the point of what he said was something like this, "I can't really give you a good estimate because until I remove the bumper, I can't see what damage might be behind it. Removing the bumper alone is a 5 hour job, we want to be careful making sure we don't scratch or dent anything. Once we can see what's going on behind the bumper, it could be a quick and easy fix or it might take a little more time."

Now maybe he was trying to prepare me for the worst case scenario so that he didn't quote me a price of something like $100 only to find out it is going to cost $500 and then I'd be pissed, but if that's the case, he sure didn't explain it that way but maybe I misunderstood. On the other hand, he actually said it more than once, "it's a 5 hour job just to remove the bumper".

The only explanation I can come up with is he either doesn't know what he's talking about and I need to go to a different shop. Or he wants to charge me for 5 hours of labor on a job that actually should take less than an hour and I need to go to a different shop.

So in the end, it doesn't matter, I am going to a different shop if not doing it myself.

 

I appreciate all the help I've received so far, maybe I can get a little more help...

Anybody know of a place in the upstate of SC (Anderson/Greenville/Spartanburg) that I can take my baby to and have her fixed up?