Headlight plastic clip
I decided to have my front bumper cover repainted and replace the grill with the Z06 grill prior to a ceramic coating. My kid had asked me if he could take the car to prom and since he doesn't give me anywhere near the trouble I gave my Dad, I said okay. I wanted to have it looking good for him. My car is a 2014 Laguna Blue model and I bought it used last spring with 30,000 miles on it. I debated whether I should take the bumper cover off myself and save a few dollars but decided to let the body shop do it since I was afraid of forcing something and breaking it. As I was dropping off the grill today, I saw they had the cover off. I looked at it and noticed that a plastic clip on the passenger side headlight looked cracked. I touched it and the top of it fell off. I went back into the body shop and told one of the owners that the clip looked broken. As we walked to the car he told me that the cover had been off before and was repainted. I mentioned that there was nothing in the Car Fax about it and told him that the clip was intact as the piece fell off there in the parking lot when I touched it. I looked for the piece and we found it. The owner of the shop didn't say much but repeated that the cover had been painted once before as it was a different color and he couldn't show me because it was now in primer. He mentioned that he would glue the clip back together. He did tell me that he thought he could reuse the corvette emblem but wanted to know if I wanted to pay instead for a new one. I didn't say much but explained I was concerned that the broken clip wouldn't glue correctly and would cause me a problem. I asked him to let me know how that went.

My questions are: Do I have something to worry about now? Can he repair it? Any advice on how I should handle this?

 

Not everything shows up on a CarFax report. My wife's last two cars have been rear ended in slow speed incidents, both were repaired back to factory fresh condition. One of them had a CarFax mentioning a "minor" body repair, while the other one showed as "clean".

Maybe your body shop guy broke the clip but is not owning up to the fact? I'd think as long as the bumper can be refitted without showing any gaps or mis-alignments you should be good. While the bumper is off I would inspect everything carefully.

 

You will be fine, they have some great glues out there now that's stronger than original.

 

That is good news. I know I can never glue anything that stays together. I am just disappointed that I decided to pay a shop to do it because I didn't want to do it myself as I was too afraid I would break something. I am pretty certain the body shop broke it and he was scrambling for a way to blame it elsewhere. I know when I spoke with the original owner he was clear the car never needed anything but new tires.

 

Plastic welder, $8 at harbor freight. Works magic!

 

Or JB Weld - that stuff fixed a crack in the lower unit of my boats outboard engine and held up in saltwater!

They make a plastic version for automotive applications: https://www.jbweld.com/products/plasticweld-epoxy-putty

 

Thanks, I will mention this to him. I am a little concerned now how the finish on my bumper cover will look. I am hoping for the best.