# Front SAP Grilles Installed!



## DJ Dannis (May 9, 2006)

First off, I love the new look! I have been debating for a while to do this...

Took it to a body shop, because if something major broke, I wouldn't have to pick up the tab  I helped the guy do the change out, but he cracked one of the tabs off the bumber (up by the headlight), that was a bummer, but a little glue did the trick. Then he broke one of the tabs off from the original grilles, yet another disappointment, but I try not to think about it. We finally got the SAP grille set in and they look great! The shop guy felt bad, so he didn't charge me... how nice :cheers 

The thing that sucked was he just layed the bumper down on his sandy cement floor :willy: I said, "Hey how about we put this at least on our shoes..." Also when he was pushing in the SAP grille, he pushed on the black honeycomb part and bam! Heard the thing give out. I was like no way, he did not just break it... Luckily he didn't, he just broke the glue bond. So I put some plastic epoxy on it and it is as good as new. I wish now I would have done it myself, but oh well.

Here is a before and after. Please pardon the bugs :cool


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## Balew (Sep 16, 2006)

I put mine in yesterday with the wife's help. Broke the plastic clips on the bumpers. The clips on the grilles were a royal PITA! Took about 30 minutes. I liked the look with no grilles but I was over ruled. Like the new look. :cheers


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

*Glad you are happy...

Personally, I would want it right, not glued, and epoxied. It is holding now, but what about down the road? 

You have a warranty, I would use it. *


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## EEZ GOAT (Jul 9, 2005)

ahhhhhhhhhhhh sooooo much better. congrad and paint them bad boys. on secong thought, it looks great on black and on the QSM. any others will need to be painted. just me .02


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## GOGOGTO (Aug 25, 2006)

Looks Damn Good !! I have to think so...


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## DJ Dannis (May 9, 2006)

GTO judge said:


> *Glad you are happy...
> 
> Personally, I would want it right, not glued, and epoxied. It is holding now, but what about down the road?
> 
> You have a warranty, I would use it. *



Trust me I hear you loud and clear and have thought about this very much. But what they would do is get another bumper, then paint it, fade it in with the rest of the paint and so on, just for that stupid clip... I think I'll just deal with it down the road when the car is in need of a final show paint job. I do think like that though (100% customer satisfaction)... but the consequences from this may make me more upset. I do think he should replace the original grilles for breaking the tab. I'll mention something to my service manager, because I did it through them for a reason. What are other peoples thoughts??


Besides that, thanks for the props guys! :cheers 

Dan


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## Go Dog Go (Sep 4, 2006)

DJ Dannis said:


> Trust me I hear you loud and clear and have thought about this very much. But what they would do is get another bumper, then paint it, fade it in with the rest of the paint and so on, just for that stupid clip... I think I'll just deal with it down the road when the car is in need of a final show paint job. I do think like that though (100% customer satisfaction)... but the consequences from this may make me more upset. I do think he should replace the original grilles for breaking the tab. I'll mention something to my service manager, because I did it through them for a reason. What are other peoples thoughts??
> 
> 
> Besides that, thanks for the props guys! :cheers
> ...


It's always been explained to me that the bumpers they get to replace stock are "slightly imperfect" ones that are rejected at their original manufacturing. Most of the time you wouldn't know, but it might not ever be "quite" right again after that. It would also bother me though that things were glued in there. Not really sure, sounds a bit like a rock and a hard place to me....good luck whatever you decide! They look good, I can't wait for a set.


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

Go Dog Go said:


> It's always been explained to me that the bumpers they get to replace stock are "slightly imperfect" ones that are rejected at their original manufacturing. Most of the time you wouldn't know, but it might not ever be "quite" right again after that. It would also bother me though that things were glued in there. Not really sure, sounds a bit like a rock and a hard place to me....good luck whatever you decide! They look good, I can't wait for a set.


*I just had both, the front bumper replaced and SAP facia replaced. As I posted why....The alignment of the bumper to the fender was not right from factory. I went over both new parts with a fine tooth comb. Both the bumper and facia are flawless, as is the paint job. I would be surprised if someone out there was more picky than I when it comes to issues as this. 

I think the tale of GM putting on imperfect parts is a bunch of boloney. On the contrary, the replacement bumper that was installed is better than the one installed at factory. Fits like it is supposed to, and the paint mil is thicker than factory.

I work in a truck assy..... plant, and I installed components on trucks on the assy. line for many years. I can attest to the fact parts on one truck that was installed, painted, and put out in delivery staging areas only to be disassembled to have those parts put on another truck are put on new trucks and sold. If this happens in the truck assy. process It happens in the car assy. business. Not that these parts are bad, just recycled but still new.

Unless anyone works in the assy. areas or supplies parts to the assy. areas, you'd have to see "standard procedures" it to believe it.

I could tell tales of what I have witnessed in the assembly of trucks. As long as it is approved in the build process and Q.C. it is acceptable.

I have also seen parts installed with less than perfect quality and care. This is why there is warranty claims. I could write a book on what I have seen in 22 years.

I can agree to a degree that less than imperfect parts may be installed by assemblers, I have witnessed this myself, but I would not agree to GM purposely assembling imperfect parts on purpose. Get it out the door as fast as you can is the law, but Q.C. is "supposed" to supercede that. It does not always happen that way, again...warranty claims. 

Parts that are rejected are generally destroyed, not saved for parts replacement. Vendors are back charged, and held accountable. The back charges are hefty, so vendors generally make sure they ship good parts, if not it costs them big $$$. If I would see defective parts on my car, I would not move it until it's pointed out, and then repaired properly.

Oh the tales I could tell.......*


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## DJ Dannis (May 9, 2006)

*Yo Judge*

Hey, GTO Judge,

I did say something to my dealer regarding this issue. They told me to wait and see if that clip releases/breaks... I'm told them, that is why I took the damn car to the body shop they recommended, because I didn't want anything BROKEN! And I wanted it done through GM so if something got broken, it would be replaced. My question about your front bumper (I reaad your post) is if your body shop had to do any blending? I hope that clip gives out before the warranty is up...

Thanks for your input,
Dan


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

DJ Dannis said:


> Hey, GTO Judge,
> 
> I did say something to my dealer regarding this issue. They told me to wait and see if that clip releases/breaks... I'm told them, that is why I took the damn car to the body shop they recommended, because I didn't want anything BROKEN! And I wanted it done through GM so if something got broken, it would be replaced. My question about your front bumper (I reaad your post) is if your body shop had to do any blending? I hope that clip gives out before the warranty is up...
> 
> ...


*I honestly don't know if they had to bend anything. It would seem to me that if they had to bend it, it would be minimal. It's a plastic front and I don't think it's that pliable to bend much. Bending plastic with a finished painted surface would stress the paint job. I would assume it would stress the primer as well.

The question I had to the body shop manager was, the expansion and contraction of the gap between the bumper and the fender. I was told the expansion and contraction in the heat was caused by the epoxies they used to marry the clips to the bumper. When the heat from the sun expanded, it broke the bond and when it cooled it contracted, thus failing. After 2 tries they then replaced the entire front with NO epoxies. I can only take them at their word. So far so good. 

I hope the method they used on your car does not fail over time. I would have serious reservations however. I would ask them if they will guarantee the epoxying of the clips beyond the standard warranty. If they say no, I would insist on a permanent fix. Not saying I would help the break along, but I would be closely monitoring it. 

IMO, if the factory did not glue the clips in place, then I would not want a body shop gluing them in place. I think it's a temporary fix. If it is out of warranty is one thing, but to glue it while the warranty is in effect I think they employed a short cut...... I would not expect it to last. Wait and see what extreme cold, and then extreme heat does with it. *


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## DJ Dannis (May 9, 2006)

GTO judge said:


> *I honestly don't know if they had to bend anything. It would seem to me that if they had to bend it, it would be minimal. It's a plastic front and I don't think it's that pliable to bend much. Bending plastic with a finished painted surface would stress the paint job. I would assume it would stress the primer as well.
> 
> The question I had to the body shop manager was, the expansion and contraction of the gap between the bumper and the fender. I was told the expansion and contraction in the heat was caused by the epoxies they used to marry the clips to the bumper. When the heat from the sun expanded, it broke the bond and when it cooled it contracted, thus failing. After 2 tries they then replaced the entire front with NO epoxies. I can only take them at their word. So far so good.
> 
> ...


Ok, I will do so. I'm going to be keeping an eye out for that big time. Sometimes, people are just so unfair, which helps give the effect of reality  Getting back to the question, I think you may have misunderstood my wording. And my apologies if I incurred, but I was curious about the blending of the paint... do you know if the body shop had to "fade" into the hood or side fenders, to make it look like it was matched?

Thanks again!
Dan


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## GTO JUDGE (May 14, 2005)

DJ Dannis said:


> Ok, I will do so. I'm going to be keeping an eye out for that big time. Sometimes, people are just so unfair, which helps give the effect of reality  Getting back to the question, I think you may have misunderstood my wording. And my apologies if I incurred, but I was curious about the blending of the paint... do you know if the body shop had to "fade" into the hood or side fenders, to make it look like it was matched?
> 
> Thanks again!
> Dan


*OOPS........ I read your post pretty fast, I mistook Bend for Blend.....
Not sure if they had to fade, if they did it was minimal being the car is still new. The paint was a perfect match.*


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## DJ Dannis (May 9, 2006)

GTO judge said:


> *OOPS........ I read your post pretty fast, I mistook Bend for Blend.....
> Not sure if they had to fade, if they did it was minimal being the car is still new. The paint was a perfect match.*


Hey no prob, I understand. Thanks for the support! I'll keep you posted down the road of any "new" developments.

Dan


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## DJ Dannis (May 9, 2006)

*Bringing this one out of the cobwebs...*

GTO_Judge, finally brought the goat out from storage and decided to pursue a complaint with the dealership about the broken stock passenger side grille and the broken front fascia tab. The thing that really prompted me was I saw the paint rippling off from the front fascia right at the contact point on the driver side wheelwell area where the end of the fascia (at the top) contacts the fender (right behind the turn signal, roughly). So the dealer said no prob on replacing the stock grille, just in case I want to put it back in. I was just pissed that I was left with a broken one, because if I wanted anything broken, I would have tried to do it myself... The dealer also said they would send the car to a better body shop and have them repaint the front fascia. This is where I pointed out my concern about the plastic tabs breaking. I mean the passenger side is already broken... So they are going to find a way to cover a new fascia under warranty. So I'm good there. Love my dealership for always being there, no hassles. Small but down to earth place. Ayres in Brodhead, WI. :cheers 

Thanks, Just throwing an update out there :cool


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