A6 bumper catching on curb

[Don.Desbiens at fairchildsemi.com]

This isn't just a German car  issue - my wife's new XJ8 VDP had the same
thing occur
(unfortunately for me, I was behind the wheel at the time, so I can't say
it was pilot's error).

Any vehicle with an aerodynamic underpan on the front end runs this risk,
inorder to clear the
mechanicals on a lot of cars, the belly pan has to mate with the front
bupmer assy. too far
down to be 100% curb safe. To make matters worse, all of the belly pans
I've seen tuck
over the bumper mating ledge, leaving to bumper prone to even greater
damage when you try to
back up off of the curb or curb-like object.  Best to unload the car of its
occupants and push it
off with a bit of uplift at the same time  - that way you may eliminate
some of the damage - if you're
lucky you will just have scraped some of the finish below  the line of
sight.

Only ultimate soln. I know of is to drive an SUV or a pickup, like most of
the people here in Maine where I live do.
I'm just a stubborn hold-out.


Don Desbiens
'97 A4Q 2.8 with poorly designed multi-link front end bushings.