Bumper and Skid pan problems

[George Kotjarapgolus]

The 92 and later Audis have a bumper and skid pan under the engine that are
prone to being ripped off when one parks their cars.  You pull into a
parking lot, find a open spot and drive all the way in until the front
wheels hit the concrete block on the ground.  You never hear the concrete
scrapping the bottom of the bumper or skid pad, but when you back out, it
catches the front bump and can given the right circumstances rip it complete
off.

After several such encounters, my wife's 94 100 has had the skid pad drop
down while traveling on the open highway.  On once occasion, she somehow got
it back up.  Most recently, she called me and there was not way of getting
it back up so I ended tying it up with a rope in order to get it home.

Since then, I vowed to cure this problem.  I got a 4x4 steel plate and
drilled a hole in the middle, then an eye bolt was put thru the hole for
fit.  A hole is drilled in the skid pan in front of the belt pulley, and a
flexible steel braided cable (rope would also work) thru the eye and looped
thru the side opening on the crossmenber where the hood latches shut.

System is to stop the pan from dropping on the ground should it ever pulls
loose.  My mechanic saw my setup, and he suggested get a 4x10 or 4x12 steel
plate and extend it forward under the front bumper, bending the end of the
plate into one of slots on the bumper.  Theory is that if I drive over a
concrete block, it will ride on the steep plate instead of my bumper when I
back out and save pulling the bumper off.  The latter system will be
installed shortly and it should improve upon this problem.

George K.