Catch the Pigeon :(

[Adamskifresh]

Hi All
I hope you enjoyed your bank holiday!
I was working and my day DIDNT start well.
A suicidal Pigeon decided to throw itself against my front grill totally wrecking it.I was going under the speed limit cruising into work and BANG!
Still picking feathers out.
As you can see it was quite an impact and I need a new grill.
Can anyone point me in the direction of a new one (part no and/or website) please?
Also is it an easy job for a noob like me to swap it over and are there any different options or aftermarket grills out there?
Thanks kindly

 

[black_sheep]

The same thing happened to me not so long ago. Required new grille, front Seat badge and Cupra badge (Copper S and Black Cupra badge though) - came in around £220 all in from TPS from what I can remember - I assume that yours is a Cupra from the vents on the bumper above the number plate? The Cupra grille also carries a premium over the other specs.

I changed mine on probably the coldest night of the year (which was a mistake!). If you have taken a front bumper cover off before, then should be able to do this repair, just need to be methodical removing the plastic tabs, and it helps to have two people to remove/refit the bumper cover. There are also two fasteners in the lower grilles, which is unusual for VAG cars - these were also a pain to get back in as one had been cross-threaded during build, so I needed to use a tap to recut the thread.

In order to salvage the gloss black grille surround, I was quite careful cutting tabs off the back of the old grille; however, if I was to do this task again, I would have purchased a new grille surround to save a lot of time.

 

[OJ9693]

You could try and find someone breaking a mk3 cupra on Ebay, they might have a spare grille

 

[Woody_72]

Ouch. my last car got two pigeons but they were both at the top of the windscreen where the glass meets the roof. Not fun picking meat and feathers out the gap when you get to work .

 

[Yern]

Ouch. my last car got two pigeons but they were both at the top of the windscreen where the glass meets the roof. Not fun picking meat and feathers out the gap when you get to work .

 

[Mr Pig]

Bad one :0(

I ran into a small bird years ago. It was flying left and right and I caught up with it. It didn't break the grille but got squeegeed through a gap and was wedged I there. Wasn't a pretty sight :0(

 

[CupraGeezer]

I once hit on pigeon on my Fireblade. I was on my way for a service at the time and didn't realise that it had gone into the fairing instead of bouncing off the outside. The technician was most irked at having to pick the guts out of the bike in order to service it.

 

[Adamskifresh]

Thanks for the reply guys.I dont want the ball ache of TRYING to do it myself so I phoned SEAT.I sent them the pic and they quoted.............wait for it.......................500 QUID
I am obviously not going to pay this!
They did quote based on a new grill,surround,spraying surround,SEAT badge and Cupra flag.
The thing is that there is nowt wrong with the surround and badges so I am hoping they can salvage them???
I am going to go back to them and ask for a revised quote.I think anything upto 200 is a fair price to pay so that I dont mess it up doing it myself and waste days of this lovely weather!

 

[black_sheep]

Thanks for the reply guys.I dont want the ball ache of TRYING to do it myself so I phoned SEAT.I sent them the pic and they quoted.............wait for it.......................500 QUID
I am obviously not going to pay this!
They did quote based on a new grill,surround,spraying surround,SEAT badge and Cupra flag.
The thing is that there is nowt wrong with the surround and badges so I am hoping they can salvage them???
I am going to go back to them and ask for a revised quote.I think anything upto 200 is a fair price to pay so that I dont mess it up doing it myself and waste days of this lovely weather!

The problem will be the labour will be £70-80 per hour; therefore any costs saved by salvaging the parts will be swallowed up by the labour charges.

As per my previous post, took me nearly 45 minutes to carefully prise the grille surround off. Also, the Seat badge is held on by a load of clips, that will more than likely break off, especially as the plastic becomes brittle when exposed to UV light.

Sorry to say it, unlikely to get this done for £200 when the grille alone is £160+.

Only thing I’d challenge is the grille surround - pretty certain that this is is supplied in gloss black, rather than primed.

 

[BigJase88]

The problem will be the labour will be £70-80 per hour; therefore any costs saved by salvaging the parts will be swallowed up by the labour charges.

As per my previous post, took me nearly 45 minutes to carefully prise the grille surround off. Also, the Seat badge is held on by a load of clips, that will more than likely break off, especially as the plastic becomes brittle when exposed to UV light.

Sorry to say it, unlikely to get this done for £200 when the grille alone is £160+.

Only thing I’d challenge is the grille surround - pretty certain that this is is supplied in gloss black, rather than primed.

I contacted the site sponsor here about ordering a black grille surround. Nope they come in primer so painting in black is ontop of the purchase price for the grille.