Just after some advice

Had my lower grille replaced by a trusted local 'accident repair' body shop. They're used to taking bumpers off, plastic clips etc. I recall they charged about £50. Well worth it as it would have taken me the best part of a day of turning the air blue.

I don't think this is the kind of job to get a main dealer to do. You'll get 'the lad' doing it at £100+ hourly rates.

No more than 90 mins for a professional workshop with a ramp.

I took 4hrs to swap both grills and that included a couple of trips out to pick up some bits and I work slowly.

I'd go back and ask them to explain how it took a professional mechanic with a ramp 4hrs and the second he opens his mouth jam the invoice in his open gob whilst shouting "FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING FUCK! TRYING TO MUG ME OFF! WANKER!".

But that's just me.

CJP Autosport in Basingstoke charged £60 to do both for another owner I recommended them to.

Creative costing I reckon. 90 minutes for the job so there's two chargeable hours. Need a second person to assist with removing the bumper so four man hours...

Stuart0202 said:

Funnily enough ai've actually done every mod on the Mustang myself so far, but for some reason, the thought of taking the bumper off and messing something up stopped me

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It’s not too difficult. There are 2 bitch bolts but if you remove the front wheels they become easy.

I found the hardest bit was removing the grill itself. The clips were really tight

Jimboy2 said:

It’s not too difficult. There are 2 bitch bolts but if you remove the front wheels they become easy.

I found the hardest bit was removing the grill itself. The clips were really tight

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This^^ if you haven't got the right tools, it's not a job you will want to do yourself. Found that out the hard way. FWIW I managed to get the bastard bolts off without taking the wheels off. Agree with Jimboy on taking the grill itself out too, also hard to clip them back in.

Maybe it was the first one they did Stuart - thats why it took them so long :lol:

Kristian87 said:

This^^ if you haven't got the right tools, it's not a job you will want to do yourself. Found that out the hard way. FWIW I managed to get the bastard bolts off without taking the wheels off. Agree with Jimboy on taking the grill itself out too, also hard to clip them back in.

Maybe it was the first one they did Stuart - thats why it took them so long :lol:

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Hahah, it really wouldn't suprise me!

Also, thanks everyone for the help/comments. Really appreciate it!

Last weekend it took me about 2 hours to take off the bumper and reinstall it to fit my velossa big mouth.

This also included jacking the car and removing the front 2 wheels !

I have had the bumper off a few times now so do know where all the bolts are and its relativity an easy job.

Take a look on you tube and do the job yourself, you will feel so much better to know you have done the job and will learn a few bits and pieces about the car, AND have a massive grin on your face knowing you have not spent a few hundred pounds to a numpty who does not love your car !

I did mine last week took me 2 hours but I removed the wheels and the wheel arch liners.

There is a nack to removing the grilles that once you've done it once (and the fucking bastard ones around the diffuser if you ever do that) that you learn. Grilles a big breaker bar flathead jam next to the tooth and twist it'll just snap out (not break lol), rears is the same or you can sometimes push it with your fingers. Regardless, atleast it's all secure.

Still can't fathom 4hrs work lmao. if it helps i had my bumper off in 17minutes yesterday to install switchbacks (proper ones, not the proled shite)

There is always an official "book Time" for all jobs.

This is the time that the main dealer will charge the insurance companies, or manufacturers etc. for accident repairs and for warranty work.

Some jobs the "book time" is way longer than necessary, and on other jobs you never get enough time.

Many garages use this "book time" to charge customers as well though.


I remember years ago working at a Renault dealer they had a recall on replacing the clutch pedal and cable on Renault 5's, 9's, and 11's. "book time" for the job was 2 hours per vehicle, but we very easily could do a car in about 20 mins.

Was great for bonus pay, as you could rattle off 10 or 12 of these in a day, easily, in between other services etc. so get 8 hours basic pay in a day and tonnes of bonus pay too, I had over 20 hours bonus pay per day on a number of occasions :cheers:

On the other side the "book time" for changing a heater matrix on a Renault 21 was 10 hours, book says take entire dash out replace matrix and put dash back in, but we could do it in about 3 hours, without removing the dash at all using a couple of a little tricks, customer still got charged 10 hours though, and had to leave their car with us for a couple of days at least.

Entai said:

On the other side the "book time" for changing a heater matrix on a Renault 21 was 10 hours, book says take entire dash out replace matrix and put dash back in, but we could do it in about 3 hours, without removing the dash at all using a couple of a little tricks, customer still got charged 10 hours though, and had to leave their car with us for a couple of days at least.

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Ah, so THAT's why Ford have had mine for almost 3 weeks! Good job its a warranty job ay :lol:

I did wonder about the "book time" so I called around about 6 Ford garages around the country and so far all have stated it takes between 1 and 1.5 hours. Got it in writing too so I can take it to the dealer.

Just wanted to thank you all!
Contacted my garage today with the quotes and even showed them some of the comments on this forum. They admit they were wrong and i'm getting refunded 3 hours.

This forum really is full of excellent people.

Can’t moan at that mate. Got a good deal in the end as I would imagine it took them longer than an hour! Result!

Stuart0202 said:

Just wanted to thank you all!
Contacted my garage today with the quotes and even showed them some of the comments on this forum. They admit they were wrong and i'm getting refunded 3 hours.

This forum really is full of excellent people.

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Good work! Surely that saved money can go towards another mod :lol:

Don't suppose they admitted how long it actually took them