DIY - How to replace a fender on Audi A4 B6
Hope it helps you guys and gives an idea on what it takes to replace a fender as it was a bit more involved than I expected.
Tools needed:
- Jack
- Jackstands
- 17mm socket
- T30 socket
- T25 bit or socket
- 10mm socket
- Wrench extension
- Philips screwdriver
Optional:
- Shop vacuum
Step 1 - Put the front of the car on jackstands and remove the wheel.
No steps for this, but a tip to raise the front and put on jack stands:
Slide in your jack from the front and jack up on the bolt at the rear of the front subframe. Once raised up sufficiently, slide in your jackstand and lower the car onto it. Do not work on the car supported only by a jack!
Another tip for those who are lowered: I am on Eibach springs, so just slightly lowered, but I cannot typically slide in my jack under the location above as the frame is too low for the jack plus the puck. So, I use a second jack to lift the car a bit on the rear jacking point, then I slide my front jack, making sure that the handle is in the gap between the tire and the side skirt, so I can pump it. Then I lift the car and slide the jack stand under the front of the car. Once you lift one side on a jack stand, the other side will be a bit higher, so you don't need to repeat the rear jack trick on the other side.
Another solution could be a U-jack, which I have not used, so cannot comment how effective it is.
Step 2 - Remove bottom belly pan cover, headlights and front bumper
These steps are well covered, so I will just link to the good DIY from a4mods.com:
http://www.a4mods.com/index.php?page...erremoval.html
Step 3 - Remove fender liner
First, cover your brake assembly to keep it clean. Debris will fall down during this step, unless you live in a super clean area, you are the original owner and disassemble your car twice a year and clean it with a toothbrush.
There are 10 metal T25 screws and 1 plastic push pin/screw holding the liner in. This is in addition to the 3 twist dovels you have removed already to remove the belly pan. To help you locate them, I've highlighted them in this image of a fender liner.
At this point, things should look like this and you can see why I was replacing mine:
See all this dirt behind the liner? Who knows, you may find a chipmunk family in the middle of dinner behind there.
Vaccum and clean the area. Dirt attracts and holds moisture, moisture causes rust and you end up with the rust issue illustrated above.
After cleanup:
Step 4 - Loosen inner plastic weather cover
Unclip the drain tube from the plastic cover and just leave it loose where it is. It is clipped in two places. The top one is behind the vaccum hose.
The plastic cover is held by 2 screws. Remove them.
To give yourself more room to access the fender screws behind the cover, remove the two 10mm nuts that secure the vacuum reservoirs, which sit in front of the cover. To access the 10mm nuts, insert your socket with an extension between the two hoses:
Move the reservoir off the two screw posts carefully so you don't break the vacuum lines.
TIP: Spray some penetrating oil on the nuts before you try to remove them to prevent stripping the threads due to rust/debris build-up.
Now, move the plastic weather cover off to the outside of the fender to reveal two T30 screws holding the fender to the vertical bracket.
Note: do not attempt to remove the plastic cover. It slides under the top part of the fender and you will not be able to fully remove it and might just break it off. It will come out with the fender.
Remove the two fender screws:
Step 5 - Remove/Loosen side skirt
Remove T25 screws along the side skirt. Alternatively, you can remove only the first half of the screws instead of the whole side skirt. I found that removing the first half of the screws from the front, enabled me to move the skirt out of the way to be able to access the fender screws behind it. Removing the side skirt completely is recommended.
The screws at the bottom are obvious. The less obvious one is accessible from the door opening. Open the driver's door fully and remove this screw:
Step 6 - Remove fender
After removing the screws at the bottom of the skirt, gently pull it away to the side. Please note that there are clips under the weather seal along the door sill, so feel your way around them and pull where you see them to avoid breaking anything.
You will now reveal the two philips screws at the bottom of the fender holding a plastic bracket. Remove the two screws:
Next remove the plastic bracket and expose the two fender screws. Remove them:
Remove the screw at the top of the fender inside the door jamb opening:
Moving to the bottom front leading edge of the fender, remove the plastic bracket that was holding the front bumper lip and expose the two fender screws and remove them along with the one screw by the headlight tray:
Next, remove the 4 fender screws in the engine bay. Loosen them slowly and gradually to avoid dropping the fender or scratching your doors etc. Pay attention to the foam weather seal piece that is on the edge of the rain tray cover. It is glued to the fender and the piece that protrudes into the engine bay wraps around the bottom edge to form a seal against water intrusion into the engine bay. Lift that protruding piece slowly to "unclip" it from the edge. If you manage to rip it off, use some spray adhesive to re-attach it to the fender upon replacement.
The fender is now free and can be removed from the body!
Here's a picture of my clean replacement fender to give you an idea of the location of the 12 T30 screws in case you miss some:
Re-installation is the reverse of removal with a few pointers:
- To delay any onset of future rust, I sprayed the inside of the fender, and especially the lip, with a rust-preventive fluid. There are many on the market like Fluid Film, Lloyd's AD2000 etc. Please note that the idea is to lightly coat it, not soak it. Besides making a runny mess, soaking it will attract dirt, which attracts moisture and you start your rust cycle earlier than you thought whenever the rust-preventive fluid film wears out.
- Clean up the area in the wheel well and along the body frame to remove any surface rust and spray it with rust-preventive fluid.
- Re-attach the plastic weather liner to the fender before you install the fender onto the car. Use the one screw in the center to attach it properly.
- To instal the fender, first install the 4 screws at the top in the engine bay. Do not tighten the screws!
- Proceed to insert the remaining T30 fender screws, but do not tighten them.
- Measure the gap between the body panels on the other side of the car and position your replacement fender to match that gap. You will want to line up a tight gap between the fender and the door and A pillar. When you are happy with it, tighten those screws by the door. Next close the hood and see how close you are with that gap. Tighten the top screws, close the hood, re-check the gap, repeat until you are happy with the gap.
- Tighten the leading edge screws.
- Re-attach the rest of the items going backwards through the removal procedure.
Have a cold one!
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Originally Posted by eljay
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