# How do you pull off the whole front clip????



## Luckyzeee (Feb 9, 2002)

Sorry for being such a newbie when it comes to the new beetle, but I was wondering if someone might be able to direct me to the best way to take off the whole front clip form a 99 beetle. I am just trying to replace some body panels. Any pics or diagrams would be very helpful.
I know I need a bentley, but the car is my girlfriend's sisters car, I just can justify spending $50 on a car that isn't mine.
Thanks
Paul


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## noR (Jun 12, 2000)

*Re: How do you pull off the whole front clip???? (Luckyzeee)*

Remove all the bolts around the edge of the engine bay. They're all black-headed, 2 are located in the foam blocks. (20 or so?)
Remove the front blinkers.
Remove the headlights (just like changing a bulb, no need to move the housing).
Remove both wheel well liners. (8 or so on each side?)
umm... tug on parts and find where the remaining screws are (the ones in the wheel wells). There's 2 or three on the back side, one or two going UP at the very back of the fender; and 1 or 2 near the front.
Should take about an hour the first time.


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## silverspeedbuggy (Aug 8, 2001)

*Re: How do you pull off the whole front clip???? (noR)*


_Quote, originally posted by *noR* »_Remove all the bolts around the edge of the engine bay. They're all black-headed, 2 are located in the foam blocks. (20 or so?)
Remove the front blinkers.
Remove the headlights (just like changing a bulb, no need to move the housing).
Remove both wheel well liners. (8 or so on each side?)
umm... tug on parts and find where the remaining screws are (the ones in the wheel wells). There's 2 or three on the back side, one or two going UP at the very back of the fender; and 1 or 2 near the front.
Should take about an hour the first time.


You're about 95% correct.
Before doing any of the above things, *put the car up on blocks and remove the front tires.*
Trust me, this will save you so much time and scraped forearms.


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## BoostedOne (Mar 30, 2003)

Nah, you dont gotta take the wheels off...
You dont have to remove the blinkers.
Like the guy said, take out all of the bolts around the engine compartment lip.
Remove the pins on the bottom that hold the front lip to the radiator support(three of them).
Remove the fender liners
Remove the bolts from inside the fenders. Theres some running vertically in front of the door, and some coming up through the bottom of the fender in the back, in front of the door holding it to the rocker.
Theres a couple of brackets above and behind the tire, take the bolts out holding them to the fender. At this point you should be able to pull the rear of the fender away from the car. 
Disconnect the fog lights, and unscrew the turn signals from the housings. Leave the housings in. Disconnect or remove the air temp sensor(next to the drivers side fog lamp) Pop out the headlight assemblies as a whole.
At this point you just have to pull the fenders away from the side of the car, and then pull the hole clip forward.


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## Scarab_Beetle (Dec 11, 2004)

well if you wanna get technical.... removing the front CLIP requires either a badass sawzall, plasma cutter, or other heavy machinery... what you're referring to is the FASCIA... a clip is the whole front end of the car, motor, trans, subframe, and front suspension included...


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## silverspeedbuggy (Aug 8, 2001)

*Re: (BoostedOne)*


_Quote, originally posted by *BoostedOne* »_Nah, you dont gotta take the wheels off...


I agree with you, as you can see from the pics I did it without removing the wheels, but trust me, it is a hell of a lot easier with the wheels off.


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## BoostedOne (Mar 30, 2003)

*Re: (silverspeedbuggy)*


_Quote, originally posted by *silverspeedbuggy* »_I agree with you, as you can see from the pics I did it without removing the wheels, but trust me, it is a hell of a lot easier with the wheels off.

Well, tryin to do it with the car on the ground is the insane part








When its up in the air the suspension unloads so its not TOO bad. I already had the car up, and it was late so I couldnt run my impact, and didnt have anyone to hit the brakes to get the wheels off. Plus since I was doing it inside it would have just been another thing to trip over.


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## silverspeedbuggy (Aug 8, 2001)

*Re: (BoostedOne)*


_Quote, originally posted by *BoostedOne* »_
Well, tryin to do it with the car on the ground is the insane part








When its up in the air the suspension unloads so its not TOO bad. 


Right now I'm going "DUH!" I wasn't even thinking about the car being lifted off the ground since I did mine on the ground. Good point! 
On top of all that, my car is lowered! Imagine the scrapes on my forearms after trying to take off the inside fnder bolts with the fender liners just moved out of the way. Ouch!


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## BoostedOne (Mar 30, 2003)

Forget about the bolts behind the liner holding the fender on... Im tryin to think how you got the screws out of the fender liners themselves that are behind the wheel!
I probably still would have jacked it up, but when I started the car was already up in the air getting the 3"


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## silverspeedbuggy (Aug 8, 2001)

*Re: (BoostedOne)*


_Quote, originally posted by *BoostedOne* »_Forget about the bolts behind the liner holding the fender on... Im tryin to think how you got the screws out of the fender liners themselves that are behind the wheel!


These are TORX screws, you can buy TORX screwdrivers/heads at auto part stores.
Or, you can just use a Allen Wrench. That's what I did!


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## roca_ley (Jun 21, 2010)

where are the pictures????


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