Hi Guys,

The lower front grille on my 2006 GP was loose at the top (held on by 1 or 2 clip tabs on the LHS only) when I bought it. But as it seemed secure at the bottom I left it like that.

Now we have some warm weather I thought I'd have a look at clipping it back into place which seemed like it should be straightforward as along the top there are a number of slide-in clip tabs.

Except I don't seem to be able to - it just doesn't want to go in :bang:

As I was also washing my alloys, I thought I'd coat the tabs at the top of the grille assembly with soapy water to make them slippery in the hope this would remove any resistance between the housing and the grille.

Didn't work, even with medium forceful persuasion - it only seemed to go in on the LHS but without any 'click' sounds you would expect when pushing in plastic fixture with these sort of clip tabs :bang:

Then I thought about removing it to see what holds it in place and whether it needs to go in at the top first.

While pulling it at the top opens up a gap of about an inch and I can get my fingers in, it just doesn't budge at the bottom in either direction :bang:


Can anyone tell me the correct method to clip in the lower front grille..?
Without removing anything behind it - radiator, fan, engine...

Thanks,

Mark

Anyone got a Grande Punto Haynes manual they could look this up in?

It's much easier if you jack the car up so you can flex the bumper from the inside.

Just keep pushing in and down and you will get it in.

cmosfxx said:

It's much easier if you jack the car up so you can flex the bumper from the inside.

Just keep pushing in and down and you will get it in.

Click to expand...

Ooh, I don't like the sound of anything involving 'flexing' of plastics - I don't have a good track record with motorbike fairings...

But I'll give it a go

Heat it up (a bit), hair blower may help in cold weather ;-)