JRoach

I've noticed this a few times now. The bumper caps on the car at certain times appear to be mis-aligned. When I first saw it I thought that somebody had hit us and took it into the bodyshop to see if they could tweak it. When we got to the shop, nothing...looked just fine. I saw it again today on the front bumper this time same general area where the plastic cap joins the metal fender.

Curious if others have seen this.

I'll try and grab a photo of it next time.

(Doesn't seem to be entirely heat related)

Andy E.

I assume that you're referring to the bumper cover and where it joins the fender. I personally have never noticed an irregularity on mine.
Posting the model year of your car and a few images would help,

JRoach

Andy,

I'll post a pic as soon as see it again. It's like a ghost

MY 2015 CD

wkearney99

How about you take a picture of the area and use paint+ or something else to circle where you're seeing the 'problem'. That'd give others a vague idea where to look. Could be some fasteners under there that might be an issue.

That and update your profile to indicate where you're located. Sometimes climate is a factor when debugging strange issues.

JRoach

Front corner had a "tiny bit" of this issue this AM (see pics: first is without the problem, second has a very slight issue...look where the end-cap/bumper meet the fender). In the rear quarter panel, it's more pronounced but like I said in the previous message...it's a bit of a ghost.

Warm morning, around 53F. I'm sure its temp related but I don't have another car that does this.

wkearney99

That's weird. What was the temp swing between top/bottom pix?

I searched a bit and haven't seen anything that specifically highlights how that section of the bumper apron meets the fender. This was sort of interesting:
https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-...-2012-ctt.html

JRoach

maybe 5 degrees. This was the mild version...there is at least once where it looks noticeable from every angle and wavy along the entire seam.

wkearney99

Yeah, I'm with you that it's an odd alignment problem. There's a bunch of tabs and pins molded into the bumper apron. It seems odd that yours is somehow moving inward at that point. I think you've got reason to have a body shop look at it and those pictures would definitely help. My bet is there's a tab or something missing where the apron meets the front of the metal fender or the area under the headlight.

JRoach

I doubt that there is a tab missing as it happens in every corner. I suspect that VW changed the number of connecting points to save a few bucks. I'll gather more pics and look over a few old parts diagrams from earlier VW/Audi/Cayenne's to see if there was a change in design.

Andy E.

Ask any 928 owner and he'll tell you. A wavy surface on any polyurethane part denotes that the bumper is definitely under duress; either from improper alignment/interference or over-tightened fastener(s).

JRoach

While rare, I did catch a little of what I was talking about in the attached. It's was about noon, temp out is low 60's and we just got back from an errand to the hardware store.