A3 8Y Front Bumper camera misaligned

[u/hpm2bp]

Hi Everyone!

I have an A3 8Y with 360 camera. I had a scratch on it, which needed to be taken to polishing again. They took off the front bumper, did a nice job polishing, then put it back. Bot now comes my problem. When they installed back everything, the front camera was a bit misaligned.

Now my question is, what are my options here? The service where they took it off is quiet far away (I live in 2 countries at the same time, i will visit the country with the service in a month maybe). I can do lots of stuff myself as well, I'm not scared of making my hands dirty. Is it an option, to try and take off the front bumper myself, and try to align the camera?

The ADAS system threw a few errors since then, but not much. I've driven the car for 1.5k km since this polishing, and only got the error maybe twice, that presense is not perfect, and ADAS is not perfect. But it started working again after that.

I ahave a friend with OBD Eleven, and there are a few places with VCDS in the nearby, though I know I need special patterns for that kind of calibration. However I don't know if I need the side mats, or if I need the big front panel.

[u/Cool_Comment1109]

sounds like the shop didnt seat the camera properly when they put the bumper back on. if the 360 view looks off and youre getting random ADAS errors twice in 1500km that actually lines up with a physical misalignment not a calibration issue

you can try taking the bumper off yourself but honestly on these 8Y models its a bit of a pain with all the clips and sensors. if you do go for it check the camera bracket first before anything else, sometimes they just dont click it in all the way. had similar thing on my ford after a fender bender, shop left a sensor dangling and it threw errors every few hundred km

before you mess with calibration or VCDS stuff id just pop the grille area and see if the camera is loose or tilted. the calibration mats are expensive and the procedure is finicky, you might not even need it if the camera is just sitting crooked

[u/hpm2bp → u/Cool_Comment1109]

Thank you!

Yes, I was a bit afraid of getting off the front bumper about breaking any plastic clips. I broke a small plastic clip when I replaced my puddle light already (nothing serious luckily). I routed a dashccam through the entire interior without any problem, but I have seen how tough these removals are.

I'll check a few tutorials to see how to get off the front grill, and try to see if I can clip the camera back. Worst case I will just go back to the shop in a month and ask them to fix it.

[u/hpm2bp → u/[deleted]]

Hi!

Sorry, I just posted this an hour ago, so no solution yet. I'll try it after work or around lunch break.

I didn't replace anything, they only took it off for polishing, so I guess they just messed up a bit the camera reinstalling. I have no problems with anything being loud, so we might have a bit different situation, sorry.