Front Valance Alignment.

[Brass]

The front bumper and left front fender on my Charger were repaired some time ago by a reputable shop in the area.  The work was covered by insurance but it's a life-time warranty.  It appears that the gap on the valance is off between the right and left sides.  When I retrieved the car, my attention was on the bumper and fender – so this wasn't immediately apparent to me.  Now that I know its there – I notice it a lot and it bugs me a little.  Otherwise, they mostly did a great job.  (I say "mostly" because the engine compartment also needed detailing after being caked with a couple weeks worth of thick body-shop dust.)

So my questions...  Did the valance need to come off for those repairs?  If so, how much of a gap should there be?   Should I take it back – or is this acceptable and I'm just being picky?

Thanks!

[tan top]

  the valance could be tweaked on the driver side !! or might be just the way the photo angle is  
looks like  the whole grill is low in the  middle also !! ,   , if it were me i would take it apart & start again , cause i'm nutts like that ,
but it dont look that bad  
how does the front bumper corners align up with the bumper recess in the fenders

[mikepmcs]

 the valance could be tweaked on the driver side !! or might be just the way the photo angle is  
looks like  the whole grill is low in the  middle also !! ,   , if it were me i would take it apart & start again , cause i'm nutts like that ,
but it dont look that bad  
how does the front bumper corners align up with the bumper reses in the fenders

i agree.

+1 valance looks tweaked on the driver side. you got a better picture from a little farther back?

[mikepmcs]

can't answer the other question because we would need to know exactly the damage that was repaired(ie: if fender came off then valance would have been separated from the fender during the work)
more info on the damage please.  

[TylerCharger69]

I had this EXACT same issue   except  my gap was on the driver side......The way the fender is mounted is where the issue lies.   So  your passenger side fender needs to be loosened and realigned, where as mine was the driver side

[bill440rt]

Question: Did they REPAIR or REPLACE your front bumper or fender? Other than just realigning it, I'm not sure how they would repair a chrome bumper.
The reason I ask is that they may have had either of those parts off the car. Based on the impacted area, it is safe to assume the car was hit towards the front in the bumper area? If so, the lower valance may be tweaked or they may have likely had it off the car to get better access to the front bumper. The valance may need to be realigned, or tweaked back down into shape so it lines up better if it is bent from your accident.
You should have a copy of their repair estimate. Does it state if they had any of these parts off the car? Were any repairs noted for these parts?
Your valance situation might be something that the shop may need to correct if they did not repair it properly, or it might be missed damages as part of your original claim if it is bent.
Your first step should be contacting the shop that did the repairs. They should be more than willing to correct your valance problem, especially if they are offering a lifetime warranty if it something they did not do properly.
Good luck! 

[Brass]

The damage was minimal.  (A local accidentally clipped the car.) The shop repaired the driver's front fender, and sent the bumper off to be re-chromed; which means the bumper definitely came off the car... I'm not so sure about the fender.  

But I'm still not sure how the front valance *should* be.  My thoughts are:  If the valance is tweaked on the driver's side - then I should be able to get the shop to repair it.  If the gap on the passenger side is incorrect, as TylerCharger69 suggests - then that is something I'll need to correct on my own.

Lets see if I can get a photo of the damage to come through...

[bill440rt]

Yep, that damage was minimal. If anything, they had the valance off to get the bumper off.
The passenger side looks correct IMHO. A nice, straight gap that follows the bumper. The driver's side looks like it is up too high. Probably just an adjustment or something that can be tweaked by hand with a good pull, they are rather flimsy.
Contact the shop, & see if they can fix it.

[richRTSE]

Maybe you should take a tape measure and measure from the ground up to see how far off the valance is. Could be the bumber/grill are off a little bit too.

[KORDSAUTO]

To do the repair correctly and to duplicate the factory process, the valance should have been removed, especially to eliminate the possibility of overspray damage to the rest of your car.  The painting process would have been much easier to accomplish where it could be sprayed at eye level. 

The misalignment you are experiencing is probably due to the attachment tabs being bent (in the event that the original panel was repaired), or the tabs on the new part (in the event of replacement of the original panel) are stamped off from the original standards/specifications.  Hope this helps.
Greg