[Chris]

http://www.womenandwheels.co.uk/Road%20Tes...srsfactory.html

And dont ask where i found the link......Women and wheel's

Check the vid first then read the text below and it explains the reason's

"The different colour bumpers are what are called "production dummies" and are put on the car to assist with aligning items such as light and other panels - the final bumpers are usually one of the last items fitted so they dont get marked"

 

[Rich]

They stick any colour ST bumpers on the RS when they send it down the production line, I would guess it's more to do with the robots further down the line requiring something to be in place at their stage. Width issues have also been put forward.

The colour match on UG doesn't get much better when they put the actual bumpers on

 

[troy45]

QUOTE(Chris @ 10 Jan 2010, 08:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>"The different colour bumpers are what are called "production dummies" and are put on the car to assist with aligning items such as light and other panels - the final bumpers are usually one of the last items fitted so they dont get marked"
That's a bit misleading me thinks!

Or is it that the bumpers fitted to other cars can be fitted earlier on the line and possibly get scratched but it doesn't matter?

And it's pretty useless to match all the gaps etc to slave bumpers then take them off and fit others in their place - defeats the object of matching everything in the first place.

There'll be a technical reason of some sort cos having a rotating stock of slave bumpers plus the duplication of work fitting 2 sets of bumpers costs money in production time and logistics. They do the same with the RS wheels too, from videos I've seen the cars on the line have slave wheels fitted, identified by being RS wheels but having the centres spray painted red.

Tis also done to allow units to be built when suffering parts shortages, they fit slaves to get the cars right through the system and various tests then hold them and refit the right bits when they become available.

 

[goonturbo]

If you listen to the guy speaking he states that the alignment issues require greater attention to detail with the RS due to the larger components used.

It appears that they fit other front bumpers during production then the cars are finished off by hand off the production line with the correct bumpers being fitted.

Good vid though.

 

[Phil]

Very interesting Chris, I think troy is correct.