I'm very sick about this.

Just replace the bumper shock. They are relatively cheap and will solve most of your fitment issues.

BTW, the basketball trick DOES work for the body panels, but not to correct the bumper shock itself, as they are a one-time useage thing.

Thanks for all the advice and condolences guys. I'm feeling a little better today. But not much.

Before I call Ed's repair shop that he suggested, (Thanks Ed!) can I replace the bumper shocks myself? What do I have to take off the front to get at those?

I'm having a hard time understanding this whole thing though. What got compressed that caused the shock to collapse? Did the aluminum bumper rail bend in temporarily on impact then not spring back out? Isn't the light housings surrounded by the al. bumper rail? Does the bumper shock push against the al. bumper rail?

Sorry for all the questions.

Light housing mounts to the Al bumper, that is attached to the car by the bumper shock. That bumper shock is not designed to "spring" back out. It just controls and slows compression and then stays compressed. That is how they were designed to function.

Once collapsed they stay that way and your fog lights no long sit in the correct place in the bumper cut out.

To get to them (there are two of them) you have to remove the ZILLION bolts that hold the bumper cover to the car... You will probably want to get a new body beading gasket for when you put it back on too...

+1 what James said, and don't worry about the aluminum rail in a slow speed impact. I can almost guarantee it wouldn't have been bent. It's just the shocks. Read Dwayne's thread about the front cover removal and repaint - best tutorial on that subject that I've seen. An S4 isn't all that different from the earlier styles on these disassembly procedures.

Well, I went ahead and turned this into my insurance co. I'm just going to have it all redone professionally instead of (trying to) doing it myself. My guy that did the nose repaint last year will do it all after the insurance adjuster looks it over and writes up the claim. I have total confidence that he'll do a great job. I'll post pictures after the operation.

Thanks again everyone!