A little issue
- Thread starter AnubisZed
- Start date
Resurrecting this old thread of mine 
Well my old grills have stood the test of time and a few thousand more miles and are still in the same place they were, im very surprised they haven't fallen out.
The old bumper is still attached, and doesn't look too bad until you get close.
I've been looking through ebay for the last year or so for a bumper, but it doesn't seem to matter how much you spend none of them are perfect, even at £500 they still have some markings requiring a respray. So I've finally taken the plunge with an ultra-cheap M-Sport one with minimal damage (mainly cracked paint), which I'll repair myself then take it in to be resprayed. A set of lower grills, new OE ones, will set me back £120, plus a tow cover for £20, so not too bad all round.
So it's getting there, slowly, but I'm not in any rush
Well my old grills have stood the test of time and a few thousand more miles and are still in the same place they were, im very surprised they haven't fallen out.
The old bumper is still attached, and doesn't look too bad until you get close.
I've been looking through ebay for the last year or so for a bumper, but it doesn't seem to matter how much you spend none of them are perfect, even at £500 they still have some markings requiring a respray. So I've finally taken the plunge with an ultra-cheap M-Sport one with minimal damage (mainly cracked paint), which I'll repair myself then take it in to be resprayed. A set of lower grills, new OE ones, will set me back £120, plus a tow cover for £20, so not too bad all round.
So it's getting there, slowly, but I'm not in any rush
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We don’t rush into things in Lincolnshire Dave. Especially if it involves spending hard earned cash. :wink:AnubisZed said:Resurrecting this old thread of mine
Well my old grills have stood the test of time and a few thousand more miles and are still in the same place they were, im very surprised they haven't fallen out.
The old bumper is still attached, and doesn't look too bad until you get close.
I've been looking through ebay for the last year or so for a bumper, but it doesn't seem to matter how much you spend none of them are perfect, even at £500 they still have some markings requiring a respray. So I've finally taken the plunge with an ultra-cheap M-Sport one with minimal damage (mainly cracked paint), which I'll repair myself then take it in to be resprayed. A set of lower grills, new OE ones, will set me back £120, plus a tow cover for £20, so not too bad all round.
So it's getting there, slowly, but I'm not in any rush
AnubisZed said:Resurrecting this old thread of mine
Well my old grills have stood the test of time and a few thousand more miles and are still in the same place they were, im very surprised they haven't fallen out.
The old bumper is still attached, and doesn't look too bad until you get close.
I've been looking through ebay for the last year or so for a bumper, but it doesn't seem to matter how much you spend none of them are perfect, even at £500 they still have some markings requiring a respray. So I've finally taken the plunge with an ultra-cheap M-Sport one with minimal damage (mainly cracked paint), which I'll repair myself then take it in to be resprayed. A set of lower grills, new OE ones, will set me back £120, plus a tow cover for £20, so not too bad all round.
So it's getting there, slowly, but I'm not in any rush
I find it amazing how many of these second hand bumpers are in such poor condition, does nobody know how to drive? Or is it that the breakers only sell the crap on eBay and the good stuff elsewhere?
I don't know if anyone else has trouble with them, but my front bumper seems to be a magnet for stone chips. It's absolutely pebble dashed. And then the hand car wash dude point blank blasted strips of clear coat off it so mines looking about as good as that eBay one. Going to need to get it resprayed, which of course the car wash refused to take responsibility for.
Too rightIRD said:
I'm amazed that I haven't lost one of the grills, as all of the holding clips are broken, hence why I decided to not have it repaired.Busterboo said:
I think they take the general idea that they just don't look after them at the breakers yard, hence they have even minor damage, which is a shame. I'd have preferred to not to have had it painted, but that just wasn't going to happen, so at least it gave me more scope to find one I'm happy with and the minimal damage to this one leads it to an easier repair.Silverstar said:
Only minor stone chips on mine (and a deer!BeardyJon said:
) but never a problem with the jet washer and clear coat. Has it had any paintwork done before? I ask because normally when a jet wash blasts the clear coat off it'll be because of bad prep prior to paintwork being done.BeardyJon said:
No such problems here. As Anubiszed has said, most likely poor quality paint repair in the past.
I'm not aware of any prior paintwork being done to the front bumper, and I've got all the paperwork for the car from purchase. So unless someone surreptitiously removed all references to it, then I think it's original paint from manufacture. It's a 2012 so the wear and tear is probably commensurate with age at this point. But it's the one thing dragging the nice finish of the whole car down.
Incidentally, I was looking at that same bumper on eBay as an alternative to getting mine painted, but it's just as bad if not worse than mine. I'm now trying to fend off my DIY instincts and convince myself that buying a few spray cans of 300 Alpine White from Halfords and patching it up is a terrible idea. I saw a YouTube video of a paintshop guy doing his with rattle cans and it looked really good so a decent finish isn't impossible for £50-60...
Incidentally, I was looking at that same bumper on eBay as an alternative to getting mine painted, but it's just as bad if not worse than mine. I'm now trying to fend off my DIY instincts and convince myself that buying a few spray cans of 300 Alpine White from Halfords and patching it up is a terrible idea. I saw a YouTube video of a paintshop guy doing his with rattle cans and it looked really good so a decent finish isn't impossible for £50-60...
I appreciate you don't want it looking bad. So it's probably a good idea to have it repainted properly and then a clear wrap applied to protect it.BeardyJon said:
My spray painting skills aren't up to much so it'll defo go to a professional for that to be done, once I've prepped it properly first, but like I say I'm in no rush so I can just take my time.
BeardyJon said:
Of course for the best finish you have to take it to the paint shop but for what little it costs why not try it yourself if you have the time? Not much to loose other than a few quid and bit of time and if it doesn't work out you can always take it to the paint shop. Years ago I patched up the bumper on a white Subaru and it came out just as good as if I took it to the paint shop. Buy your paint from a automotive paint supplier correctly mixed to match the car and you can get a one stage paint mixed up, that is base colour and laquer all in one which will be much easier to do. As for spraying techique keep the can around 8" from the bumper and spray from one end of the bumper to the other and do not release the nozzle on the can until you go past the bumper and remember to overlap the paint as you progress up the bumper.
BeardyJon said:Silverstar said:
You're an enabler!
Anything to help!
AnubisZed - if you need a front bumper in better condition than the ones on this post, drop me a message. I have an SE one sitting in the garage which is taking up space. Don't want much, say £50 if you collect from Bedford (light silver and would need spraying, has a few marks etc)
I would but I don't do comedy videos!!BeardyJon said:AnubisZed said:Thank you very much, but that one pictured above is now sat at home as it was delivered this morningmkinternet said:
Fancy doing a How-To YouTube video on respraying it with a rattle can? For science..
** I appreciate I've left myself wide open there!! :?
There are how-to videos on YouTube already that cover this subjectMikeyH said:that would be very useful
OK, update.
The bumper is here and I've opened up the packaging to see how it is. And I'm very happy, the photos were spot on as there is only some minor cracking to the paint and everything else is perfectly fine. So I can start, when I have time, to do the crack repairs to the paint and sand it all down and prep it ready for the paintshop.
Very happy bunny
So as a reference for anyone wanting to swap over to the M-Sport bumper there is a lot of talk about the brackets being different, well they're not. What is different is the tow eye cover, all three lower grills and the three sections of the inner air ducts (as photo, only photo I could find of all three together). Now I'll test fit the bumper to see how much difference there is with these air ducts, and if it just requires a trim with a knife then I'll do that.
