M front bumper on my 3.0l Coupe???

[slackjack]

Greeting All,

I had the unfortunate privilege of being side swiped as some clown tried to overtake me in his Sh*t bucket Mercedes 280E estate, while on a country lane. He saw traffic coming his way, panicked, pulled back over and took out my front wing, alloy, bumper, light etc etc.

After him being a silly pants, he has now admitted liability and I can go ahead with getting my car fixed up (as I didn't want to pay the £1250 Excess i have on my premium up front!).

Needless to say it needs some new parts, but thankfully mechanically she's sound.

I am however toying with the idea of putting the M front bumper (as my replacement bumper from BMW) on my 3l Coupe Sport (in black) to perhaps give her the slightly more aggressive look. This does mean though that I would have to sacrifice my front fogs (that I have never used anyway) and also the possible resale attraction/value when I sell her on in a year or two.

Am I missing a trick and what are people’s thoughts?

Cheers
Jack

 

[Breaker]

There is a post on here somewhere from someone who did just that.

 

[takedown8]

I say go for it. Either get the //M bumper or the Aero Kit bumper (also OEM). If you get the Aero kit bumper, then you'll have foglights, but you'll have to buy new ones (which you can include in the cost of replacing the bumper anyways).

Don't worry about resale. The standard bumpers usually come up for sale used at low prices anyways. When you're thinking of selling, you could always change it over for a few hundred bucks (with paint & install).

 

[Dreamer]

1250 excess Who the hell are you insured with??
Also as takedown says worth considering the Aero front bumper, which will mean you retain the small round fogs.

How much has he offered to pay you? It sounds an expensive repair in total to me!

 

[GAZA62]

£1250 Excess

The M bumper would look nice

 

[2 Zero]

Go with the Aero front bumper it looks the best IMHO

 

[2dogs]

^^ :withstupid: ^^

 

[cj10jeeper]

Not the aero for me - it's pre facelift, but it's all personal opinion.

It wil be avirtually straight swap. Possibly a little work to get the lower tray to mate to the lower edge of the bumper cover as they have slight variations.

You'll also need new lower mesh insert, air ducts and if post facelift the side reflectors. You need to see if you have washers and decide what to do with those to.

There are several write ups on the site about bumper removal and refit and projects to change.

 

[slackjack]

Thankyou all for your comments.

With regards to the excess, probably was not a wise move for me to have whacked the voluntary excess as high as I did! I'm 23 so it was a bid to bring me premium down.

Spoke to BMW today who are going to do the work and they started off saying I could get the M bumper fitted, but pay the difference between the standard bumper (which it should have) and the M bumper. Great I thought!

BMW then came back and said it would be a lot of work with the air ducts and re-programing the electrics to not have the fog light circuit etc etc. I could still have done but would cost me lots in adition to getting my standard one replacing!

So alas I think I'm only left with the option of getting the standard one replaced all free of charge etc.

D'oh!

 

[plowy]

I have done the M front bumper conversion, it's cool....

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1719&p=23706#p23680

 

[gannet]

Pictures have gone from that link plowy

 

[mister_roger]

It can be done See my DIY:

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1072

It is very simple to swap in the air ducts, so it sounds like the dealer is just giving you a hard time. Same with the fog circuits -- no reprogramming is necessary. You can leave the lights unplugged without throwing any bulb-out indicators.

If you have basic tools and don't mind getting your hands a little dirty, I'd say do the swap yourself.

 

[WaZZZZman]

I have seen Rogers and it looks very nice. I would probably do the same if needed.

 

[gmaster]

I am sorry to jump on this thread. I have got an aero spoiler and rear apron and do not know how to fit them. Does any one know how to do this? Once the spoiler and apron are fitted can they be removed?