[cokeith]

This post is informational only and may include opinions that you may not share. Notice to trolls: please withhold your negative comments as they only serve to discourage people from sharing their experience and opinions which may of benefit to other forum users. Helpful and encouraging comments based on actual first-hand experience are always welcome!

Background: Daily driver 2009 E92 328i, titanium silver, auto with sport, premium, and cold weather packages. I typically put over 250K miles on my BMW’s before getting a new one. As such, I typically update their appearance instead of buying a new car.

Before ordering and installing the bumper I researched this forum, the web, and various vendors who sell the bumper.

This posting only contains notes and tips that you may find helpful when installing a reproduction M3 front bumper on an E92 328i. Much of this information will be helpful to any front bumper retrofit. There are several postings on this forum that outline bumper removal and installations as well as how to retrofit M3 and M Sport bumpers. Those posts also contain images that you will find very helpful so I will not repeat that information here – seek and ye shall find. Much of this information will be most helpful after you’ve read these other postings or if you are currently in the process of retrofitting.

Material Types: Polypropylene (PP) and Polyurethane (PU)
Both materials can yield a good quality product and I found the prices to be similar. Plastic components have markings indicating the type of plastic. Polypropylene can be heated and reformed/bent/adjusted which is helpful if your part is slightly out of shape. Polyurethane is not formulated to be heated and reformed/bent/adjusted. My PP bumper required some minor adjustments which I was able to perform using a heat gun.

Vendors and General Fitment: I bought my bumper from a reputable, well reviewed vendor on this forum. While the quality and fitment was good, I believe you can buy a similar lower cost PP product. Since the cost of PP molds are high and the mold quality is very good, I suspect that the same manufacturer sells to many distributors. Many members on this forum have purchased their PP parts from eBay and other sources and have had good results. A reputable manufacturer/vendor may still deliver sub-par parts depending on the level of quality control. The same mold may yield different results if the recipe (plastic mix, time, and temp.) is not followed precisely. Research your vendor of choice carefully – buyer beware.

Specific Fitment Notes/Issues:

- Take pictures of your current OEM fitment to use a reference. While the reproduction parts don’t fit as well as OEM parts, you can get them to fit quite well. If you are very picky, you will notice gaps that seem to be too large but when you look at your OEM pictures it becomes apparent that they are not.

- Test fit before sending your bumper to the paint shop! You will be installing and removing the bumper to address various fitment issues. This way you won’t have to worry about scratching you newly painted bumper. Local (Denver) painting estimates I received (for painting the front bumper AND M3 side skirts) ranged from $600 to $900 - $800 was the mean estimate.

- Modify (shorten) the brake ducts. Measure twice, cut once – and cut less than you think. You can always cut more off but you can’t uncut!

- Fog light adaptor wiring harness: H8 to 9006. You need this harness as the stock fog lights are H8 while the M3 bumper lights are 9006. Before buying the harness be sure to actually look at both ends of the harness. The problem is how vendors define male and female connectors as they don’t specify if they’re referring to the plastic housing or the metal connections within the housing. You will need a harness with an H8 female housing with male connectors and a 9006 male housing with female connectors at the other end. When you see your connectors and the new fog light, as well as the vendor’s pictures, this will make sense.

- Left and right grills, where the fog lights are mounted and where the brake ducts get their air. I wanted to prevent as much dirt, water, and snow as possible from entering here so I blocked the grills except for the brake duct access. These grills are made of ABS plastic. I found some black ABS plastic step molds (using the large flat areas) at Hobby Lobby to use as my stock. I made cardboard (from the back of a note pad) templates of the areas on the grill that I would block. I then cut the shapes out of the ABS using tin snips. I had to make holes to accommodate the grill mounting post. I did this by heating a bolt with my torch and melting a hole into the ABS. Adhere the ABS to the back sides of the grills using ABS cement. Take your time as sloppy (too much cement) will be visible from the front of the gills. Use painters tape to keep everything in place.

- Left and right openings (fog light and grill locations) on the bumper. I wanted maximum airflow to my brake ducts since I autocross and track my car. Therefore I cut out ¼” of the inboard side of both openings.

- Bumper mounting to under carriage panel. Not all of the holes will line up so you will need to make new ones and/or modify existing holes.

- Unsnap the headlight washer covers from washer arm. Do not remove the washer covers at the springs!

- The M3 bumper headlight washer covers do not reset into their bumper cavity properly after activation. I’m hoping that the washer cover springs will eventually naturally bend into place. I may try to manually bend the springs at a later time. I will be very careful as not to make the situation worse.

- Before painting, tape off the interior areas of both the left and right grill/fog light areas so they remain flat black as you don’t necessarily want to see your body color behind those black grills.

[Ferg]

Pics?