Front Bumper swap....anyone else have trouble ?

i bought mine from umnitza too! im doing mine on tuesday! on a sedan !

Okay so far got some good pics on the process. Got the fitment close but haven't glued yet. I took the piece that attached the original cover to the aluminum bumper off to attach it to the inside of the m-tech ll. This way I can still take the plastic push rivets out and separate the cover from the aluminum bumper. I'll post pictures later tonight.

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So here are the pictures from start to where I left off. I stopped after I glued the inner liner to the cover. Sorry I forgot to take a picture of that process but I know you all will be able to understand what was done.

Finally able to contribute something to the site, I hope, that has helped me a lot with my 330ci

Here we go:

The bumper after I painted it and did a cut and buff




Removed the fog-light covers and other plastic from the original bumper. All these parts just un-snapped. This is what it looks like without the plastic pieces.



Remove the fog-lights by taking out the screws under the light then just pull it out from the bottom and down and unplug the light.


Next take out the 4 plastic push rivets (that's what I call them). There are 2 on each side.




You can also take out the 2 torx bolts that are in the bumper at this point if you choose to. They are a T50 size and go through the aluminum part of the bumper to the mounts.


Then take out the 2 inner splash wells by removing the 3 screws that hold them in (7mm head) and the phillip screws underneath. At this point you can remove the plastic splash guard that is attached to the bumper.
Pictures are of the sides after slash guards are removed.



After you have done that you should be able to slide the bumper forward if all the screws had been removed. Remember to unplug the horn wires. Here it is off the car.



Okay here I took a chisel to the plastic pop rivets that held the aluminum section to the plastic cover.





After I looked at the way the original bumper attached to the aluminum section, I decided to take the inner plastic mount off and use it to attach the M3 Replica bumper. I used a pry bar while pulling up on the inner section. The tabs on the original bumper are melted to hold the inner section on. They are real easy to pry apart.




There are also 3 tabs that are on the M3 Replica bumper I purchased from http://www.umnitza.com/ I plan to use these with "U" type speed nuts and 6mm bolts to secure the bottom part of the cover to the aluminum section. I should have pictures of that tomorrow.


Okay so here is the part I forgot to take the pictures of sorry. What I did was attach the inner section

to the aluminum section

using some push type rivets I purchased from Autozone.

Prior to gluing the inner section attached to the aluminum section to the M3 Replica, I reinstalled the aluminum section with the inner section on the car with the torx bolts. This allowed me to put the M3 Replica cover on the other parts and make sure the fit would be correct prior to gluing it to the inner section. I used grease and wax remover to clean up the parts to be glued and I used Goop contact adhesive and Loctite silicone adhesive to secure the sections together.



Okay the following pictures are of the bumper glued onto the other sections mentioned. I decided to leave it alone at this point so the adhesive could cure good. You will notice that there is a section of the aluminum part of the bumper that can be seen from the top when the hood is opened. I will be painting this the same color of the car tomorrow after I remove the cover. I will also take pictures of all the sections apart so you call can see what I did with the inner section to the M3 Replica because I'm not sure if I explained it well.










Hope this helps some of you on the install of this type of bumper. I should have more tomorrow for all who are interested with pictures. If anyone has questions I will do my best to answer them.

i have a sedan do i have to take my wheels out?

For me it just helped with ease of access. If you can reach everything you need to with out taking them off then go for it. BTW in the process of painting lower headlight brows and aluminum section. The adhesive I used worked perfect. The bumper was very secure when I checked it this morning. I'll post more with pictures tonight.

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Okay installation of the M3 Replica front bumper is complete. The bumper came out very good IMO and feels very, very secure. I am really glad that I had decided to use the inner mount section from the original bumper. Doing this, again IMO, made it easy to mount and the adjustment was almost right on after the parts were put together.

Here we go with the final parts of the process.


Here is the bumper with the aluminum section attached to the inner section from the original bumper glued to the M3 Replica bumper. I can take the aluminum section apart from the plastic section just as it was on the original bumper. I separated the aluminum section from the others to add more adhesive to the areas where the gaps are larger. I also painted the aluminum section to match the car so when the hood is opened it will blend in and not stand out. I painted the bottom brows and the tow hook cover also.














I reattached the aluminum section to the glued section with the push type fasteners.


I also was able to use the pre-drilled holes in the center of the aluminum section that line up with the tabs on the M3 Replica. I used 6mm "U" Type speed nuts and a 6X15 MM bolt to attach the two section together. This really made all the pieces secure to each other.




I then re-attached the whole assembly to the car using the T50 bolts. At this point everything really aligned easily. I was really happy with the fit. I also reinstalled the lower brows and the weather stripping which also helped align everything really nice.




I installed the new fogs and the HID kit. I believe there is another DIY for that so I didn't do any pictures of that process. BTW I painted the center mesh grill and the fog surrounds black even though they are black already and glossed them with the clear coat. I liked the way they came out.

The following pictures are of the competed job, the first picture is before the install.


The M3 Replica installed;










Feel free to let me know what you think, good or bad. If there are any questions that anyone has, feel free to send me a PM and I will answer them the best that I can.

Thanks for following my install and good luck to all who are going to change out their front bumper. Just take your time and check everything as you go along.

Thanks to Umnitza for sending me a very good product.

^^ great write up. car looks great, but thats not an Mtech 2 bumper. It is an M3 replica bumper.

Amazing details and very helpful. Looks awesome and I think you did a great job. I am very excited to get mine done. Thanks again for all of the step by step tips.

Originally Posted by SkrApUNB

^^ great write up. car looks great, but thats not an Mtech 2 bumper. It is an M3 replica bumper.

Thanks for the correction. I was going buy what I thought I had seen on the invoice. I'm wrong I made the changes to the post to reflect the proper bumper....

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looks good! one little suggestion, put something in between the bar and the bumper right underneath the passenger side headlight to close the gap

What GLUE did you use??????

Thats not an MtechII bumper man, M3 Rep

Originally Posted by w0w

looks good! one little suggestion, put something in between the bar and the bumper right underneath the passenger side headlight to close the gap

I think the weather striping is what is causing the gap. Also it is in a shadow right there so it looks a lot wider than it is. I will see what I can use to close it up. Thanks for the tip, your car looks great in your signature. I like the extra section on the bumper. Which one is that?

Originally Posted by AMCINK

What GLUE did you use??????

I used two different ones.


I found these really have good adhesive bond and stay flexible enough to allow some movement without breaking. Also anyone should be able to get these at a local auto parts store. I purchased mine from the local Autozone and you don't need a special application tool like some of the other epoxies used in the automotive collision field that can cost $50.00 + for the applicator and another $30.00 + for the epoxy. Also with securing the aluminum section to the M3 Replica, ( got it right this time), with the "U" type speed nuts and 6mm screws there wouldn't be a lot of stress on the glued areas alone.


Thanks for all the compliments fanatics. I really appreciate them.

Phantom, can we use your DIY on our site's bumper page?

Installing mine now! Hope it fits!

looks good, I think I like it better than the mtech2... is there one that is more of an OEM fit where I wouldn't have to glue and plastic bracket?

Originally Posted by jogfrogjog

looks good, I think I like it better than the mtech2... is there one that is more of an OEM fit where I wouldn't have to glue and plastic bracket?

you can just drill holes to hold the aluminum bar.

Originally Posted by umnitza

Phantom, can we use your DIY on our site's bumper page?

Yes you can use it. I hope it helps others who are doing this install.

Thanks again for the great product. I feel it really fit nice.

phantoms69, great diy. often times, the backside of the replica bumper is not as flat as it should be. the thickness of the replica bumper may be thicker then stock bumper. lastly when gluing things to the back of the replica bumper, often time it does not sit as flush as it should. so it kinda sticks out more then it should. then by the time you rivet the aluminum carrier, your actually off by a few mm's. thats why you can see the aluminum carrier when you open the hood. i would suggest just to not use the plastic part between the bumper cover and the plastic carrier. just glue bumper cover directly to the aluminum carrier

Originally Posted by daytonaviolet

phantoms69, great diy. often times, the backside of the replica bumper is not as flat as it should be. the thickness of the replica bumper may be thicker then stock bumper. lastly when gluing things to the back of the replica bumper, often time it does not sit as flush as it should. so it kinda sticks out more then it should. then by the time you rivet the aluminum carrier, your actually off by a few mm's. thats why you can see the aluminum carrier when you open the hood. i would suggest just to not use the plastic part between the bumper cover and the plastic carrier. just glue bumper cover directly to the aluminum carrier

You are 100% right about the bumper not being as flat as the stock one. Thanks for the input. When I did the first test fit without the inner plastic piece the bumper sat a little too far in so it was not even with the fenders. When I placed the inner plastic piece on the aluminum section then it all lined up perfectly. I didn't even have to adjust the plastic mounts on the sides. The little section of aluminum that was showing I found later not to be an issue when I reinstalled the weather strip on the inside lip of the bumper. IMO this really made the fit go together very well. I know the gluing of the bumper to the aluminum section works because so many other have done it that way and they look really good. For me, I like the way this worked and the bumper is really sturdy.

I like the look of your M in your signature. Very Nice