Hello all,

I was wondering if any of my fellow forums members have had any experience with aftermarket bumpers. I was recently involved in an accident and was planning on replacing the rear bumper with an OEM one when a mechanic friend mentioned that aftermarket replacements were a 1/3 of the price and offer very good fitment (not perfect). If you've replaced either your front or rear bumper cover with aftermarket replacements, please let me know how it fits! Did you have any issues? Can you tell that it's not OEM? Thanks!

Chuey

 

Just my two cents, but I'm not a fan of aftermarket replacement parts. I'd prefer that whatever go on my car be specifically designed for it, as opposed to reverse engineered. For a bumper, the material, and fit & finish, are big issues. You wouldn't want something that leaves a larger gap, or doesn't fit properly. Personally, I'd buy a used part before I went aftermarket.

 

I purchased an aftermarket AMG style front bumper from Suvneer and have been very pleased with it. The interior trim pieces were required to be glued or plastic welded on, my shop was incompetent, so this was a little difficult for them to do, and they didn't even do it really, but any competent shop should be able to do it, no sweat. Fitment is decent, maybe a little more gap between the hood and front of bumper, but the side and fenders fit very nicely. I'd say about 9/10 fitment, which is quite good for an aftermarket bumper. I would only purchase aftermarket if it was for a different or more aggressive look. If I wanted OEM look, I would purchase OEM parts. The bumper also might need holes drilled to attach to the splash guard under the engine. The fender lining would also need slight adjustment or addition. Everything required can be easily done by any competent shop, but expect to pay $100-200 more for all of this. I will be posting a review and build thread soon enough after my shop swaps out a few mistakes they made. The suvneer bumper looks very nice, and the quality is good, even the body shop owner was impressed with it.

On the same topic, my body shop is in the process of ordering a new rear bumper. They accidentally put a prelci rear bumper on instead of the LCI one I specifically requested. So they are ordering and soon to be painting an OEM 2012 rear bumper. Are there any aftermarket rear bumpers with the LCI diffuser, and maybe a more aggressive styling? Possibly one with side vents much like the CLA, W205 or the C63 AMG black series?

The vent looks like this:

 

I checked out the Suvneer bumper and it looks like they only do a C63 style one? I am looking more for a 2011 W204 style (LED DRL) front bumper. Would anyone have any idea where I could find a decently priced used one or a very good OE replacement?