Since I have owned my car, the nappiest looking part has always been the front bumper. Previous owner was none too careful while parking and there is a nasty crack in it, not to mention enough rock chips to make it look like it came in a close second place in a rally race.

I had asked around a few shops in the past, getting estimates in the $600-$1k+ range, so I had planned on doing the E63 front end conversion. Since I'd rather spend money on go-faster stuff instead of cosmetics, I've held off. Having a day off work last week left me searching around eBay. Ended up buying a gloss black grille, 6k bulbs (8k city lights), HID fogs, new mirror covers, and some tinted Lamin-X for my badly-faded headlights.

My area of San Diego is great for all the car stuff. Yesterday, I check yelp for an obscure but highly rated detail guy and hit him up to wet-sand my lights. He didn't do that, but recommended a body shop. I hop on over to this place and it looks like an amazing setup. Several paint booths, a detail booth, and several other places. Each project looks to have about 2 or 3 people just going to town.

I meet the owner Oscar and says he can wet-sand my lights. He digs my car and thinks the new grille looks great. He notices the bumper and I ask him for an estimate. He tells me to take it off, repair the crack, and paint it will cost three-hundred bones. I thought I mis-heard. Thinking it must be a low quality paint, I ask him how the color matching is. He points at an almost brand new black Lexus on his lot and says they just did the bumper on that one. If you've ever looked at a Lexus up close, you may have noticed that their factory paint is fabulous; one of the best in the car biz, IMO. It's the middle of the day and the sun is shining right on this car, perfect for inspecting paint. I get up close and examine this thing hard. I can't tell their repaint from factory, the match is that close.

I ask him how long to do mine and he says two days. Effing deal! Can I bring it in tomorrow and pick up Wednesday, because I leave the country for a couple of weeks on Thursday? Sure thing, says he.

In the mean time, my wet-sanding is complete and it looks much better. I still needed a shop to do the Lamin-X, so off to Yelp again. Find a tint shop half a block away with 72 five-star reviews. Call them up and heck yes they do Lamin-X. Get off the phone and walk in within 15 seconds of hanging up. Get a chuckle when I say "sorry for taking so long to get here." Shop is empty, so they get to work on my contraption immediately. Ask them if they can do another car and they can. Text my home-bro Bramage and tell him to bring his pile on down to get done up. While I'm there, I ask if they can replace the bubbling tint in my back window. They strip out that old 20% and put in some nice, high-quality 15%. I'm shocked at how much better it looked. Bramage also has his tail lights done. Both cars look like a stack of money sitting there in the shop with freshened up headlights.

So, I go to bring the car in to the paint shop this morning and I remember that ACG, conveniently located one block from the body shop, used to sell the non-painted bumper strips that get rid of the nasty orange lights on the bumper. I stop by, meet Tal, and he recommends I just get the lights painted/tinted. Great recommendation. I hit the paint shop and agree to get the bumper painted, the new grille, my old grille, and the bumper lights tinted or covered. Total price is $350.

Since I don't do teaser pics, I'll take some tomorrow when I pick it up and try to post them in the evening. Just felt like typing a novel.

 

OK, maybe one teaser pic. Here's after I changed the grille. Headlights had not been polished yet and not sure if you can see the condition of the bumper. Also forgot to mention, they are painting the mesh stuff in the bottom of the bumper.




So these Lamin-X people, they're something else. I submitted these special instructions when ordering my kit:





I had forgotten all about that, and later when I got home, found this in the box:




Nicely done, Lamin-X guys.

 

That stegosaurus better man up! No way a giraffe should be laying smack down like that.

I go back and forth about the idea of a black grille on my car.... Have to admit, that teaser shot does look GOOD. Are you doing a clear Lamin-X on the headlights or a slight smoke? I think they have 6% and 12% versions. I bought some a while ago, but it's still sitting in my pile of swag that I've never installed....

Looking forward to the final photos!


-G

 

Good read! Hope the bumper turns out great.

 

I did the 6% and it looks great. The next darkest is their "gunsmoke" color and I think it would be too dark on a dark car. A white or silver one should be able to pull it off, but I'd be concerned about hindering light output.

 

Cool! I'm pretty sure thats what I've got too. I wanted the most subtle one ,and I think I've seen black E55s on here that looked great.

-G

 

I think we were looking at the same car. E55Dimon's white one looks amazing with it and the black one that sold me on it was... arg! Can't remember

 

I got the "tint" and it's just right. The gunsmoke is 12mil thick!

 

Motorkas?

 

BINGO!

The guy with the McDonalds calipers, and all the sweet Eurotek CF items..... The 20" Vossens weren't bad either.

-G

 

Forgot one member paid over $1,000 for the paint for e63 front bumper

 

I had Lamin-x applied to my newly refinished headlights (present from my manfriend) .. and it came out awesome

Also ordered a new rear spoiler from JB Speed... Not sure about that deal.. seems like I went to the wrong place. I may just order from someone else and IF I ever get the one from JB Speed , I can use it to sabotage downhill roller bladers.... Or loan it to the stegosaurus. He needs some help

 

You will have to let me know the name of that paint shop when I do my 63 front end conversion later this year... Lookin good....

 

I think they make them to order. I had to wait a while for my diffuser, but it was worth the wait.

You couldn't fix the one that was coming off?

Auto Mac on Raytheon Drive and Mercury street next to a self-storage place. Owner's name is Oscar. Pretty much a block over from ACG.

 

Great write up! So the body shop is polishing the lights and then Lam X up the street? What tint are you puting on the side markers, I have to get rid of my orange bum lights as well?

 

I reattached the old one, and its ok for a while, but it needs to come off. The fit was not exact, and as a result, 2 years of dirt and bugs have gotten to the tape.

I would not mind the wait as much if it was disclosed. Felt more like: Order, we ship. ****, I ordered it a couple days before you ordered your grille. Where is your grille? On the car.... Patience? I have ZERO...

In fact, **** it, I'm selling my car!!!

 

AGAIN!!!!

 

Better peel off that Lamin-X so we can sell it.

Brooke - Yes, body shop did the polishing already and they said they could try to do the Lamin-X, but they had no experience with it. The shop I found to do it could literally be hit by a rock thrown from the body shop if you have a good arm.

I stopped by for a quick peek. Turns out the mirror covers I got on eBay have the puddle lights on the bottom and the installer said that the glass will not fit due to that . Was there an option on our cars for lights in the mirror? Are there different mirror glass? The seller has sold a ton of these without problems, they say.

 

Nice!

My rear bumper got kissed by someone while I was parked and the previous bumper paint repair (done at MBSD prior to me buying apparently) has a nice 6 inch long flake (hard to describe).

Will hit this guy up for an estimate repaint of my rear bumper!

 

$125 including paint for my guy to respray the bumper.

 

...in San Diego?

 

I didn't get the car until it was nearly dark. Had to beat feet to the dealer before they closed real quick and then on to get dinner. It was dark, so I didn't get any good pics yet.

Apparently I take photos about as well as Michael J. Fox plays Jenga. Bramage and I will do a photo shoot after my 2 week trip and get some great shots then.

Oh, the car looks great and properly sinister now. Paint job looks excellent and I will let it cure for two weeks and go back to get it buffed. I still have to install foglights, figure out WTF is wrong with the mirrors, and get those orange sidelights tinted.

Also, I switched from the flat emblem to the gun sight. First time I have driven with that and I like it.

 

Looking' good Mr Fox!

I'm sure you know that ACG sells the Euro Side impact strips with those lenses completely removed... They weren't THAT expensive, and would clean things up even more visually.

How are you feeling now about those sweeps of chrome on the bumper? Do you think it works visually, or with all the other blacked out parts is it becoming a distraction?

-G

 

I actually stopped by ACG to pick those up, but they were currently out of stock. They also told me those things throw codes when you get rid of the lights. Any solution to that?

I don't min the chrome. It accents the star ornament, although I'd rather have it all black just to look more sinister.

 

Change your CGW to ROW and it will get rid of the errors!