Quote:
Originally Posted by rkan
I have recieved it and am waiting for the painter to finish. I have taken a lot of pictures of it and intend to do a full review once i get the finished product.
The short version: arrived in a plastic bag that was "loose" inside a box. I say loose with quotes because it had no foam or support inside. It was wedged in there pretty tight though. I dont know if it was the way they wedged it or if the box was slightly too small, but it had a bow upwards in the center section. I worked it with a heat gun for half an hour and got it to go down to an acceptable level. There were slightly rough edges all around the perimeter of the piece and on the ends that terminate at the wheel wells there was enough bad molding that i decided to sand it. After 45 min. block sanding with 320, 800, 1000, it was good as it was going to get. The very upper corner of the left wheel well edge had a crack on the back side that i was afraid if i sanded the front anymore would break off a piece half the size of a pencil eraser. So i stopped.
When i test fitted it the very outside edge screw holes where about a half inch off. I finally got up the nerve to push on the lip so hard that i thought i would implode my bumper and that allowed me to barely get a screw tip in at an extreme angle and leverage it in with 45 degree pressure and a socket wrench. Once that was in the other side was worse. I then worked it with a heat gun for 45 minutes trying to get the ends to go somewhere near my bumper. I would heat up the end, watch it conform to the bumper and as it was cooling it would pull away again. So I heated it and held it with a gloved hand with the heat gun on cool and it made it a little better. I am going to need a CRAP LOAD of 3m tape to get this looking half way right.
For something that arrived in this condition I normally would be really pissed. But I chose to go the cheap ebay route so i could afford to get gloss black kidneys and black lower mesh. (Both recieved from Tischer and both look great. Will install those soon.)
So, for $87 dollars shipped, you get what u pay for.
Caveat emptor.
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So, its painted, and installed. Could not even put in the screws in either end because they were too far off, and the 3 screws I did put in (middle and 1 out from the middle on each side) are pulling the lip down and creating a gap at the middle two junctures. The gap in the pictures is right when I finished, it has opened up a little more now. I did use a crap load of tape, but the mechanical force of the screws constant pressure has overwhelmed the tapes holding power. Does not reach the wheel well. Off by quite a bit on passenger side. I am honestly deflated by this experience. I KNEW I was buying a potential piece of crap from ebay, but I thought I could massage it into place. Its almost as if the whole piece is capable of fitting "inside" an OEM one. Its just a bit to small everywhere.
Oh, full disclosure, I installed it OVER the clear bra I have on the front bumper. (I knew this might turn out to be crap so I was not going to sacrifice my paint protection to possibly get better contact.) Most of the tape is contacting that, some is on the paint (inner sides of center opening) I cleaned all the surfaces well with mineral spirits and then 98% alchohol.
I think it looks ok from about 15 feet away so I am leaving it on. I have no other choice right now.
Dont buy from SUPREMEPOWERSELLER.