2010 35d Front Bumper Cover where to buy?

[ABMW]

My front bumper cover was terribly scraped by an inept Bay Area parker.

Options:

A) Replace it, but where can I find the OEM part? Ive searched high and low.

B) Have it painted, space gray, with a few minutes of body work applied before the paint is applied.

Which would be cheaper? I estimate the front and rear bumper painting will be in the neighborhood of $1,200.00.

The passenger side wheel well trim was also scratched, but I am going to obtain some of the Y-spoke 20" wheels, so and have them offset akin to the Sport M package, so I assume they can be replaced with wider wheel well trim that I would also like to have painted.

My question is where can I find new OEM parts at, for prices below the dealer?

The entire front quarter panel of my car was covered in black paint. It's an absolute miracle it didn't penetrate the clear coat. There was a good 1 sqft. of black paint scuffed beneath the headlight. I almost died, when I saw it.

Any help as to where to purchase the parts would be greatly appreciated.

[ard]

There is no "OEM" cover. Cover is made by BMW, so you can get OE or Aftermarket.

why put crap on a new $60,000 car?

Try tischer, crown... all the usually on-line BMW dealers.

In any event, as long as it is just scratched and not cracked, you can get it repaired just fine

[X-cellent]

I got rear ended in my 4.8 and found through realoem.com the rear cover with parking sensor receivers for $380. Just did a quick search and the front is about the same (for the black portion). Rear needs about two hours to R&R and needs rivits for fender flares. Don't know about R&R for the front, but it's probably similar and you can search here to see if someones already posted instructions...

[shashankmittal]

I purchased the OEM front bumper cover for my car from onlinebmwparts dot com. I always like their prices. I think I paid less than $1000 for painting. Make sure your body shop bakes the bumper covers after painting, as that cures the paint best!

[ABMW]

Originally Posted by ard

There is no "OEM" cover. Cover is made by BMW, so you can get OE or Aftermarket.

why put crap on a new $60,000 car?

Try tischer, crown... all the usually on-line BMW dealers.

In any event, as long as it is just scratched and not cracked, you can get it repaired just fine

OEM stands for Original Equipment = BMW.

[ABMW]

Originally Posted by X-cellent

I got rear ended in my 4.8 and found through realoem.com the rear cover with parking sensor receivers for $380. Just did a quick search and the front is about the same (for the black portion). Rear needs about two hours to R&R and needs rivits for fender flares. Don't know about R&R for the front, but it's probably similar and you can search here to see if someones already posted instructions...

Awesome! Thanks for the quote and for sharing your experience. Sounds very similar to what took place with mine.

[ABMW]

Originally Posted by shashankmittal

I purchased the OEM front bumper cover for my car from onlinebmwparts dot com. I always like their prices. I think I paid less than $1000 for painting. Make sure your body shop bakes the bumper covers after painting, as that cures the paint best!

Okay, I was wondering about that and thanks for the tip, as I've decided to just have it painted and not replaced, if they can sand down the scuffs. I assume they'll need to use a bit of filler, but it should be an easy fix, if done properly.

If not, I'll buy the bumper cover and then have it painted. I'm assuming that the steps are as follows once the bumper is in an "as-new" condition:

1. Prep and Prime
2. Base Color Coat with flex agent added
3. Final Color Coat with flex agent added
5. Clear Coat 1 with flex agent added
6. Wet Sand
7. Clear Coat 2 with flex agent added
8. Possible Wet sand 2
9. Cure with heat lamps or "cure chamber"

The above is what I expect of a top notch job. There's a place I found in Tucson, AZ of all places called Formula 1 body shop. They work almost exclusively on Ferraris and Porsches and anything else over $100k. People ship cars there form all over the country, to have them repaired.

The last time I was there one of these XJR-15s (see link) was sitting in the lot. An old lady owned it (seriously), and she rear ended a pole. The bumper cover was the only piece damaged. It was $35k for the part alone! Jaguar XJR-15 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks all for the advice. I just about died when I saw the damage. The entire fender was COVERED in Black Paint. Miraculously, none if it penetrated the clear coat! I used a clay bar, and some turtle wax (due to it's abrasive compound-normally I wouldn't touch such a product), followed by several Zymol products. I'll use an orbital buffer on it, to remove some spiderwebbing in the clear coat, but you'd have to be an auto detailer to notice it, at this point.

I dodged a $4k bullet, easily. Never have I worked on such a thick and durable clear coat. +1 for BMW!!! (used to be a professional detailer as a kid, so the durability of the painted finishes of the vehicle are very impressive).

Anyway, if anyone knows of any good body shops in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Jose, San Diego or Arizona, please let me know. I travel for business quite a bit or could use an excuse to travel :-).

Preferably I'd like to have it repaired here in the Bay Area, but I just moved here, and have few contacts.

So, any Bay Area residents who know of top-notch shops that they can recommend to me to would be sincerely appreciated. Thanks again for the advice thus far.

[shashankmittal]

Originally Posted by shashankmittal

I purchased the OEM front bumper cover for my car from onlinebmwparts dot com. I always like their prices. I think I paid less than $1000 for painting. Make sure your body shop bakes the bumper covers after painting, as that cures the paint best!

Just a small clarification, $1000 was for both bumper covers

[bracoX5d]

Originally Posted by ABMW

Okay, I was wondering about that and thanks for the tip, as I've decided to just have it painted and not replaced, if they can sand down the scuffs. I assume they'll need to use a bit of filler, but it should be an easy fix, if done properly.

If not, I'll buy the bumper cover and then have it painted. I'm assuming that the steps are as follows once the bumper is in an "as-new" condition:

1. Prep and Prime
2. Base Color Coat with flex agent added
3. Final Color Coat with flex agent added
5. Clear Coat 1 with flex agent added
6. Wet Sand
7. Clear Coat 2 with flex agent added
8. Possible Wet sand 2
9. Cure with heat lamps or "cure chamber"

The above is what I expect of a top notch job. There's a place I found in Tucson, AZ of all places called Formula 1 body shop. They work almost exclusively on Ferraris and Porsches and anything else over $100k. People ship cars there form all over the country, to have them repaired.

The last time I was there one of these XJR-15s (see link) was sitting in the lot. An old lady owned it (seriously), and she rear ended a pole. The bumper cover was the only piece damaged. It was $35k for the part alone! Jaguar XJR-15 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks all for the advice. I just about died when I saw the damage. The entire fender was COVERED in Black Paint. Miraculously, none if it penetrated the clear coat! I used a clay bar, and some turtle wax (due to it's abrasive compound-normally I wouldn't touch such a product), followed by several Zymol products. I'll use an orbital buffer on it, to remove some spiderwebbing in the clear coat, but you'd have to be an auto detailer to notice it, at this point.

I dodged a $4k bullet, easily. Never have I worked on such a thick and durable clear coat. +1 for BMW!!! (used to be a professional detailer as a kid, so the durability of the painted finishes of the vehicle are very impressive).

Anyway, if anyone knows of any good body shops in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Jose, San Diego or Arizona, please let me know. I travel for business quite a bit or could use an excuse to travel :-).

Preferably I'd like to have it repaired here in the Bay Area, but I just moved here, and have few contacts.

So, any Bay Area residents who know of top-notch shops that they can recommend to me to would be sincerely appreciated. Thanks again for the advice thus far.

I've used B2 Perfection in Sunnyvale before (replace and repaint passenger side doors on 330i). I was very happy with their work.

[mbarrett635]

Originally Posted by ABMW

OEM stands for Original Equipment = BMW.

Actually, OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer, and is used to specify aftermarket parts that are made by the same company that makes them for BMW. However, they are not necessarily the same as BMW parts, which are properly referred to as OE parts. OEM parts may, for example, have failed BMW quality control checks, and thus not bear the BMW logo (often you can see where it was ground off). Or they could be exactly the same, just cheaper, since you aren't buying them from BMW.

I've bought lots of OEM parts over the years, but the only place you get genuine BMW parts is from BMW.