M Frt Bumper Cosmetic Surgery

[HerrK]

Installed my M Frt Bumper today. It was relatively simple and will post a DIY later when I get all the photos organized. So about $750 in parts including the Performance Grills & "M" air duct parts. $300 for paint. My labor 6 hrs.

Old Bumper Cover



Naked Old Air Duct Parts



New Bumper Cover Ready to Install



Finished - New Bumper Cover Installed

[z4z4z4]

N! V!

[army_men]

thats awesome! i want to do this too. almost pulled the trigger.

[Vintage]

HerrK, it looks mean!

[nicknaz]

Nicely done!

Would have been a good time to put on a bigger FMIC, auxiliary radiator and different cooling fan

[Hujan]

Where did you order the bumper from? Cheapest I found on Tischer was in the high $900s. Also, who did the paint and install for you? I am looking to get the rear M Sport bumper next.

[nuebbes]

Congrats!

I've also done the conversion and I love it.

[BMWZ4RIDER]

Nice job. Looks great. Looking forward to the DIY update .

[HerrK]

Originally Posted by Hujan

Where did you order the bumper from? Cheapest I found on Tischer was in the high $900s. Also, who did the paint and install for you? I am looking to get the rear M Sport bumper next.

I ordered the bumper from Husker BMW Mercedes last year when they had some special shipping deal, no shipping charge if order was over $300. Escondido BMW painted it. I installed it.

http://www.bmwmercedesparts.com/part...?siteid=215771

Originally Posted by nicknaz

Nicely done!

Would have been a good time to put on a bigger FMIC, auxiliary radiator and different cooling fan

I thought about some of those mods and chipping. But I bought the 7 yr BMW extended warranty when the car shipped back from ED as at that point I planned on it being a long time keeper. Paid the car off in July. Maybe I will do some of those mods when it is out of coverage. For now I am happy with having a good looking car and hopefully trouble free driving for the next 4 yr, at least at no expense to me. Don't want to deal with any aftermarket/dealer hassel.

Originally Posted by Vintage

HerrK, it looks mean!

Thanks. I was going for a more aggresive look with the performance grills. Thought about putting in the grey grills with the gloss black surrounds. But decided on the full mean performance kidney look. Kept the stock grey/chrome kidneys so I can play swap later if I get tired of the all black.

[dgkn86]

great looking car!! congrat
I'm about to doing same as you now
just want to ask you some question
I bought bumper,3 lower grill, 3 airduct, but do i really need pressure lip seal as well?
or I can use one from original bumper?
thank you

[HerrK]

Originally Posted by dgkn86

great looking car!! congrat
I'm about to doing same as you now
just want to ask you some question
I bought bumper,3 lower grill, 3 airduct, but do i really need pressure lip seal as well?
or I can use one from original bumper?
thank you

What PN are your referring to as the "Pressure Lip Seal"?

Make sure you get 4 PN (51747192197) expanding rivets as the factory items are unusable after removal. The factory items are more like a plastic pop rivet where the stem shears off at installation. These are used to secure the lateral air ducts to the vehicle.

[Z4-35i]

Thanks for the initial write up and pictures. I have an M front bumper that I picked up second hand on ebay that's in great condition, just needs painting up in Black Sapphire metallic.

[dgkn86]

51628038997
51628038998
these are parts that i talked about
ans thanks for tip I will get that rivet

[HerrK]

Originally Posted by dgkn86

51628038997
51628038998
these are parts that i talked about
ans thanks for tip I will get that rivet

If you want to install properly you need the following. Due to the different contour of the bumper and shape of the lower center air inlet on the bumper cover - these plastic parts are different than on the non M bumper. Some people modify the original 997 & 998 or leave them off. These duct air to the radiatior, turbo inter cooler, & AT trans cooler if equiped.

51747903729 - left lateral air
51747903730 - right lateral air duct
51747903731 - lower air duct

If you have a N54 with oil cooler you also need a specfic duct for the oil cooler.

51747903727 - oil cooler air duct

It's about $100 worth of plastic. Less expensive than mods or worrying about cooling IMO.

[nicknaz]

Originally Posted by HerrK

It's about $100 worth of plastic. Less expensive than mods or worrying about cooling IMO.

How has the worry about cooling gone away with a different looking bumper? Same radiators right?

[hiltonfa]

Nice job, looks great

[HerrK]

Originally Posted by nicknaz

How has the worry about cooling gone away with a different looking bumper? Same radiators right?

It's not the bumper it's the ducting behind the bumper that is important for cooling. What I was trying to get across was that the $100 worth of plastic ducting behind the bumper cover is necessary to provide a tightly sealed air path to all the radiators. Using the non "M" air ducts or leaving them off all together probalby won't matter much driving around town or cruising down the US freeways at 70 MPH. Pushing the car - be it on the track, backroads or Autobahn is another story.

Air flow is not helter skelter. If you ever remove the bumper cover you will understand how BMW controls the airflow to the radiators. They seal things up pretty darn tight to ensure what air goes in through the grills in the bumper cover goes through the radiators. If you use the old non "M" specific ducts you loose airflow over the radiatiors as the air is no longer trapped/forced through the radiator. If you leave them off even worse. The floor of the car and engine compartment are pretty well sealed. The belly pan utilizes NACA Vents to duct air into the engine bay. It's all about differential pressure. If you don't have sufficient air flow over the radiators you loose cooling.

FYI - the lower grill opening on the "M" bumper cover is 116 sq in -vs- 100 sq in for the non "M" so I would expect some added cooling for the radiator, trans and inter cooler - all things considered. More air flow takes more heat out of the systems.

[nicknaz]

Originally Posted by HerrK

FYI - the lower grill opening on the "M" bumper cover is 116 sq in -vs- 100 sq in for the non "M" so I would expect some added cooling for the radiator, trans and inter cooler - all things considered. More air flow takes more heat out of the systems.

Good info. That extra frontal area seems like it would help.

Have you had a chance to track it before vs. after to check on the temps?

[Vintage]

Originally Posted by HerrK

51747903729 - left lateral air
51747903730 - right lateral air duct
51747903731 - lower air duct
51747903727 - oil cooler air duct

It's about $100 worth of plastic. Less expensive than mods or worrying about cooling IMO.

HerrK, Thank you for these part numbers. I am going to check my parts order for my M bumper and make sure I have them. If not, I will order and install.

[mac-z4]

HERRK:
Thanks for your post. I read with interest as I damaged the under side of my bumper cover and I'm thinking of removing for repair and painting. How difficult is it to remove the bumper cover? Is it as simple as removing the screws across the top, bottom and in the front of the wheel wells? Do you have other pictures of the bumper cover removed that show connecting points?
Finally, as the bumper cover was painted off the car, was there any trouble in the paint matching the car?
Thanks of sharing info.

[haspi]

great job!

[HerrK]

Originally Posted by mac-z4

HERRK:
Thanks for your post. I read with interest as I damaged the under side of my bumper cover and I'm thinking of removing for repair and painting. How difficult is it to remove the bumper cover? Is it as simple as removing the screws across the top, bottom and in the front of the wheel wells? Do you have other pictures of the bumper cover removed that show connecting points?
Finally, as the bumper cover was painted off the car, was there any trouble in the paint matching the car?
Thanks of sharing info.

It's not difficult to remove the cover, but not as simpe as you state. Look at the following RealOEM diagrams under "Vehicle Trim"

a. Wheelarch Trim
b. Underhood Shield
c. Frt Bumper Trim Panel

1. You have to put the car up on a jack or jack stands - both frt wheels.
2. Remove the frt wheels.
3. Remove the frt engine tray cover. (BMW call this "Engine Encapulation, frt" on real OEM diagrams). 18 or 19 small hex head screws (all the "small screws" mentioned - require an 8mm socket).
4. Remove the left & right frt air dams (BMW calls these "Covering" - Item #2 on "a"). 3 small screws ea
5. Remove the left & right frt wheel well liner. 3 screws and 2 plastic nuts ea (10 mm hex head). The ambient temp sensor is installed in the left frt wheel well liner (center of photo). Just disconnect the plug and leave the sensor installed in the liner.



Once all these plastic parts are out of the way it is fairly simple, not that any of this cover removal is difficult, just takes time.

Now it is simple.

6. Under the hood. Remove the Frt hood gasket which covers the 7 'Torx" (Size 30) screws.

7. Remove 6 of the 7 Torx screws on top. I loosened but did not remove the center screw to keep the cover in place.



8. Inside the left & right wheel well there are 3 small screws on each side near the reflector. These are the screws that control the adjustment of the "gap" between the hood and bumper cover. Remove the screws.



9. Hold on to the bumper cover and remove the final "Torx" screw under the hood. Note the cover will not just fall off. Let it droop down and gently pull it off.

Paint matched fine.

Wil post more pics later.