So getting a re-spray, repair and fog replacement was going to cost a few quid…
Then JDM decided to sell his facelift bumper which I snapped up. The game was on….
The bumper arrived and was in pretty good condition, not far from perfect and a colour match so no respray needed.
Next the fogs. i ended up getting 5 second hand fogs. I got 1 where there was no corrosion and the light was mint but the black mounting frame was broken. I then got another 2. they had corrosion and the frames were broken. You can not buy the mounting frames from BMW – they are part of the light unit. Finally I got hold of a pair that had corrosion but the frames were good, all for a couple of quid.
As I couldn’t use the lights due to the corrosion I pondered what to do…..
So I decided to split open the lens and install an array of 5 LEDs in each.
Facelift fog lights fail due to corrosion. The corrosion causes the seal to separate from the body. So a lot of huffing and puffing later and I managed to totally split the lights. I would say that to cleanly split lights without corrosion would be impossible unless you do a cut and shunt. So the split and cleaned up lights:
I then sprayed the metal portion black (this isn’t the final finish, I went for a matte final finish)
Although the LED’s don’t look evenly spaced – they are, it is just down to the angle. It was a right pain in the arse getting the LED’s all pointing in the right direction, parallel and perpendicular to the flat plane as there are so many angles in the lights. I went through a load of araldite getting them right.
With the lens on:
Final check before install;
Installed off:
installed on:
I have std HID’s and the fogs look quite white in comparison so I think I need a change of bulbs.
Not that I ever really use the fogs, but I quite like the fact it is dark there rather than the shininess you get as standard from the silvering.
I need to sort out my head lamps now as the plastic is a bit milky. Also I sprayed the kidney grills black and they are showing signs of age now after 3 years or so. So they need redoing.
I used the bumper removal guide. Big thumbs up to that.
Now, a pre facelift bumper is NOT a direct replacement for a post facelift.
On pre facelift cars at the sides, behind where the reflectors are on the post facelift there is a little nubbin:
The one just to the left of the crease in the wing. You have to chop this off. Like this:
This is due to the extra thickness of the bumper at that point due to the reflector.
Also the bolts on the underside do not line up. But there is nothing you can do about that.
Greeno
