hey so i'm thinking of buying this ebay duraflex front bumper...

the problem is they recommend professional installation because of the need to sand down, primer, cut, etc. etc. their body kits....

is this true? do you really need to do all that... I just cracked my front bumper and needed to replace it so hoping to do it quickly, but I don't want to have to take it to a shop...

My plan was to buy the bumper, install it (easily) and then have my whole car repainted... but if the bumper will require professional installation, maybe i'll just hold off..

it's for a 98 civic EX

 

i used to have a 94 civic and i needed a front bumper and also wanted a body kit front bubmper but it looks tacky with just the front bumper and no side skirts and no back bumper. So what i did was bought one on ebay but stock oem one for 75 dollars with free shipping and then bought a front lip for another like 50 or 60 dollars and it looked awesome. Didnt have to modify anything. Bolted right up. Ya that fiberglass stuff is trash in my opion. I had bought z3 fenders because i was low on cash and needed some quick well i had to do a lot of test fitting and sanding and prepping...not worth it.

 

thanks for the reply... i actually have side skirts and an aftermarket rear bumper... I had the full kit but my aftermarket bumper cracked so I need it replaced (mom ran into a curb LOL!)...

anyway yea I think I might just get a factory bumper replacement, I can get it on ebay about 200.00 USD shipped and pre-painted to match my car (black)...

is that a good price or too much???

 

I would suggest not getting a pre-painted bumper. Unless you just had your car painted recently, then most likely your paint is going to be weathered some and wont match a freshly painted piece.

Buy the bumper and take it to a body shop and have them try to match it up. They'll have a better shot at getting close then someone else will from ebay. :wiggle:

 

the only prob with prepainted parts is getting the paint to match. it may be the same paint code, but the paint on your body has probably faded a little bit over the years and may not match the bumper.
like the guy above said, have a paint shop match it and go from there.

as for aftermarket bumpers, they rarely fit good, need to have holes drilled out, need to be sanded, fitted, etc. just a large pain in the ass.

with an oem bumper, you can throw it on and you know it will fit and you have the hardware to make it work, etc. just my .02
oh, stay AWAY from fiberglass, 9/10 it is never worth it.
Tony, (running925) used to rock body kits, and he is finally going back to OEM stuff after a few different front bumpers getting beaten and destroyed.
remember, you live in illinois, not florida/Carolinas/etc., i am sure you have shit roads around there just liek us, and body kits hate rough roads

 

ya unless your car just got painted i would buy a prepainted one. What i did was buy the bumper anh hood and fenders and got the whole car resprayed...looked really good

wouldnt*

 

wow thanks for all the info guys...

I'm buying an OEM bumper from ebay UNpainted... a bumper lip (not sure which one yet)... maybe a new front grille, and some cheap halo projectors...

I've read about the halos wearing out and stuff but i dont intend to plug the halo's in anyway so I guess I dont need to worry about that.

any other suggestions? should I buy an HID kit off ebay too, is it THAT much better? I gotta say, my lights are pretty dim, but do these cheapo HID kits actually work well...

I already have a rear bumper lip installed and side skirts... I think the new bumper/lip/grille/headlights should pretty much cover the exterior. I don't want to get fenders and all that crazy stuff I like the look of my civic the way it is with a few minor tweaks...

***EDIT*****

On a side note, any idea how much I should expect to pay for paint matching my new bumper and/or my whole car? they have "raw" versions on ebay but I dont really know what that means.. lol... currently my car is factory black and I plan on keeping it that way.

thanks

 

good choice on the bumper and ive had 2 hid kits on 2 of my cars both from ebay and paid about 60 dollars for them and both worked great. For painting....I knew someone who could hook me up and thats really the only way to go. Got my whole civic resprayed for 400 dollars. Pretty decent paint job

 

ok sounds good i'll probably get the whole car painted then... i cant afford a quality job though so i guess i'll cheap out and go to Maaco... their cheap jobs are exactly that, cheap.. but i dont know how long i'll have my car anyway so whatever :P


now to decide on the headlights... Do I need the ebay version projector headlights to work with HID kits or can I install them on stock style headlight housings??? i'm getting all my info from these forums but apparently stock headlights will make the HIDs too bright for oncoming traffic... is the projector lamps important???

this is what i'm lookin at, lemme know what you think!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/96-97...ht_7357wt_1200

 

HID kits will bolt right into your stock ones and ive never had a problem with on coming traffic (ppl flashing lights at you or anything). The cops dont seem to care but ive never used projectors because they can get water inside them if they are of cheap quality. We installed some projectors on a buddys rsx and shockingly its been 2 years and no water in them...go figure. So its totally up to your preference

The hid kits are all plug and play and take 5 mins to install