[///Chase]

After having an eBay lip to now having a genuine... the difference is outstanding. Go OEM if you can.

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by ///Chase

After having an eBay lip to now having a genuine... the difference is outstanding. Go OEM if you can.

what are the differences quality-wise that you've noticed? and what about the price difference?

[Dippydo]

Originally Posted by ///Chase

After having an eBay lip to now having a genuine... the difference is outstanding. Go OEM if you can.

I would be curious to know too what differences you feel there are. I know some with the factory and compared to mine. If I did not tell you it was a rep, you would never know. Feels the same in color and texture. Fits the same as far as lines. Believe me I was skeptical as well when I bought mine, but this supplier is the real deal.


Great write up SB. Glad it went smooth.

[Igor_M5]

We've installed one of those Selma lips for a customer few weeks ago. He returned a week after to get some more work done and I noticed that the whole center of the lip is wavy and deformed... it's not noticable if you look at it from the top, but if you squat down and look at it straight on, the entire center of the lip is extremely wavy.

Honestly... I'd rather fork over the extra money to get OEM, at least at the end... it holds some resale value.

[Dippydo]

Originally Posted by Igor@ONEighty

We've installed one of those Selma lips for a customer few weeks ago. He returned a week after to get some more work done and I noticed that the whole center of the lip is wavy and deformed... it's not noticable if you look at it from the top, but if you squat down and look at it straight on, the entire center of the lip is extremely wavy.

Honestly... I'd rather fork over the extra money to get OEM, at least at the end... it holds some resale value.

Igor, I've seen that on the OEM one as well. Even on a car that has not even left the lot yet. That happens if the double sided tape comes loose from the inner bracket to the outer lip that keeps the shape. The key to this OEM or not is to redo the double sided tape with adhesive promoter to make sure it keeps the plastics stuck together for strength. The overall design of the F30 lip is poor. They should have made it a single injection molded piece eliminating the separate inner. Not sure why BMW or whoever designed it that way but being a designer of injection molded parts, I would have never designed it that way.

[squidlyboy]

My Selma lip is as straight as an arrow. Maybe it helps to attach the center to the bumper? i know a lot of people are leaving the center unattached. My previous lip was unattached. I did so just for more re-enforcement, but it looked pretty straight even before i attached it.

Not sure what you mean by holding resale value... i can prob buy five of these cant-tell-the-difference lips for one OEM lip

[tcm3]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

i can prob buy five of these cant-tell-the-difference lips for one OEM lip

That used to be the case, but with Selma going up in price ($180) and OEM coming down ($450), the difference isn't so big anymore.

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by tcm3

That used to be the case, but with Selma going up in price ($180) and OEM coming down ($450), the difference isn't so big anymore.

Ok ... 3 (I didn't pay $180 for mine)

Btw... i have both the OEM lip and the rep lip, and I spent a LOT of time comparing the two side by side. I could not find ONE difference between the two other than the mounting hardware (screws, clips, etc...).

Dude... this boils down to being an intelligence test lol ... or a homer test ;-)

[tcm3]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

Ok ... 3 (I didn't pay $180 for mine)

Btw... i have both the OEM lip and the rep lip, and I spent a LOT of time comparing the two side by side. I could not find ONE difference between the two other than the mounting hardware (screws, clips, etc...).

Dude... this boils down to being an intelligence test lol ... or a homer test ;-)

I get it, but I still think Selma should bring his price back down or he is going to lose significant business to OEM.

[Dippydo]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

Ok ... 3 (I didn't pay $180 for mine)

Btw... i have both the OEM lip and the rep lip, and I spent a LOT of time comparing the two side by side. I could not find ONE difference between the two other than the mounting hardware (screws, clips, etc...).

Dude... this boils down to being an intelligence test lol ... or a homer test ;-)

I would be curious to see the country of origin on the OEM lip. BMW makes parts in China and other countries. I wouldn't be surprised the lip and other aftermarket parts are indeed Asian.

[tcm3]

Originally Posted by Dippydo

I would be curious to see the country of origin on the OEM lip. BMW makes parts in China and other countries. I wouldn't be surprised the lip and other aftermarket parts are indeed Asian.

Yes, but it is made to BMW specs. Are you saying you would buy the aftermarket lip over the BMW, even if it was the same price? I doubt many here would do that. I'm just suggesting that Selma may be losing business by raising his price, while OEM is getting cheaper.

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by tcm3

I get it, but I still think Selma should bring his price back down or he is going to lose significant business to OEM.

Did you mis-type that? I think you meant to say:

I think OEM should bring his price back down or he is going to lose significant business to Selma".

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by tcm3

Are you saying you would buy the aftermarket lip over the BMW, even if it was the same price?

No, but i would buy it if it was 1/3 the price. Oh, wait... it is

[Dippydo]

Originally Posted by tcm3

Yes, but it is made to BMW specs. Are you saying you would buy the aftermarket lip over the BMW, even if it was the same price? I doubt many here would do that. I'm just suggesting that Selma may be losing business by raising his price, while OEM is getting cheaper.

Their are two main reasons why the OEM lip is so much more. One is that it is polyurethane vs aftermarkets are polypropylene. They both are very similar, but polypropylene is much more widely used so the prices of it are much lower. The only real advantage of polyurethane would be it has slightly longer weathering properties. You may say well the lip is exposed to the weather so I want the one with higher resistance to weathering. Well we are talking 5+ years of constant exposure, not 1 or 2. Being that this lip is so close to the ground, it will get damaged while you own it over the next couple of years and personally I want to replace it as cheap as possible and keeping it as new looking at possible. I actually plan on replacing it each year and at the cost I got mine at, I can replace it every year for the next 4 years at the same cost of the 1 OEM. Not just hitting anything and breaking it, but if you have one you will see there are a lot of rock pits on it as well because it is so close to the ground. Being bare plastic, there is nothing to protect it from pitting. Both plastics will do this. You may say why do you know so much about plastics? Thats because I work for the #2 funnel brand plus my last 10 years I designed products for both car audio and home audio where all we did was experiment with different plastics.

The second main reason is Selma and many knockoffs do not have to pay BMW their cut and there are less steps in the supply chain. The dealers are not BMW corporate so they have to pay a cut. I would be willing to bet BMW is a 4-5 step supply chain versus Selma is a 2-step (factory-seller). That's why he can be so cheap for the similar part.

Is Selma losing business? I do not know. I got mine for 100 bucks shipped and probably was my fault for the price increase since I shared it here that he saw the demand and decided to profit more off it. Capitalism at it's finest, supply/demand. I understand what you are saying and I am disappointed he raised his price too, but you can't fault him for doing it.

[tcm3]

Originally Posted by Dippydo

Is Selma losing business? I do not know. I got mine for 100 bucks shipped and probably was my fault for the price increase since I shared it here that he saw the demand and decided to profit more off it. Capitalism at it's finest, supply/demand. I understand what you are saying and I am disappointed he raised his price too, but you can't fault him for doing it.

I don't disagree with any of you, but I'm a bit surprised at the lack of support when my whole goal is to get the price down on a quality aftermarket item. This would benefit the entire F30 community. And I have nothing against Selma, but I do believe Selma will ultimately lose out on business with the price difference getting so much narrower.

I'm all about bang for the buck, but even I am now considering going with OEM and the assurances of fit and finish that I get from buying from BMW (I can drive down the street and return it if things don't line up properly).

Finally, I didn't even realize that OEM was polyurethane and aftermarkets are polypropylene. I'm not a plastics guy, but I do know that, besides the advantates that Dippydo noted, polyurethane is very abrasion resistant. Another reason to consider paying the extra dough.

So Dippydo, are the M performance side skirts and rear diffuser polyurethane too?

[Dippydo]

TCM I would imagine the rocker panels are polyurethane as well because that is more of a body part than the lip. While polyurethane is more abrasion resistant, it is not that much to where it will protect you against a curb or scraping on the ground. Like I mentioned it will still pit and it will scratch like polypropylene. Contact Selma directly and offer him a deal. Like Squid said, he did not pay what he was asking and I also did not pay what he originally was asking. Jason is a fair guy to deal with from the couple of things I have bought from him. If he is asking 180 offer 150. that is still a third less than the cost of OEM. If this piece was not a disposable piece I would be more inclined to pay more, but as you see from so many people here, the lips get damaged so why pay more for something you are going to have to replace most likely multiple times while you own the car. The Selma piece is identical in shape to OEM and matches perfectly the lines unlike the Chinese versions. Here is a close up of the fit. You will see it leaves no gaps.

[tcm3]

Originally Posted by Dippydo

Here is a close up of the fit. You will see it leaves no gaps.

Thanks for the reply. It does look good. Do you know if he offers the rear diffuser and side skirts as well? I did not see them available on ebay.

I'd be interested in knowing other quality vendors that offer these parts. Have others had luck finding well fitting lip spoilers, rear diffusers and side skirts from other ebay/aftermarket vendors?

[Dippydo]

Originally Posted by tcm3

Thanks for the reply. It does look good. Do you know if he offers the rear diffuser and side skirts as well? I did not see them available on ebay.

I'd be interested in knowing other quality vendors that offer these parts. Have others had luck finding well fitting lip spoilers, rear diffusers and side skirts from other ebay/aftermarket vendors?

Not sure if he does offer the full fit, but you can check. He offers the rear I know for sure. Mod. bargain.s does and they have a great kit too at a reasonable price and so does RW Carbon. Anyone else outside of these three suppliers seemed to have bad quality products. One guy posted his lip and it was 1/4-1/2" too short on either side. Only reason why I know Selma is because another member posted about him as well and he sent pics of the items and they were good quality so I took the risk and did it. The body shop that did mine has done plenty of conversions and said this one was by far the best one they have ever done. Being who they are and their reputation for doing body work, I trust what they said to be accurate as all the lines match up and like they said there was not any modification needed. If I did not tell them it was an aftermarket they said they would have never known. Up to you to, but I would not vary from the three I mentioned if you are looking for a better deal than OEM.

[jerflash]

need an F32 Version pronto!

[Dippydo]

Originally Posted by jerflash

need an F32 Version pronto!

I am surprised it is taking so long. They had the F30 out within months.

[88silverbullet]

Originally Posted by squidlyboy

My Selma front lip arrived today - it looks identical to my OEM M Performance lip in every other way. I see what you mean about the bracket ... its more like a reinforcement piece that allows the outer lip to keep its shape. I already have that piece mounted on my car from my previous lip, so it might be easier for me to just install just the new lip onto the already mounted bracket... assuming the fitment is exactly the same. The only other thing would be the tape on the existing piece would be old and unusable, and the tape is like half the thing keeping the lip to the car :-) I'll definitely have to use the mounting screws with the clips. Either way, this install should be a piece of cake.. don't even need to remove the bumper

btw... i didn't get the lip at as good of a price as you, but i noticed that there was a "Make an Offer" button, so i didn't pay full price either

I messaged Selma on ebay about the hardware and he responded that there is no hardware included. How does one go about purchasing the correct hardware needed and from where?

[squidlyboy]

Originally Posted by goldblood88

I messaged Selma on ebay about the hardware and he responded that there is no hardware included. How does one go about purchasing the correct hardware needed and from where?

that's odd... you sure it was selma?

I know most of the $100 Chinese ones don't come with mounting hardware. Mine (authentic Selma lol ) came with 10 c-clips/torx screws and 2 wood screws for the center attachment. But the OEM hardware part numbers can be found in the installation guide for the OEM lip. Your local dealership should carry it or you could get it online.