[Tato]

My Mineral Gray Metallic 440i's M-sport front bumper cover needed a respray in order to get portions of the damaged paint to be matching with the rest of it. After getting some quotes for a full refurbish of the bumper, I realized it may actually be cheaper to get a new aftermarket bumper and have that painted instead. I checked with some shops, and their prices confirmed that a new bumper would be a much better value. So, I go to ebay and look at the options. However, I was wary of dealing with a random seller on the internet, so I took the advice of some fellow forum members and decided to drop the extra money on a Kies bumper cover, as at least I have a reputable company to contact if I encounter any problems. I decided to go with an M4-style cover, because I didn't see why I'd pay all this money to have a new bumper that looks exactly like the one I already have. My car has both foglights and PDC, and I decided to keep those features with this new bumper. This is my PERSONAL experience with it and how I would rate it.

1. Value 7/10

Alright, I'm going to address something that I was surprised never popped up in any other post about the Kies bumper covers. They are actually DROPSHIPPED GOOD GO BUMPER COVERS. If you are unaware, Good Go are a Taiwanese manufacturer that produce quality aftermarket versions of M-sport and M-style bumper covers. Many in this forum have praised them for their superior quality and fitment over other manufacturers. To be honest, I'm a little disappointed they are just reselling these covers. According to their website, these bumpers are from a company called "Phase One Bumpers," when in reality, these bumper covers are still available on ebay from certain sellers. The ebay versions are the same material (polypropylene), same manufacturer (Good Go), and even use the same shipper (Pilot Freight). If you are planning on buying an M4 or M-sport style bumper cover and want to save money, definitely look for them on ebay instead. I was originally ok paying almost double the price after shipping and taxes because Kies offers a fitment guarantee, but now knowing where the bumpers actually come from, their guarantee is about as good as the standard ebay guarantee by this point.

2. Quality 8/10

It not being a Kies proprietary bumper cover aside, the overall bumper is as quality as people say for Kies/Good Go front bumper covers. It comes with all the necessary pieces for mounting the bumper, as well as the new plastic grills and even a license plate mounting block. You also get a bracket and cover for headlight washers, regardless of if you actually have them. Luckily, the cover can just lock into the bracket if you're like me and don't have the luxury of remotely cleaning your headlights. The material, as stated before, is polypropylene, which is supposedly the same material that the OEM BMW bumper covers are. The bumper feels flexible, but strong, so it seems like durability shouldn't be an issue more than it would be for any standard bumper from factory. The double-sided tape used for mounting the brackets for the headlight washer covers and PDC sensor brackets aren't very good, and I would suggest using real 3M auto trim tape instead of whatever knockoff is provided. The holes for the PDC brackets are slightly too small for the bracket, but they fit in enough for the 3M to hold it with a little bit of force. I'm not sure if the body shop I had paint the bumper used any other primer, but whatever comes on the bumper already seems decent enough, but I am a bit skeptical of the longevity of the paint applied to it. Guess we'll see how it stays, but at least the color looks great at the moment.

3. Ease of Installation 7/10

Seeing as Kies did not have a tutorial for installing this bumper, I watched both the F30 M2 bumper conversion video and the F30 M-sport bumper conversion video. In the end, the M2 video has all the information you need to install the M4-style bumper. Just do everything he says in that video. Don't be like me and try putting on the bumper after every single thing he says to do, just take off every bit he says to in the vid and the bumper will go on no problem. Because of my idiocy, it took much longer to get the bumper cover on than it should have, but now that I know what to do, you could probably get the cover on in a couple of hours if you just follow the instructions exactly. It's not too hard if you have two people (assuming you followed the video), but you might struggle getting the fender screws in if you are alone, as my bumper would keep popping out while trying to screw it to the fender. Maybe have a friend to help out, especially to make sure you're not scratching paint on a side of the car you can't see.

4. Fitment and End Result 9.5/10

I'm actually super happy with how the bumper turned out. It does take some tweaking with pushing and tightening the bumper and top mounting screws to get the bumper gap to be even along the edge of the hood, but everywhere else it fits nearly OEM as far as I can tell. The fitment and good paint matching by the body shop (thanks to Autoshield Collision in Santa Clara for being able to paint match the bumper with just the stock mirror cap alone) make the bumper look as if it came on the car. My only gripe is one of the little "wings" on the top of the bumper sits a little higher near the hood than the other side, but overall it's not very noticeable to someone that didn't know it's there or isn't actively looking for a flaw. I don't think the bumper actually looks all too much like a real M4 bumper. Sure the individual aspects and certain shapes might look the same, but the silhouette and proportions are a bit different, which makes it look more like a more aggressive M-sport bumper to me, which I actually like. I was a little iffy before since I think the F30's M3 conversion looks a bit disproportional to me, but I think the M4-style bumper fits the F36's body lines very well.

Please let me know if there's anything you'd like to know about the bumper or the installation of it!

[Nquick92]

Awesome review! Not sure how much you paid for it but the ones that pop up on eBay for me are pretty comparable in price these days u less I am looking at the same one. Difference I see is usually +\- $100

[Oksamit78]

Great review.

- Are you having issues with from PDC because the front license plate is blocking one of the sensors?
- In your searches for this cover, have you come across any information in regards to fitting a lip/splitter to this type of aftermarket "M4 look" bumper cover? I always wonder if that's available or not as I'd prefer to have lip/splitter at the bottom for aesthetic reasons. Such info could also help some other F32/F33/F36 owners with their decision.

[YASBBYM3]

Originally Posted by Tato

I'm not sure if the body shop I had paint the bumper used any other primer, but whatever comes on the bumper already seems decent enough, but I am a bit skeptical of the longevity of the paint applied to it. Guess we'll see how it stays, but at least the color looks great at the moment.

BIG mistake, especially with these after market Asian knockoffs.

Always have the body part prepped.

[Tato]

Originally Posted by Nquick92

Awesome review! Not sure how much you paid for it but the ones that pop up on eBay for me are pretty comparable in price these days u less I am looking at the same one. Difference I see is usually +\- $100

If the eBay seller lists the brand as GoodGo, it's the same as Kies but probably at a way better price. Likely a couple hundred cheaper at least.

Originally Posted by Oksamit78

Great review.

- Are you having issues with from PDC because the front license plate is blocking one of the sensors?
- In your searches for this cover, have you come across any information in regards to fitting a lip/splitter to this type of aftermarket "M4 look" bumper cover? I always wonder if that's available or not as I'd prefer to have lip/splitter at the bottom for aesthetic reasons. Such info could also help some other F32/F33/F36 owners with their decision.

With that mount I did. It wasn't great quality, and i actually picked up a CravenSpeed Platypus mount instead. It's much closer to the bumper and stays out of the way of the PDC sensors. I've seen some lips as Kies carries one to match the M-style bumper they sell, and I saw another company carried a full carbon version as well. Other than that, I know a lot of eBay full bumper kits include a lip, but don't seem to sell it separately. Kies likely buys full kits like this and sells each component individually.

Originally Posted by YASBBYM3

BIG mistake, especially with these after market Asian knockoffs.

Always have the body part prepped.

Almost a year later and still looks great. The body shop was very well-reviewed, so they must have done adequate prep before they painted.

[greyf36]

I did a real m4 front end conversion on my f36, its very different than the m4 style front end. But there's alot of work involved including moving the headlights forward with new brackets,new fender liner, new fenders,etc. I still think its the best way to go, i took me over a year to decided not to go with the m4 style...it always look like something is not right with that setup as much as it's alot easier

[Tato]

Originally Posted by greyf36

I did a real m4 front end conversion on my f36, its very different than the m4 style front end. But there's alot of work involved including moving the headlights forward with new brackets,new fender liner, new fenders,etc. I still think its the best way to go, i took me over a year to decided not to go with the m4 style...it always look like something is not right with that setup as much as it's alot easier

Pics? I'd be interested to see your setup. Much more work than I'd be willing to put in, so I applaud your commitment!

[greyf36]

Here you go man

The hood is still a f32 hood so it’s a bit shorter than the m4 spec I need. Ordered one for it and still waiting for shipment