[fortythirtyfive]

So after a lot of CAD 3D modelling, 3D printing concepts and general fitment improvements I came up with a finished bumper trim for the 4 Series.




I modelled it to actually sit in the bumper rather than sticking on the face of the bumper like the aliexpress versions do.

Hopefully soon I'll be able to refine manufacturing prices so that I offer them out to the 4 Series community.

As it stands the process to make each trim involves around 10-12 hours of manufacturing, 2 hours of ABS resin washing, then 1-2 hours for smoothing them.. there's also painting which is whenever I can schedule a slot with my local bodyshop.

[Squibby1996]

I've been waiting for these to come out, seen one company but they wanted silly money for them so I'd be very interested, you thought of a price yet?

[fortythirtyfive]

Originally Posted by Squibby1996

I've been waiting for these to come out, seen one company but they wanted silly money for them so I'd be very interested, you thought of a price yet?

Morph? I could never understand their pricing until I tried recreating it in prepreg carbon myself.. I think the tooling setup alone was around £8,000 and then each trim came at around £750 per side. I guess if you mass produce it with a Chinese factory then you might be able to squash those costs down to like £450-500 each.

The biggest problem is you need to make each trim from a two piece mould, then you have to manually piece them together and then clear them.

Every other company I contacted refused quotation because the design twists and varies in thickness, it makes it impossible to make as a one piece sadly.

Price-wise.. during concept trials I have had costs cut to around £75 for a pair to help me out, however I am limited to 2 final concept pairs, once I am ready to make them I'll be charged around £90 per pair, then I've got my time put into finishing them plus painting costs. Realistically though I want to keep these as low cost as possible so they're not going to be much more than the production cost.

[Squibby1996]

Originally Posted by fortythirtyfive

Morph? I could never understand their pricing until I tried recreating it in prepreg carbon myself.. I think the tooling setup alone was around £8,000 and then each trim came at around £750 per side. I guess if you mass produce it with a Chinese factory then you might be able to squash those costs down to like £450-500 each.

The biggest problem is you need to make each trim from a two piece mould, then you have to manually piece them together and then clear them.

Every other company I contacted refused quotation because the design twists and varies in thickness, it makes it impossible to make as a one piece sadly.

Price-wise.. during concept trials I have had costs cut to around £75 for a pair to help me out, however I am limited to 2 final concept pairs, once I am ready to make them I'll be charged around £90 per pair, then I've got my time put into finishing them plus painting costs. Realistically though I want to keep these as low cost as possible so they're not going to be much more than the production cost.

Yeah that's it, and really? That's crazy I'm surprised it costs that much to make them I guess that's why they're so expensive, we'll keep me posted on here I'll be interested once you've sorted it all out

[psyki]

Nicely done! Are you willing to share the .stl file if we want to print our own?

[Virgin Bimmer]

Hi There 435,

Ive just gotten my F32 recently and its my first BMW car, i have to say. what you have done is super impressive, your car has a classy/sporty yet not over the top feel. kudos !. Definitely a head turner !.

i hope you'll be kind enough to help a virgin bimmer out by letting me purchase a set of the front bumper trim if you wouldn't mind, it is just so tastefully done up !. lmk if youre keen to deal?.

Whatever the case, Wonderful job !

[fortythirtyfive]

Originally Posted by Virgin Bimmer

Hi There 435,

Ive just gotten my F32 recently and its my first BMW car, i have to say. what you have done is super impressive, your car has a classy/sporty yet not over the top feel. kudos !. Definitely a head turner !.

i hope you'll be kind enough to help a virgin bimmer out by letting me purchase a set of the front bumper trim if you wouldn't mind, it is just so tastefully done up !. lmk if youre keen to deal?.

Whatever the case, Wonderful job !

I didn't get much further at the time unfortunately, the amount of smoothing with filler required on the 3D print was taking around 2 days minimum per side, plus with the inflation on plastic filaments to print the price skyrocketed to around £180 for a pair, this was back in early 2022 so I wouldn't be surprised if it's gone up a tiny bit more.

If people are interested in a set I can probably finish them and post to UK addresses for around £200. I'm not sure what overseas postage would be, potentially another £25 extra maybe? I've only shipped to the US twice and it was around £45.

The problem with 3D printing these parts is I that only found 2 shops in the UK that I have found with a big enough machine bed that allows these to be made. They're a lot bigger than you would initially believe, due to the complex design a lot of supports have to be printed into the design which if done incorrectly you're left with a very wavy piece of plastic with what looks like veins running throughout it. With the above in mind it only leaves me 2 shops to use for printing these so the price point doesn't really have much budging room.

[greyf36]

if you want i can help you look into this. I work with a 3d printing company when i develop new products for my own company. I can help you see if you can get the price down.

[fortythirtyfive]

Originally Posted by greyf36

if you want i can help you look into this. I work with a 3d printing company when i develop new products for my own company. I can help you see if you can get the price down.

Dimensions run roughly 48x25x8cm.

Because the design has so many curves, twists and thickness changes it's pretty much impossible to avoid crazy layer lines. I hand prepped a set by sanding and using filler but I was at it for a solid day, a bodyshop could maybe knock it out a little faster but it's not a big panel so you're asking them to do tiny trims by hand.. so prepping, filling and painting costs are pretty high.

Realistically they need to be made through plastic injection. I tried some Chinese vendors but even they quoted in the region of $100 per side





Realistically it's a tough design to manufacture, the only way to really bring these prices down is to make it yourself with your own equipment. I'll try hit up a few more companies next week, funnily enough I've had 7 other messages regarding them in the last month so maybe I need to try number crunching some quotes again!

[Squibby1996]

Makes sense why no one else has made them other than MAD, may sound like I’m a Scrooge but personally wouldn’t want to pay over £100 for both.

although it looks good it isn’t a major change so I see why it’s not really worth doing unless you can get a cheap way of doing it

[fortythirtyfive]

Originally Posted by Squibby1996

Makes sense why no one else has made them other than MAD, may sound like I’m a Scrooge but personally wouldn’t want to pay over £100 for both.

although it looks good it isn’t a major change so I see why it’s not really worth doing unless you can get a cheap way of doing it

Yeah pretty much, I would guess they had a contracted factory in China making most of their other products, that would have given them leverage to make them a little more competitively.

And yeah pretty much, my presumption was most people wouldn't pay more than £80-100 for gloss black pieces. Purely because most plastic trims are sold for pennies these days, most people are used to aftermarket products being made by cheap labour in places like China.

The only cheaper option is to make them as a two dimensional piece that sticks onto the face of the bumper. You'll find these on eBay / Aliexpress already and IMO they're pretty ugly.

Each piece is around a quarter of the bumper in size so they're not a small piece to make, you need a pretty component manufacture to knock them out.

[Virgin Bimmer]

Originally Posted by fortythirtyfive

I didn't get much further at the time unfortunately, the amount of smoothing with filler required on the 3D print was taking around 2 days minimum per side, plus with the inflation on plastic filaments to print the price skyrocketed to around £180 for a pair, this was back in early 2022 so I wouldn't be surprised if it's gone up a tiny bit more.

If people are interested in a set I can probably finish them and post to UK addresses for around £200. I'm not sure what overseas postage would be, potentially another £25 extra maybe? I've only shipped to the US twice and it was around £45.

The problem with 3D printing these parts is I that only found 2 shops in the UK that I have found with a big enough machine bed that allows these to be made. They're a lot bigger than you would initially believe, due to the complex design a lot of supports have to be printed into the design which if done incorrectly you're left with a very wavy piece of plastic with what looks like veins running throughout it. With the above in mind it only leaves me 2 shops to use for printing these so the price point doesn't really have much budging room.

Well, if you wouldn't mind doing it, i wouldn't mind paying.. I've read almost every other post you had on thread and i believe what you are trying to do is to be alittle different those those cheap knock offs we can get from Alibaba. though a small part ... makes a huge difference to the look of the car. which i probably would say.. money well spent !. Cheers !

After which, i probably have to get a paint shop to overlay them with CF to match the front lip

Btw i did ask around about the CRV2 rims, was just curious how much they would cost here in sg. was quoted SGD $2700 for a set of 4. spoke to LFI and custom forging a set would cost abt SGD $1900 excl tyres . so all in all its abt $3,000 SGD

[fortythirtyfive]

Originally Posted by Virgin Bimmer

Well, if you wouldn't mind doing it, i wouldn't mind paying.. I've read almost every other post you had on thread and i believe what you are trying to do is to be alittle different those those cheap knock offs we can get from Alibaba. though a small part ... makes a huge difference to the look of the car. which i probably would say.. money well spent !. Cheers !

After which, i probably have to get a paint shop to overlay them with CF to match the front lip

Btw i did ask around about the CRV2 rims, was just curious how much they would cost here in sg. was quoted SGD $2700 for a set of 4. spoke to LFI and custom forging a set would cost abt SGD $1900 excl tyres . so all in all its abt $3,000 SGD

The Concaver wheels? I nearly bought a set as I needed wider rears. They're around 95% the same as mine, Elegance Wheels who sold me mine (who I would not recommend) actually use AVA Wheels HSF-013. I managed to find one of the last sets in Europe, unfortunately I had to buy 4 as they wouldn't split them into 2, so at some point I will have an 8.5j & 9j complete set to sell.

AVA actually flow form their wheels, I'm not sure what the process is with Concaver but if it is the design you want it might be worth checking shops near you for the HSF-013. They're stronger than a normal cast wheel but not quite forged. I paid £900 for my set of 4 AVA's, admittedly though they're in the most plain finish as I'm going to be customising them, if you go for a custom colour or brushed finish they go for around £1500-1600

[Virgin Bimmer]

Originally Posted by fortythirtyfive

The Concaver wheels? I nearly bought a set as I needed wider rears. They're around 95% the same as mine, Elegance Wheels who sold me mine (who I would not recommend) actually use AVA Wheels HSF-013. I managed to find one of the last sets in Europe, unfortunately I had to buy 4 as they wouldn't split them into 2, so at some point I will have an 8.5j & 9j complete set to sell.

AVA actually flow form their wheels, I'm not sure what the process is with Concaver but if it is the design you want it might be worth checking shops near you for the HSF-013. They're stronger than a normal cast wheel but not quite forged. I paid £900 for my set of 4 AVA's, admittedly though they're in the most plain finish as I'm going to be customising them, if you go for a custom colour or brushed finish they go for around £1500-1600

When are you most likely to sell your set?,and if any, would would be your next choice of wheels?

[fortythirtyfive]

Originally Posted by Virgin Bimmer

When are you most likely to sell your set?,and if any, would would be your next choice of wheels?

The 8.5/9j setup will be for sale in the next 1-2 months.

The 8.5/10j setup I am about to complete will most likely be on the car for life.

I'm super choosey about wheels, I ran oem 405M's for nearly 6 years prior to these as there wasn't anything in my budget that I liked. As my car is getting old with medium/high mileage spending a small fortune on wheels didn't really seem sensible, I got very lucky when I found these selling for around £1700. All the other wheels I liked are £5000+

[Virgin Bimmer]

Originally Posted by fortythirtyfive

The 8.5/9j setup will be for sale in the next 1-2 months.

The 8.5/10j setup I am about to complete will most likely be on the car for life.

I'm super choosey about wheels, I ran oem 405M's for nearly 6 years prior to these as there wasn't anything in my budget that I liked. As my car is getting old with medium/high mileage spending a small fortune on wheels didn't really seem sensible, I got very lucky when I found these selling for around £1700. All the other wheels I liked are £5000+

recently just saw a set of Vossen HF5 rims which seems quite appealing . What does your next set of rims look like?.

Im still looking for a nice design, sadly

[Benny_Jack_428i]

Originally Posted by fortythirtyfive

I didn't get much further at the time unfortunately, the amount of smoothing with filler required on the 3D print was taking around 2 days minimum per side, plus with the inflation on plastic filaments to print the price skyrocketed to around £180 for a pair, this was back in early 2022 so I wouldn't be surprised if it's gone up a tiny bit more.

If people are interested in a set I can probably finish them and post to UK addresses for around £200. I'm not sure what overseas postage would be, potentially another £25 extra maybe? I've only shipped to the US twice and it was around £45.

The problem with 3D printing these parts is I that only found 2 shops in the UK that I have found with a big enough machine bed that allows these to be made. They're a lot bigger than you would initially believe, due to the complex design a lot of supports have to be printed into the design which if done incorrectly you're left with a very wavy piece of plastic with what looks like veins running throughout it. With the above in mind it only leaves me 2 shops to use for printing these so the price point doesn't really have much budging room.

Ive Been looking for a pair of these online for ages after I saw a picture of car with them on! So much better looking than the bulky ones, do you still make these? If so how can I get my hand on a pair?

[mannyhernz]

Need a set of these..they look awesome!

Originally Posted by fortythirtyfive

So after a lot of CAD 3D modelling, 3D printing concepts and general fitment improvements I came up with a finished bumper trim for the 4 Series.




I modelled it to actually sit in the bumper rather than sticking on the face of the bumper like the aliexpress versions do.

Hopefully soon I'll be able to refine manufacturing prices so that I offer them out to the 4 Series community.

As it stands the process to make each trim involves around 10-12 hours of manufacturing, 2 hours of ABS resin washing, then 1-2 hours for smoothing them.. there's also painting which is whenever I can schedule a slot with my local bodyshop.

[fortythirtyfive]

Originally Posted by Benny_Jack_428i

Ive Been looking for a pair of these online for ages after I saw a picture of car with them on! So much better looking than the bulky ones, do you still make these? If so how can I get my hand on a pair?

Originally Posted by mannyhernz

Need a set of these..they look awesome!

Sadly the cost to make a fully finished set in plastic and painted gloss black would be around £350.

I asked a few vague questions in the BMW Facebook communities and people laughed at the figure saying they probably wouldn't even pay £350 for a carbon fiber set (FTR a carbon set would be north of £800).

[JamieF32_440i]

Hi all, hope your all well?
Just came across these online. Can you buy these canards online? I can’t see any in this style.

Thanks

[fortythirtyfive]

Originally Posted by JamieF32_440i

Hi all, hope your all well?
Just came across these online. Can you buy these canards online? I can’t see any in this style.

Thanks

They're too expensive to manufacture for what most are willing to pay.

MAD used to sell them for around $700 which is roughly break even considering the mould complexity required.

Last time I enquired for just the tooling I was told it would be circa £2,000.

[JamieF32_440i]

Thanks for the reply! I really like the look of them on the front bumper but £2,000 is on the expensive side for what they are… if they were £300 I’d have considered it