[gfa3]

Hi all,

As the title states I have an aftermarket f30 m2 style bumper and it's at my autobody shop currently getting prepped. My guys are afraid to put the PDC sensor holes in the wrong spot understandably.

The ideal way to go about this would be to bring my car in, remove my bumper, and line up the pdc sensors on the new bumper and mark it, correct?

This is a longshot but has anyone seen a template possibly? I tried searching around with no luck. This is a newer bumper on the f30 market so that's probably why.

I test fitted the bumper before dropping it off but did not even think about the pdc sensors being an issue like a dumba**. Too excited to get going I guess.

The pdc sensor holes are not marked on the aftermarket bumper unfortunately.

Thanks in advance

[FaRKle!]

If you or the shop knows a clear-bra guy they can probably print a template with the PDC hole locations of the OE bumper since they print the clear bra pattern and cut it out of bulk material.

[gfa3]

Originally Posted by FaRKle!

If you or the shop knows a clear-bra guy they can probably print a template with the PDC hole locations of the OE bumper since they print the clear bra pattern and cut it out of bulk material.

thanks for the tip just worried that since this is a f30 bumper but with m2 design that none of the templates will line up right.

[gfa3]

Does anyone know if there is leeway in placing the pdc sensors? I'm wondering if I can just approximate where the holes should go. Looking at some aftermarket* f30 bumpers online, the holes don't seem to be in the exact same places.

[s55jesus]

Originally Posted by gfa3

Does anyone know if there is leeway in placing the pdc sensors? I'm wondering if I can just approximate where the holes should go. Looking at some aftermarket* f30 bumpers online, the holes don't seem to be in the exact same places.

This is going to be a tough one as of right now. Kies Motorsport just announced their M2 style F30 bumper but its only pre-orders as of now and not shipping out till May 20th. I pre-ordered mine already. Wish I can help but can't at least till my bumper comes in and mine will have the pre-drilled holes for PDC. However, Kies Motorsports was saying their bumper is pretty much a F30 upper and M2 lower combined which is why M2 lips will fit. Not sure where you got yours from but I'm assuming you can just use the PDC locations from the M2 competition since the regular M2 with the N55 did not have front PDC. So ultimately, if you'd like to wait a month, I will gladly help with finding your PDC locations since my bumper will come with them pre-drilled but I doubt you'd want to wait that long. So I'd say, just wing it by looking at PDC locations of the M2 competition online.

[gfa3]

Originally Posted by eff80m3

This is going to be a tough one as of right now. Kies Motorsport just announced their M2 style F30 bumper but its only pre-orders as of now and not shipping out till May 20th. I pre-ordered mine already. Wish I can help but can't at least till my bumper comes in and mine will have the pre-drilled holes for PDC. However, Kies Motorsports was saying their bumper is pretty much a F30 upper and M2 lower combined which is why M2 lips will fit. Not sure where you got yours from but I'm assuming you can just use the PDC locations from the M2 competition since the regular M2 with the N55 did not have front PDC. So ultimately, if you'd like to wait a month, I will gladly help with finding your PDC locations since my bumper will come with them pre-drilled but I doubt you'd want to wait that long. So I'd say, just wing it by looking at PDC locations of the M2 competition online.

nice good choice! This bumper looks really good on the f30 body. But yeah i'm hoping to have this done sooner rather than later so i may just approximate it based on what other people did with this bumper.

[MAKH 5]

Originally Posted by eff80m3

This is going to be a tough one as of right now. Kies Motorsport just announced their M2 style F30 bumper but its only pre-orders as of now and not shipping out till May 20th. I pre-ordered mine already. Wish I can help but can't at least till my bumper comes in and mine will have the pre-drilled holes for PDC. However, Kies Motorsports was saying their bumper is pretty much a F30 upper and M2 lower combined which is why M2 lips will fit. Not sure where you got yours from but I'm assuming you can just use the PDC locations from the M2 competition since the regular M2 with the N55 did not have front PDC. So ultimately, if you'd like to wait a month, I will gladly help with finding your PDC locations since my bumper will come with them pre-drilled but I doubt you'd want to wait that long. So I'd say, just wing it by looking at PDC locations of the M2 competition online.

Please post pics when you have it installed!

Also, i talked to kies about the fog light vents. Seems if you have an f30 with fogs, because this bumper doesn't have pre cut holes, you'll have to unplug them and code out the fog light check at startup so you wont have a code thrown.

Do you have fog light? And if so, have you figured out what your doing with them for the install?

[s55jesus]

Originally Posted by MAKH 5

Please post pics when you have it installed!

Also, i talked to kies about the fog light vents. Seems if you have an f30 with fogs, because this bumper doesn't have pre cut holes, you'll have to unplug them and code out the fog light check at startup so you wont have a code thrown.

Do you have fog light? And if so, have you figured out what your doing with them for the install?

I do indeed have a fog light. My 340i came with the M sport package from factory but does not have the track handling pack so it came with the LED fogs. and yes, I am aware the bumper conversion will not have the pre-cut vents for the fogs. I'm going to plug them out, cover the connectors so water doesn't get in it, and code them out.

Not sure how I feel about that to be honest. My car came with the non-adaptive LED headlights so they're the standard version. A lot dimmer than the adaptive ones so I use my fog light pretty much everytime I drive at night as it does help with visibility.

Depending on the vent design and the room I have behind the bumper, I'll try to have my body shop make a custom vent in order to incorporate the OEM fogs but not sure how it will turn out. Won't know for sure till my body shop has the bumper in hand.

[MAKH 5]

Originally Posted by eff80m3

I do indeed have a fog light. My 340i came with the M sport package from factory but does not have the track handling pack so it came with the LED fogs. and yes, I am aware the bumper conversion will not have the pre-cut vents for the fogs. I'm going to plug them out, cover the connectors so water doesn't get in it, and code them out.

Not sure how I feel about that to be honest. My car came with the non-adaptive LED headlights so they're the standard version. A lot dimmer than the adaptive ones so I use my fog light pretty much everytime I drive at night as it does help with visibility.

Depending on the vent design and the room I have behind the bumper, I'll try to have my body shop make a custom vent in order to incorporate the OEM fogs but not sure how it will turn out. Won't know for sure till my body shop has the bumper in hand.

Sounds good. Luckily i dont use my fogs. It'd be nice if they could come up with something so others in the same situation can maybe have a blueprint.

Now im only concerned with fitment. The shop doing my install says it almost a guarantee there will be a fitment issue/gap with an aftermarket bumper. Dont know enough about PhaseOne to comment, so i can only hope its as close to oem as possible.

[s55jesus]

Originally Posted by MAKH 5

Sounds good. Luckily i dont use my fogs. It'd be nice if they could come up with something so others in the same situation can maybe have a blueprint.

Now im only concerned with fitment. The shop doing my install says it almost a guarantee there will be a fitment issue/gap with an aftermarket bumper. Dont know enough about PhaseOne to comment, so i can only hope its as close to oem as possible.

Fitment won't be an issue from what I understand. I talked to Bryan directly at Kies and he said the top portion is directly off the OEM F30 bumper and the bottom is off an OEM M2 bumper and plastic welded.

I know there can be fitment issues on other aftermarket bumpers but don't think we'll have any issues with this one.

[MAKH 5]

Originally Posted by eff80m3

Fitment won't be an issue from what I understand. I talked to Bryan directly at Kies and he said the top portion is directly off the OEM F30 bumper and the bottom is off an OEM M2 bumper and plastic welded.

I know there can be fitment issues on other aftermarket bumpers but don't think we'll have any issues with this one.

Cool! I was just emailing with david and there was a miscommunication on my end about which gap i was referring to. So i was sent pictures and still left kind of wondering.

Didn't know the two halves were essentially OEM.

[HondaGoneRogue]

Once you get the bumper off you will see how much slack you have in the sensor harnesses. I would guess there should be more than enough. I think the harnesses are a shared part number across BMW and so there is slack for that reason.

[pauli18c]

subscribed for pics

[gfa3]

Originally Posted by pauli18c

subscribed for pics

should be done painting any day now, very excited.

To anyone who for some reason has to drill the PDC holes (you can just save yourself the burden and get a bumper with them pre-drilled)

You will most likely need to order a 30 mm stepped drill bit online. My shop did not have one. Autozone did not have one. Home depot did not have one. One of those weird European car things I guess...

Amazon carries them for cheap and the reviews are from people doing exactly this lol. Not sure if we can post links, but DM me if you need it. Or just google 30 mm stepped drill.

[MAKH 5]

Kies just posted the install vid. Bumper looks solid. Cant wait!

[MAKH 5]

Bumper was painted and installed today. Unfortunately its not a spot on exact color match. Its a slight shade darker in the sun which i was told was to be expected.

Fitment will be absolutely perfect for most. Im sort of a perfectionist so the slight space between the hood and bumper wont bother most but it triggers my OCD if i stare long enough. Nothing spacers cant fix. Note: the space is not nearly as big as the one left after installing a GTS hood(I dont have a GTS hood).

It looks really good! Coming from a sport line bumper, this was needed to get proper flow to my larger after-market intercooler and it definitely looks 10x more aggressive but im not sure im in love with it just yet. It'll have to grow on me for sure. May have it repainted ...

I'll post pics sometime later today!

[MAKH 5]

Here are two low light pics. I'll post pics with better lighting soon

[MAKH 5]

A few more ...

[AddictedTo///M]

looks amazing!

[MAKH 5]

Its getting repainted now lol. There are 3 variations of Imperial blue metallic and the shop sprayed A. Should have sprayed C!

[s55jesus]

Are you having any issues with the PDC on your bumper? I'm having some issue with the location of the PDC holes on the fangs towards the outer end of the bumper on both sides.

[gfa3]

Originally Posted by eff80m3

Are you having any issues with the PDC on your bumper? I'm having some issue with the location of the PDC holes on the fangs towards the outer end of the bumper on both sides.

what issues?

I actually could not complete my bumper project before my FBO install and custom tuning. Need to make a whole thread about that, vargas GC turbo, dorch stage 2 hpfp, vader solutions LPFP, port injection kit from EOS. It's gonna be sweeeet.

But this bumper swap is the first thing I'm doing when it gets back this week or next week.

I actually chose to put the holes more in the middle of the fangs because I had heard of issues of the PDC sensors going crazy from being too close to the edge of the fangs. (read it on the M2 forum from somebody retrofitting PDC sensors onto their bumper).