Stainless bumpers

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coupeguy

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Does anyone have the email address or other contact info for the guy selling stainless E9 bumpers last year? He was on ebay as kuhlauto but that is no longer a viable address. The bumpers didn't fit all that well but with a bit of fiddling they came out pretty well, now I need another set of rears. If you have original parts I can use those too, just the two halves with the center split cover would be good.

Thanks, you can reply to [email protected] if you prefer.
 
coupeguy said:
Does anyone have the email address or other contact info for the guy selling stainless E9 bumpers last year? He was on ebay as kuhlauto but that is no longer a viable address. The bumpers didn't fit all that well but with a bit of fiddling they came out pretty well, now I need another set of rears. If you have original parts I can use those too, just the two halves with the center split cover would be good.

Thanks, you can reply to [email protected] if you prefer.
Click to expand...

a bit of tweaking needed, but a good deal for never worrying about rust again.
Sorry but i only have a spare front. Do you want it (good price)?
 
Sure, maybe I could use the front bumper, can you send a couple pics and the price to [email protected].

I did manage to find the fellow and he is still as arrogant as I remembered him being. He did me this huge favor offering to sell me just the two halves of the rear bumper for $795 plus $25 to ship. But guess what, I bought them from my BMW dealer who gives me 25% off for a hundred bucks less, that's right, UNDER SEVEN HUNDRED BUCKS for both rear bumper halves. NEW! OEM! Delivered! So, take it from me, he is not worth the trouble to find, stick with BMW OE when the parts are this inexpensive. Never thought I would say the words inexpensive and BMW parts in the same sentence. Unreal deal! Someone in the parts pricing department made a huge error it would appear!
 
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Stainless steel coupe bumpers

Hi everybody,

I did not know I was being talked negatively behind my back from coupeguy. But it stops with me... I'm not interested in further empowering this person by perpetuating negativity.

Very grateful for the opportunity to help out owners of Coupes and 2002's. Been in the BMW parts business for a very long time with many friends who pay when they say they will pay.

I will offer a very special price of 1400.00 plus UPS for a complete front and rear stainless steel set of 3.0cs bumpers for this forum. They are absolutely beautiful!

Inquire for special prices on 2002 bumpers!

Mastercard and Visa accepted.

This is a hobby for me. Not my day job.

Thank you!

Pete
916 358-6000
 
hey Pete,

we are all here as part of a hobby, and a car that we all are interested in - that includes coupeguy, as he is an owner as well as a person who does what you do ... support our love of the hobby. not going to hash out things that i know nothing about - dealings between you + anybody on this forum. what i can tell you is that i have heard from a few others on this forum that bought your product ... that it was a nice product, but didn't fit well. with a little fine tuning it could be a great product.

and by the way, as this is a public forum - nobody is talking behind anybodies back ... its public. so we encourage you to continue to be part of the group ... and do things that can benefit us (as a group). there is no personal attack in this message or anything negative ... just recommending that you continue to contribute

thanks in advance for being positive
scott
 
Thank you Scott.

I would like the feedback on the fit as I have not heard about this. Ron Perry at Vintage has given positive feedback as well at the author of "BMW 02 Restoration guide" who said the finish on was better then the factory bumpers.

The greatest fit challenges have been on the trim for the 2002. It is a very tricky double curve.

I look forward to hearing some input...
 
As bumpers

I have first hand experience with these and other than the fiddling mentioned these are a good value. I've ordered the '73 only front-plastic-end-mounts to see if that is the reason the SS bumper holes didn't line up with my fenders (front bumper might be a '73 design and the rear bumper a '72 ans earlier design).

The finish IS better than new factory parts, but a rechrome of OE parts can equal the finish quality if you pick a good chrome shop.

My only hiccup to date is that I was told I'd get a set of 02 license lights, but they never came. At most a $75 discrepancy.
 
Is there any significant weight difference between the chrome-steel and stainless? I think I read someone advising that the stainless may have a slightly different hue than chrome, the suggestion being that mixing and matching pieces (e.g., bumperettes) may look . . . mismatched. This leads to another somewhat related question - that probably is self evident. Has anyone ever retailed a "one-piece" rear and/or front "metal" bumper?

Earlier posts reminded me of seeing an early "primered" E9 on a flat bed, presumably on its way to or from a body shop. The bumpers and other shiny parts were removed and sitting in the car's cabin. What caught my attention was the fact that the bumpers appeared to have been a single piece - as no seems were evident from the backside. I assumed the parts were welded together before any final chroming occurred, but I can't recall having looked that closely. (I have seen this done on an '02) Although this was a few years ago, perhaps someone on this board is familiar with those bumpers or has done something similar.

(I am aware that having the bumper as a composite of many pieces may make make it easier to fit and also to replace damaged portions rather than the entire bumper. However, any significant impact generally takes out the whole kit and caboodle.:???:)



FWIW, the site Dirk referenced (http://www.groupharrington.com/en/page/42/about-bumpers.html ) contains the following:
bumpers are:
  • Stainless steel (grade 304/1.4301/7) NEVER rusts or corrodes. Even if submerged in salt water for many years- it would come out needing merely a re-polish - but would be in exactly the same form as when submerged,
  • Stainless steel is a workable material, for instance if you dent chrome plated bumper- it’s very difficult and costly to repair. It needs stripping of its old chrome, beating back to shape before re[chroming]. Compare this to a stainless steel bumper, if it sustains damage- it is an easy job for an experienced panel beater to beat the dent out and rep[olish] using a jewelers rouge or decent quality metal polish and an orbital polisher,
  • The tensile strength of stainless steel is tougher than that of chrome plated mild steel, which means they can withstand damage marginally better.
Our bumpers have big advantages:

  • Our bumpers never rust and are backed with a lifetime anti corrosion warranty. We are happy to put our money where our mouth is on this! Just think- should your bumpers ever rust- we will send you new ones,
  • If the bumpers get dented or scratched they can be beaten back to shape and re-polished,
  • Our bumpers are made in the thickest gauge possible for enabling the pressing and forming of the bumpers in very high grade (304/ 1.4301) stainless steel. (Around 1/5 of the steel is pure Chrome),
  • Painted back - The back of the bumpers are acid etch primed and painted with ICI two pack paint in black.
Click to expand...
19511.jpg







19517.jpg
 
Seller was NOT Harrington.
There are several places in V that offer to make repro SS bumpers for any/all requesters.

The issue I had with Kuhlauto's bumpers probably stemmed from the selection of samples he sent to V. As far as I can tell, he sent a '73 front and a '73 rear, and no rear underriders. So you need '73 front fender hole locations and '72 rear holes.

I spoke to one of the companies in V about doing rear underriders but I didn't proceed because there was insufficient interest here in the forum. It's kind of the same story as for the door panel stainless trim strips. Companies I spoke too wanted a minimum run of $20k to amortize the tooling and this forum lacks the membership to pre-order that much.

FWIW SS does look different than Chrome. I would never put the two adjacent on a nice car.

Given the age of these cars I think a multi piece bumper is much better. For getting a good fit. The likelihood of a 1/4 difference across 5ft of width (0.25%) is too great to assume a single piece will fit everything. And I'll guess the undercuts make it much harder to make a single piece (maybe impossible?) with a one or two piece tool. And the press size would need to be much much bigger too because of the deeper draw.
 
I just had 1st hand experience with 02 Bumpers. Chris seems like a very nice guy but when it came to the fit and finish on the stainless set, and taking close to 5 weeks to arrive they did not match up to my standards....waves / sanding marks / wrong thread pitch at the ends / carriage bolt sq bases too small / would have to modify bumperettes ....on and on. Was going to order up another set from him but email communication broke down and asked him to call me direct...oh well.
Decided I'll modify my oem set ( weld up the strip holes and slots ) and triple plate them.
I also mentioned to him that most e9 guys I know are a pretty fickle bunch and I don't know how he sold 40 sets unless the car they were all going on were daily beaters. Sorry..not a terrible experience but a waste of time for me. He needs to step up and personally inspect each and every set for flaws.
 
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