I bought a set of the stainless bumpers advert on ebay (kuhlauto, Pete B).
I sent them to Mario along with some OEM bumpers from a 72 and earlier E9.
Mario said the cosmetic quality of the stainless bumpers was very good.
When his shop tried to fit them to the car, there were a few hiccups
FRONT: When the front bumper was mounted to the car, it interfered with the CSL front spoiler (e.g. contact). The fore-aft dimension of the bumper was too large, and the only way Mario's shop could resolve it was to cut off about 1/2" across the bottom edge of the bumper. Mario also felt the position of the brackets at the ends were slightly off and he needed to move the brackets a little to get them to line up with the OE position of the fender holes. Alternatively, he could weld up the front fender holes and drill new ones that matched the bumpers. At this point I asked him to leave the front bumpers as they came and install the OE bumper set that I had.
REAR: Cosmetics were really nice. Both sides had a little bit of a twist but this could be tweaked out. There's a slight difference between the left/right halves. The flat edge of the bumper end that runs along the quarter panel is thinner on one side and thicker on the other. This results in a smaller gap to the body on one side compared to the other. Also, one of the ends had to be ground down slightly (contour was a bit off). These are stainless, so it doesn't introduce a rust risk to cut them slightly.
I thought the rear bumpers came with license lights, but my set didn't.
Mario's overall feedback is that I'd have been better off with a set of OE bumpers (less work to fit, no problems with front spoilers).
If I were budget constrained and converting from a big bumper post 73 car, weren't going to run a front spoiler and was willing to move the holes in the front fenders ... this set is a bargain at $16xx You'd pay that much for an imperfect OE set, and then you'd spend another $2k to get them rechromed.
Anyway, I've taken one for the team. If someone is looking for a stainless front bumper and can live with the caveats mentioned above, mine is available.
I know others have bought this bumper set and it would be valuable for forum members to hear about their experiences as well.
John
I sent them to Mario along with some OEM bumpers from a 72 and earlier E9.
Mario said the cosmetic quality of the stainless bumpers was very good.
When his shop tried to fit them to the car, there were a few hiccups
FRONT: When the front bumper was mounted to the car, it interfered with the CSL front spoiler (e.g. contact). The fore-aft dimension of the bumper was too large, and the only way Mario's shop could resolve it was to cut off about 1/2" across the bottom edge of the bumper. Mario also felt the position of the brackets at the ends were slightly off and he needed to move the brackets a little to get them to line up with the OE position of the fender holes. Alternatively, he could weld up the front fender holes and drill new ones that matched the bumpers. At this point I asked him to leave the front bumpers as they came and install the OE bumper set that I had.
REAR: Cosmetics were really nice. Both sides had a little bit of a twist but this could be tweaked out. There's a slight difference between the left/right halves. The flat edge of the bumper end that runs along the quarter panel is thinner on one side and thicker on the other. This results in a smaller gap to the body on one side compared to the other. Also, one of the ends had to be ground down slightly (contour was a bit off). These are stainless, so it doesn't introduce a rust risk to cut them slightly.
I thought the rear bumpers came with license lights, but my set didn't.
Mario's overall feedback is that I'd have been better off with a set of OE bumpers (less work to fit, no problems with front spoilers).
If I were budget constrained and converting from a big bumper post 73 car, weren't going to run a front spoiler and was willing to move the holes in the front fenders ... this set is a bargain at $16xx You'd pay that much for an imperfect OE set, and then you'd spend another $2k to get them rechromed.
Anyway, I've taken one for the team. If someone is looking for a stainless front bumper and can live with the caveats mentioned above, mine is available.
I know others have bought this bumper set and it would be valuable for forum members to hear about their experiences as well.
John