Danmn858

iTrader: (10)

So I recently got my hands on the Mint Style front bumper by AIT racing. Here is the picture walkthrough of the fitment and making this thing perfect. I gotta say though, I'm pleased with the business, extremely quick shipping and absolutely no damage to the bumper.
So overall I would say fitment on this was about 8-9/10, which is really good for any bumper that costs under $500 shipped. I have seen $1000 bumpers with much worse fitment. The material is PFRP (Poly Fiber Reinforced Plastic) which is pretty much just a fancy term for fairly durable fiberglass compound.
There was still about 8 hours of labor involved in the fitment which was done by my good friend. The main time consumer was just making holes, because it came with none. It also came with mesh grilles, but I'm leaving those off, at least for now.
I just dropped the bumper off at a buddy's shop today for prep and paint, which is running me about $200. It may be finished on Friday, but chances are Tuesday because of the long weekend. I'll post pics of the fully painted, mounted bumper then. But here's the "getting there" process for now.

First thing I noticed when I pulled it out of the box was no god damn holes for the corner lights


After removing the OEM bumper and trying to slide on the mint bumper, we realized the styrofoam was in the way, so that had to come out.


Next, the mounting bracket needs to come off the stock bumper, just a few screws and pins.



Now we were able to slide on the bumper. Here is the fitment without bolts or screws holding it on and no shaving has begun yet... Pretty damn good.


Tiny gap in the headlight and not alligned very well - both were fixed once bolted up! No shaving or adding necessary



Passenger headlight was damn near perfect


Passenger side alligned with the fender was pretty bad, but once bolted up we only had to sand a little down to make it even.


Allignment with hood is was impressive, no rough edges or huge gaps. There was a small small gap near the far right side (shown better in next pic)


Here's that small gap - not even worth adding fiberglass to that because the rubber from the mounting bracket filled it in nicely.


Welded bolt on the mounting bracket needed to come off... we used a grinder to take that thing right off. (seen towards center of picture)


Yeah this was the biggest issue... no damn holes. But you can also see here how this bumper is about an inch taller then OEM (meaning it drops it an inch closer to the ground).


Corner light cutouts finished!


Fits perfectly now!


Then holes for the liner had to be drilled.


And finishing the rest of the holes for the oem metal mounting bracket (where the four bolts that mount the top portion go)


Bumper mounted and ready to be taken off and delivered to the body shop for some thick primer and paint! Yes, that '63 pickup is a daily driver, used it to transport the enormous box with my bumper in it ha.
Rx8 looking mean in back.


Here is how much clearance I have now. Level ground, that is a 2x4


*UPDATE*
Primer is finished being laid one, now it just needs to be sanded and painted! Should have this bad boy on the car on saturday!

First coat



And now the second coat, really starting to look nice




**UPDATE** 5/26/12

Finally got it painted! It turned out even better than I had thought. I have to make some custom brackets and mounts for the oem fog lights still. Then once I get a hold of some rx7 FD "bumper" lights I'm going to convert them to my fog lights. Should be ill. I'm also waiting on my racing beat ram air duct, that'll look pretty sweet hanging down in my front grille, should be in on Tuesday.
Here are some pics I took today with the bumper painted and mounted.



Contrary to what a lot of you have said, I think the side aero I have no flow really well with the kit and my rear spoiler. As need here:


lol @ getting up and down my curb now

All in all, the bumper had surprisingly great fitment and it pretty much took us yesterday evening and an hour or two this afternoon to finish. So not too much time, any shop probably would have charged $500 minimum just on fitment. I'm quite satisfied with the quality of this bumper but keep in mind that every bumper is different and may require different things to be done for mounting purposes. This is just a quick overview of what you can expect from AIT racing. Good guys over there in Cali, took 4 days to get to my house in Chicago. I've seen replica mazdaspeeds and other aftermarket bumpers/sides look like complete **** before fitment. Like I said earlier around 8-9/10 on fitment, very impressed.
I hope you guys all enjoy this thread and I would love to discuss your questions and opinions.

~Danny

Hydr0nium

Really nice write up, with some good photos to boot. I am very happy you didn't have any trouble!

EricB

iTrader: (7)

having a friend that can do prepwork/paint will make buying a bodykit a no brainer. Its basically pennies to have a nice bumper. Without friends however... will make alot of people cringe, especially when fitment is questionable.

Thanks for taking my advice and making this thread, it allows us to get some concrete evidence on a replica bumper regarding fitment.

Also, how much did you lower your car? Im on a 2inch drop and eventually id like to get a replica mazdaspeed or feed front but i scrape everywhere as it is.

Danmn858

iTrader: (10)

Yeah man its no problem, I enjoyed making this thread. And I'm glad fitment was pretty decent.
But as for how much my drop is, I couldnt really tell you. I'm on Stance GR+ coilovers and the rear one is maxed out. Front is tucking about half the sidewall. I would probably say like 5-6" lower in front and 4.5-5' lower in the rear? My pinchwelds are maybe two inches from the concrete and my mudguards are less an inch.
...if that helps ha.

truejee

bump for picture update. looks good!

EricB

iTrader: (7)

looks great, time to ditch that oldie sig pic.

i would also make dedicated ducts to go to the oil coolers now. alot of air is simply going around the coolers.

i dabbled with getting the rx7 fog light and turn signals, but it really didnt fit when i photoshopped them on.

damn your car looks good from that side shot. i cant wait to get wheels! damn you for making me spend more money

gmoney

I bought my MINT front bumper from ILOVEBODYKITS and the fitment was great even tho I had the same problem with the corners as well but other than that I can't complain........

Danmn858

iTrader: (10)

yeah corners were/are trouble. Very fragile. Using a realllly long screw with a washer to keep from breaking the fiberglass.

and eric, wanna send me those photoshops? I'm curious to see.

EricB

iTrader: (7)

lol they were so shitty i didnt even save them.

Danmn858

iTrader: (10)

bahaha. alright

Danmn858

iTrader: (10)

One more I took today after I washed it

lordagrabah

iTrader: (1)

looks good

monchie

Lookin' good as always.

Matrx8

iTrader: (2)

Looks sweet man, props for doing it yourself and the fitment pictures! +1!

J_Ro

I bought this same kit from the same place, my fitment was straight up terrible. I did all my body work also, and it was a load of work to make this thing fit. I guess I just got unlucky lol.

Ill try and find some pictures of what I had before I finished it up. I doubt I have them anymore though.

J_Ro

Also, Danmn, Im probably putting my stock rear back on soon. My problems is that I dont have any coilovers or springs to make the body match up.

What Im trying to say is that Im scared that without adjustable coilovers the front will look way lower than the back because of the bumper. Do you think it will? Any thoughts, anyone?

Danmn858

iTrader: (10)

woah, compliment from monchie?! gasp. So honored.

Thanks man!

In my opinion, EVERYONE needs coilovers haha. They're ******* magic. I love my Stance Gr+ coils. And to be honest with you, put the stock rear end on, I really dont think the mint sides or rear look good at all. Thats why I only got the front bumper and rear spoiler.
Sucks about the fitment though, did you get yours a while ago? Maybe they've improved since then. And if you did get yours a while ago how has it held up?

Bamsterman

Did you paint you entire headlight housing black? Except for the small silver accents obviously...

Danmn858

iTrader: (10)

yeah I did, high-gloss black, you can see the reflection of the rings in the housing, its pretty sweet. and I painted the eyelid on the inside. The rings are actually color matched to sunlight silver.

Bamsterman

And you have no problem with your turn signals or hi-beams? It looks great!

Danmn858

iTrader: (10)

well, high beams are pretty much useless, but my HID lowbeams and fogs are bright enough. Turn signals are alright though, still visible, I just got stronger bulbs.

J_Ro

I got it close to 2 years ago, they probably improved their mold or whatever.