limpbozkit

iTrader: (1)

While trolling my local Craigslist I came across a guy selling a "used RX-8 front bumper 04-08". So I click it and the pictures posted are of a Mazdaspeed front bumper 04-07. So after contacting the guy he claims he doesn't know anything about it except that it says RX-8 04-08 on the inside. Upon seeing the bumper in person I checked for the obvious signs of authenticity (black bar, gunmetal lower parts, numbers stamped on the inside of the bumper) and from what I can tell it IS an authentic Mazdaspeed front bumper. However in my opinion this bumper is in rough shape. There are some cracks but none are visible from the front side of the bumper. It doesn't feel like fiberglass but it doesn't feel like abs plastic either. It's like a hardened plastic maybe, not much give to it. So I take the gamble and I buy it. Now my questions are as follows;

1. Is this an authentic Mazdaspeed front bumper?

2. Does it originally come with the center mesh and is there a part number for it so I can replace it?

3. From what you can see is anything missing? Any parts that come with the Mazdaspeed front bumper that aren't shown in the pictures?

4. For the Mazdaspeed fog light brackets to work do you have to cut the mesh in the oil cooler vent holes? How do they work beings there is a plastic tunnel that appears to direct air straight into the oil coolers?

5. What do you guys think the bumper is worth in its current condition?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/5781876110/http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/5781876110/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/62699382@N02/
As you can see there are scratches throughout but no deep gouges though

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/5781879324/http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/5781879324/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/62699382@N02/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/5781330041/http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/5781330041/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/62699382@N02/
I circled the cracked areas. The top corner where the marker light goes is broken off on both sides but I think the marker light will cover this?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/5781881398/http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/5781881398/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/62699382@N02/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/5781882472/http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/5781882472/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/62699382@N02/
Looks like a couple of pop rivets are missing but the bumper isn't broken in those places so I think those should be an easy fix. I would tell you what I paid for it BUT if I decide I'm not going to use it I don't want anyone holding that over my head if I try to sell it. I will say that I paid less than 300 bucks for it. Any help you owners of authentic Mazdaspeed body kits can give would be much appreciated!

luv4eternity

1.Is this an authentic Mazdaspeed front bumper?
looks authentic enough...i think it is but let some other members confirm it

2. Does it originally come with the center mesh and is there a part number for it so I can replace it?
yes it does...but i have no idea what the part number is...if u go to your near by mazda dealer, the parts department can tell u the part number

3. From what you can see is anything missing? Any parts that come with the Mazdaspeed front bumper that aren't shown in the pictures?
looks like everything is there....there might be a center mess grill but i think its easily replaced

4. For the Mazdaspeed fog light brackets to work do you have to cut the mesh in the oil cooler vent holes? How do they work beings there is a plastic tunnel that appears to direct air straight into the oil coolers?
no comment...no idea

5. What do you guys think the bumper is worth in its current condition?
i think the bumper is 6/10...has quite a few cracks...from the looks of it, he didnt really take care of it...probably ran it up a curb a few times to be able to break those tabs on the side ....happens a lot to lowered cars/ drivers who go up and down driveway aggressively/ or just dont care of the bumper....doesnt look like he's a scraper becoz there is no damage on the lip so he's probably was not lowered (just a guess)


from my opinion, if it is what u say that u pay less than 300 for it, then its a good buy ....most of the cracks wont show when u put it on (at least from what i see)....but if u wanna fix it and resell it, its probably not gonna be worth it ....

Juansito

iTrader: (5)

Looks auth to me.

That bumper is worth $1000 unpainted so you got a great deal at 300!

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

The cracks can be plastic welded by a good body shop....it is authentic

That being said I wouldnt give him much for it as is ...it will need work to make it usable

$3-400 would be max

monchie

It's real! That's a good deal, lucky find

limpbozkit

iTrader: (1)

Thank you for the responses. I took it to 2 of my local body shops today to estimate the repairs on the 2 cracked areas (side by the fender and middle top/ Pics 3 and 4) and to re-paint it velocity red. One of the shops estimators came out and felt the crack and said "nope we can't fix that. I mean, we can paint it but that crack will always be there". the other body shop suggested 2 methods of repair if one didn't work they would do the other. They made an estimate to repair the cracked areas and sand, prep and paint it in velocity red quoted me $758.40! I think I'm gonna shop around a little more.

2tone

iTrader: (3)

That still only puts you at 1100 or so, painted. That is around the unpainted price AND unshipped price!! Not to mention it's been discontinued by Mazda, so all in all relatively cheap

luv4eternity

still a good buy....very hard to find a undamaged authentic mazdaspeed bumper which is your colour at 300 bucks...even with everything done at 1100, its still a decent price

shopping around for a better price is a smart thing to do

Olorin2

iTrader: (6)

To answer this question specifically... yes, you do have to cut out a circular shape in the mesh, per the MS instructions. I believe I've seen an MS bumper with the mesh covering the foglights, but I don't prefer this, and I think the mesh would be actually touching the lenses.

As for the fresh air ducts, if I remember correctly, you'd basically need to cut them in half to allow for the brackets.

Hope that helps!

canaryrx8

iTrader: (3)

You don't have to cut the mesh if you don't want too, take a look at the front of my car, the mesh isn't cut, it's just mounted flush at the end of the bracket. There is no hard fast rule for how you do it so go with whatever you think looks best. One other thing is that good quality mesh can be purchased from customcargrills.com, they have some nice styles, they're powdercoated and a good thickness. (some of the other "ebay mesh" I've seen is very thin and flimsy, not something you want when your car is going 65mph down the highway etc.) Those cracks are easily fixable, my extra MS bumper is in way worse shape and when I'm done it will look brand new, the material Mazda uses for these is very flexible and durable and very easy to work with as well.

limpbozkit

iTrader: (1)

Thank you Olorin2 and canaryrx8 for your information on the fog light brackets. I have searched high and low for the OE Mazdaspeed fog light brackets and can't find any so if I do end up mounting this bumper I suppose I will just go fog light-less.
I still haven't had the bumper painted yet because all I have is the front so I have been looking for Mazdaspeed Side skirts and planned to have the bump and the side skirts painted together (to ensure paint matching). It sucks that Mazda/Mazdaspeed stopped backing its current flagship sports car and now were all left hanging...

2hit6

Have you check with your local Mazda dealer? Thats where I've got mine from. The factory OEM Mazdaspeed bumper does have a mesh on the front center...

slvrmzdrx8

Is your car currently Sunlight Silver? What does your current bumper look like? I may know how you can get some money to get that painted if it is I need one lol.

canaryrx8

iTrader: (3)

Keep an eye on ebay if nothing else, I see them pop up on there from time to time, I might have some on my spare ms bumper as well but I don't remember right off hand so I'd have to get back to you on that.

limpbozkit

iTrader: (1)

Ha ha ha I saw where you were going with that but unfortunately I'm not planning on selling my original body parts.

As for anyone else who's following this thread I figured I would post an update on my recent developments. I moved about 2 weeks ago and while moving I had loaded the bumper in a safe position on the trailer so as not to be damaged. Well my dad and one of my friends were helping me move and decided to load something else on the trailer and move my bumper over the top of that item. Then they ran the strap over the front bumper. Well there was excess slack in the strap and it got caught under the moving wheel when they were pulling out of my old driveway and everyone heard a loud SNAP. The strap was pulled extremely tight and put a nice new crack in the bumper.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/5914452601/http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/5914452601/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/62699382@N02/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/5915014174/http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/5915014174/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/62699382@N02/
As you can see it's right on the edge of the faux canard. Anyways I think I'm about done trying to get a body kit for my car. The body shop seemed skeptical about repairing the cracks that were already there and now this! Plus not being able to find the remaining parts of the Official Mazdaspeed body kit at a fair price I think I'm probably going to just stay stock.

Anyone ever sold and shipped a Mazdaspeed bumper before? How much did it cost and what company was used? I guess more importantly is the bumper still worth anything with the new damage? I'm torn because I really want the Mazdaspeed body kit and I know the bumper is really rare but apparently so is the rest of the kit. I've heard a few people have had good luck with replica urethane side skirts but they come with no mounting hardware and with prep and paint I may be right at about 800 bucks which is about what the officials cost. I'm not too keen on being almost $2,000 in on just the front and sides because that still leaves the rear! Anyways thanks for reading my rant.

Smoke Honda

iTrader: (1)

Long story short, don't sell the bumper.

It is in pretty good condition.

The only thing that would annoy me is that the black plastics are a little scratched on the center piece. But if you pop the lincense plate on then it would not be as noticeable.

I'll break down the bumper.

-the damage from the side blinkers are very normal. It should not be noticeable with the blinkers in.

-the damage from the wheel arches should be looked at if it's actually split. Otherwise it should be fine.

-the damege where the front bumper meets the hood is fine even thought it looks bad. I believe there is a metal plate that covers it and it actually prevent it from cracking further.

-the lower lip crack happens to a lot of people with the ms bumper. It happened to me twice myself. A fiberglass patch is usually put on before painting and is relatively cheap.

-the missing rivet needs to be addresed.

All three times I repaired the bumper, it cost less then 300 bucks. I don't know where the 800 bucks is coming from. I did remove all the grill and plastics before giving it to the shop.

I really suggest you put the bumper on to see what I am talking aout before you consider selling the bumper. It takes less then 30 minutes the first time and it is really easy to do. All you need is a screwdriver and you use all the bolts from your old bumper. It also let's you gauge what you need to repair.

All replicas are ****. Stay the hell away from it.

limpbozkit

iTrader: (1)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/6923116532/http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/6923116532/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/62699382@N02/
to be continued...

limpbozkit

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Smoke Honda for the encouragement to not sell the bumper. I'm really glad now that I didn't. Another question though, anyone with the Mazdaspeed front bumper have to have a front plate? If so, where do you mount it? I refuse to drill holes into the black plastic bar in the main grill opening, especially since I had it painted gloss black. Anyone use the Bell license plate re-locator bracket? https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...hlight=license If so, how safe/sturdy is it to just run the screws through the underside of the bumper to attach it? Anyways here is a low quality image of my finished Mazdaspeed bumper.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/6987923980/http://www.flickr.com/photos/62699382@N02/6987923980/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/62699382@N02/

New Yorker

I'm the last person to ask, but it does look like something Edd could fix on "Wheeler Dealers". If that's true, then in the right hands, it is fixable.