Picking up a Duraflex Replica C36 Front Bumper Today!!!!!

[vixen_w202]

After having to wait until funds kinda stabilized, I went ahead and ordered a new front bumper to finally replace the severely damaged and sagging one I have now. I got it for 193 with tax, and the great thing about is I didn't have to pay shipping. The shipping warehouse is less than 2 hours from my house, so I don't have to pay the almost 200 dollars to ship it to my house. The company was more than happy to accommodate me and let me pick it up will call.

Score! :)

Only thing I am concerned about is once I get there will it fit in my car. Oh well, leaving now to go pick it up.

Will post pics once home

[Vetruck]

Where are they located? I am looking to get some Duraflex CS-r sideskirts in the next week or two. I was just going to order them online but would rather pick them up if possible

[dokotela]

Where are they located? I am looking to get some Duraflex CS-r sideskirts in the next week or two. I was just going to order them online but would rather pick them up if possible

Hmmm....so you're not using the brabus skirts then?
Selling? Would love to buy them

[wichipong]

brabus skirts for sale?!? say whaat!? lol

[vixen_w202]

Okay so I got the front bumper. But other than looking like a c36 AMG front bumper, it's a plastic/resin replica. I literally have no idea how this is supposed to mount. I plan to paint, but before I send it off I want to figure out the mounting setup for it so it's secure. I took off the damaged front bumper, and the inner skeleton is cracked in multiple places. I have no idea how to mount this so it is secure and safe. I tried a couple ideas, but it's just not going to work without help through 2nd opinions.

Any ideas?

[dokotela]

you're gonna need a new inner "skeleton", decently priced at the dealer IMO. maybe get new bumper slides while you're at it.

[vixen_w202]

you're gonna need a new inner "skeleton", decently priced at the dealer IMO. maybe get new bumper slides while you're at it.

Yeah, but I have a pre-facelift 96 c280 with elegance package. This means that those areas where foglights go are going to be filled up with the brake duct vents. Also, will a c36 inner skeleton even work with a non c36?

[anf6789]

Every preupdate bumper is the same.. None had fog lights and all had brake ducts.. There's no "elegance" in the U.S all preupdate had the same exact bumper. The c36 has brake ducts as well.. I've owned both.. A normal c280 skeleton should work fine... It's a replica made to go on non amgs..

[MikeD]

A lot of aftermarket bumpers, like Rieger for example, are mounted with some sort of aftermarket mounting system. You should give Duraflex a call or e-mail to see if they have an installation manual.

[dokotela]

And it's the same for the updated cars as well. All inner "skeletons" are the same and interchangeable

[eazyason23]

like most of those kits you got to make custom brackets to make them secure

[Vetruck]

Hmmm....so you're not using the brabus skirts then?
Selling? Would love to buy them

They do not look any different than just smooth overlays of the chassis rocker panels. They fit horribly with the plactic (abs type material) fitting with a lip over the door sill and squeezing the bottom door molding. You also have to buy the thinner front and rear plastic body filler strips because the stock ones are too wide. The Duraflex kit molds up in place of these body filler moldings so the become exempt.

Trust me you do not want these POS Brabus sideskirts. The factory rocker just smoothed and painted would look exactly the same- actually a bit better. The Brabus sideskirts maybe hang 1/2" lower than stock rockers.

Now the Front and Rear Brabus bumpers assemblies are a different story, they are a fitment of beauty.

[dokotela]

They do not look any different than just smooth overlays of the chassis rocker panels. They fit horribly with the plactic (abs type material) fitting with a lip over the door sill and squeezing the bottom door molding. You also have to buy the thinner front and rear plastic body filler strips because the stock ones are too wide. The Duraflex kit molds up in place of these body filler moldings so the become exempt.

Trust me you do not want these POS Brabus sideskirts. The factory rocker just smoothed and painted would look exactly the same- actually a bit better. The Brabus sideskirts maybe hang 1/2" lower than stock rockers.

Now the Front and Rear Brabus bumpers assemblies are a different story, they are a fitment of beauty.

You got PM

[vixen_w202]

Installing today, but after figuring out a proper and secure mounting system, it's coming right back off to head out for paint.

The only thing that saddens me is that because I'm putting this on a non-amg, the areas for fogs on a true AMG are going to be occupied by my brake duct vents, so no fogs on this application. Also the screw studs for the lower stock bumper mounts are preventing the little grille extension covers from instaling. Lots of modifications are going to have to be done for them to sit flush behind the stud.

Also on my stock bumper I did kind of a DIY reroute of the headlight fogs I had HID's on running to some rectangle aftermarket yellow housings in the bumper because there was room. It's back to headlight fogs one more time... :(

[mbsickness]

As for the brake ducts the C36 has different ones that pull the air from the side of the foglight. I just removed them altogether as for street car I don't believe there is a big difference in having the ducts or not. The grill covers should fit with the mounting studs...perhaps on your test fit the cover is being held too far back. I am assuming the covers are the same or similar size as the AMG ones (which are huge). Anyhow, good luck and I can't wait to see the results.

[vixen_w202]

Got home, word of advice folks...the C36 AMG replica bumper you'll most likely get is the lower-end fiberglass version. We ended up using quite a few if not all of the OEM mounting brackets and sliders from the damaged/factory bumper and epoxied them to oblivion on the new bumper shell in the factory mounting locations. My buddy helped me get it (almost) ready for paint by planning out the mounting system. We decided before we started today that reusing whatever factory mounts that weren't damaged from the old bumper was going to be our best route. Thankfully, it saved us a lot of headache cutting out the pieces we needed from the old bumper with an angle grinder.....and even more thankfully none of the 4 pieces we needed were damaged all. We got them on the new shell successfully but to give the epoxy we used enough time to set and get really secure between the mounting surfaces, I left it at my buddies house. We put some pressure on the front mounts by putting a couple old encyclopedias on each. The side brackets we clamped down.

Thursday morning we test fit it with a durability/security test drive and if it passes, I'm headed off to my buddy with it and drop it off for a show-quality gloss black. So excited. Even if I don't run fogs on this thing.

P.S. If anyone chooses to go this route like I did.....go back to your original bumper and CAREFULLY remove the metal chrome trim pieces. I thought at first I wasn't going to need them but after some test mounts without them there is a noticeable gap between the bumper and the headlights. The replica does not have these built in, you'll need to reuse them on the new one.

I opted to not install them quite yet, going to have my paint buddy paint them seperate from the bumper and I'm just going to get some 2-sided tape and mount them on top in the factory locations.

[thegame]

Can we see some pictures of how it looks. I always wanted to see how this duraflex bumpers look. and the process of mounting one

[vixen_w202]

Well, I went back to my friend's house where my C36 AMG Replica bumper was curing from all the epoxy we slapped on it. Test fitted bumper after all the epoxy and JB Weld we threw on the factory brackets had completely cured for a few days in the factory mounting locations and....success! Stays on nice and secure. No sagging or problems whatsoever! Probably hell will freeze over before all the JB weld and epoxy we applied onto the mounting brackets will ever even remotely break free.

Dropped it off at my buddy for paint today for a nice show quality gloss black. Won't get it back till later next week. Will show pics once I get it back. It's gonna look sooooo SICK!!!!!

Just word of advice guys...you wanna go down this route...try and get an OEM or original. This replica I got was a far cry from high-quality fitment, we had to reuse all the factory mounting brackets from my damaged bumper by hacking them out with a grinder and mating them to the new shell. However, for 193 dollars with tax I really don't have a lot of room to complain.

It even was a copy of the european model bumper, so FINALLY I can rock my german front vanity plate flush against the bumper and not wonky at an angle like before.

When I get some additional money, I want to compliment the front bumper with the C36 AMG rear bumper. However I really have zero desire to run side skirts, not really my thing. Just a sexy front and rear bumper and I think looks wise on the exterior after that gets installed, I'm going to give it a rest.

[yusuke280]

without side skirts it will look completely unbalanced.. better get them, they are dirt cheap anyways isn't it?

[vixen_w202]

without side skirts it will look completely unbalanced.. better get them, they are dirt cheap anyways isn't it?

The only reason why I got the replica bumper was in the end it was cheaper than getting an OEM skeleton and shell. I'll see what it looks like once it goes on, but I didn't really necessarily do this based on a cosmetic upgrade.

[97C28O]

would love to see the pics of the hack job and the final product. this is what would get most people here to even try buying the duraflex

[vixen_w202]

would love to see the pics of the hack job and the final product. this is what would get most people here to even try buying the duraflex

Will do. My paint guy said he's kinda backed up so I might not get it back until next week, but before I put it back on I'll take pics of the mounting system.

Honestly though, all you need from your donor original bumper is to cut out the front metal front support brackets. You will also have to carefully cut out the plastic sliders that go onto the sides and lock the side portions of the bumper firmly into place. After that, get some quick drying epoxy, the kind that will dry quick enough for you to mock everything up. Keep in mind you need to take careful measurements and do several test fits to make sure the front supports will slide back on easily on the top and bottom mounting studs. Once you are sure that they line up properly, start to apply JB Weld in an extremely liberal fashion on the contact points that the mounts touch the bumper. Lt it cure and completely harded for 2-3 days. Lastly comes seeing where the plastic slide locks for the side portions of the bumper fit. This is kind of tricky, so take your time getting them lined up. Once you have them mocked up and they lock flush into the sliders, JB Weld those too and let them sit for the same amount of time to harden and cure.

*Please note, I was only able to use the stock mounting hardware because while my bumper was damaged, the pieces I needed to donate over to the new shell were intact. if your bumper is totally shattered, dunno what to tell ya.

[vixen_w202]

Just one question/opinion guys....now that the front end is exposed with no front bumper on, I realized from the "accident" that my driver's side wheel well splash guard has been severely damaged. There is a very long crack in the top of the plastic. I notice when I make a hard right turn, I can hear it rubbing pretty hard on the damaged plastic. Since I am running an aftermarket bumper, do I really need to run the splash guards? Should I amputate off the area that is damaged at the least or try to repair it?

[vixen_w202]

Update: final stages of clear coat are being applied this weekend by my guy should have it back and installed by mid next week. Because this is a fiberglass replica, I took the advice of one of my local car buddies and bought some black rubber garage door lining/sealant at Lowe's. In case I encounter a weird angled driveway, we're going to line the lower lip with some of it to give it a little bit of protection from damage/scraping.

[yusuke280]

would be nice if there were pictures and not only text..........

[vixen_w202]

would be nice if there were pictures and not only text..........

I would take some right now if I hadn't dropped it off at my buddies house and he took it out to paint for me. So until I get it back, no ability to take pics.

[arar_hany]

PLZ some pictures dude!

[Sulaco]

For those interested, the inner skeleton (known as the reinforcement) changed in 98-00 cars.

You will have to come up with your own custom mounting just like vixen here. I hear the duraflex is an accurate replica but of the outer bumper shell alone. Be prepared to use your thinking cap or pay a shop to think for you.

Can't wait to see the results dude

[vixen_w202]

Update: Getting the bumper on SUNDAY. Kinda the situation was my best friend has a buddy who was a master painter at a body shop and he got laid off from his work. He's converted his garage to a paint booth and I guess he had some projects kinda backed up. Also because of this kinda home-based establishment, I was able to pay my friend 150 bucks to pay him to do a pretty legit paint job for less than an official shop.

Hence why I don't get it back until Sunday. Before it installs on, rest assured....I'll take all the pornographic pictures of the home-brewed mounting system.

[vixen_w202]

Bumper is officially painted and at home in my possession. For 150 buck paint job by someone I didn't know out of their garage....holy shit this thing looks professional. Paint is almost show quality. Mounting system needed a little tweaking so I'm not going to take pics of it pre-installation just quite yet, but tomorrow I promise I will.

Despite the lower quality of the bumper, this ting looks absolutely badass. Not sure how it will transform my car, but once the adjustments to the mounts are cured my buddy ismgoing to come over and help me install it. Was told once it goes on I can't wash it until 7 days from now

But so excited! Will keep posted

[yusuke280]

i dont want to be so harsh but...
a lot of us dont care until we see any pictures lol..

anyway looking forward to the actual pictures.

[AtomicVette]

I just bought the CR-S Front bumper, CR-S side skirts, and the AMG Rear bumper. All Duraflex.. Hopefully they're the actual duraflex material and not the fiberglass..

[vixen_w202]

Drumroll.......................................... ...................................


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TADA!

http://i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo48/slyvia_altima/IMG_20130515_214118_zps75d6b38b.jpg (http://s360.photobucket.com/user/slyvia_altima/media/IMG_20130515_214118_zps75d6b38b.jpg.html)

For 150 bucks a buddy of one of my car friends painted this show quality gloss black. It looks so amazing, but I have to wait 7 days before I can wash or wax it.

I'm really sorry I didn't get any pics of the mounting system, but honestly if you cut out the front brackets with the plastic blocks they're mounted to intact, epoxied and quicksteeled them to hell....then did the same after cutting out the side slide-locks that are mounted on the car, that's it...that's the mounting system for this bumper.

Unfortunately I have some slightly bad news guys. The grille extensions that we got painted along with the bumper didn't fit, even with modifications for the mounting studs coming out, wouldn't fit. It just flat out was the problem they were so poorly made that they would have taken huge cutting attempts to make them to fit, and we looked at the bumper and decided it looked fine without them.

As far as the metal chrome accent pieces, we couldn't use them either. They are just flat out angled slightly different then the curvature of the duraflex bumper. They line up perfectly until the very end when the bumper meets the wheelwell of the fenders and they stick out enough to look tacky. Therefore, we (my buddy and I) too decided to ditch them. Honestly? The gap tolerance even without them on there is so negligable you'd never know they went there in the first place.

So HAPPY to have my euro plate back on! This duraflex replica has mounting for a euro plate and sits professional looking and flush, unlike the last one. Looks good. Mounted it with 3M super sticky mounting tape so it's not gonna come off and no drilling.

The one last thing I AM going to do is I bought some rubber lip lining for the bumper. Once it cures after 6 days, I'm gonna install it barely around the front of the lip for some protection in case of a scrape encounter.

Enjoy!

[hvmercy]

looks good.

what do you plan to do with the holes where the fog lights are supposed to be?

[green]

Is it street legal to drive with the euro plate on the front? It really adds character to the ride. Looks great btw.

[vixen_w202]

looks good.

what do you plan to do with the holes where the fog lights are supposed to be?

Leave them be. Even though you can't see them the brake vents are still there, but I had to cut them back quite a bit on this new bumper for them not to push the bumper out. My car was designed to run them

After all, I'm not going to BS people and try to fly that my car is a real C36 when it's not. I honestly didn't even do this route for the AMG look. It was simply because it was far cheaper than going the OEM full replacement again. Won't lie though, the C36 *look* looks far more badass than my anemic-looking pre-facelift bumper.

Besides, I've looked up the price of the fogs and they're bloody expensive. Afterall, they only ran them on two models for a limited run.

*technically* if I could, I would run fogs there, but I'm squeemish to block airflow to the brakes through a system Mercedes designed to keep the brakes from overheating.

As a funny note, I debadged my model designation and got rid of all the residue from the stickers. Now people will have no idea what w202 I have lol! Perfect plan.

[vixen_w202]

Is it street legal to drive with the euro plate on the front? It really adds character to the ride. Looks great btw.

Straight answer? No, not anywhere close. Is that going to stop me from running just my euro plate solo without a State plate? Hell no. Never gotten pulled over since I got my car, even when I ran this solo 8 months ago.

[Vetruck]

Nice job, it looks great. I also like the ero plate. Once I put the Brabus front on I have, the Braus front hass the provision molded area for the euro plate so what I plan to do is actually have a custom replica plate made(only costs about $50 for them) of my exact Calif license palte # on the front of the car. I've seen a few cars running around town like this, one is a cop in yorba Linda in a Range Rover I asked about it in a grocery store parkinglot. I laughed when he said he was a cop, but he also said it's not legal but it at least properly identifies the car so alot of cops would probalbe not give you a hard way to go. He did say doing something else up there like you have can lead to problems much quicker ot its an advertisement (ie- like Brabus, Mercedes, or some kind of car club name etc)

[Vetruck]

I just bought the CR-S Front bumper, CR-S side skirts, and the AMG Rear bumper. All Duraflex.. Hopefully they're the actual duraflex material and not the fiberglass..

I stated a post on the CR-S sideskirts asking about them. The pictures they show are generic. I would be very greatful if you post pictures of the side skirts when you get them. Reason is the adds show both the 'AMG look" and the CR-S side skirts appear to look identical event hought he CR-S is priced higher. I am trying to figure out if they are almost identical but maybe the CR-S is a little lower in thickness to the ground.

AMG look-
http://extremedimensions.com/94-00-W202-AMG-SS.html

CR-S-
http://extremedimensions.com/94-00-W202-CRS-SS.html