Late build date bumper retrofit onto early build date car - body shop having issues

[Nate047]

Awesome. Those wheels are on my top 5 list all time. Still looking for a nice 2 piece set.

Agreed! Love the design. I have a set of square 18s for my E36 too.

[Nate047]

Update: I went to pick up my car yesterday, it was supposed to be "ready" but there were all sorts of fitment issues with the front end as a whole, the side skirts, and the rear bumper. After seeing all of that and knowing how long they have had the car, and hearing them tell me how "great it looks" on the phone over and over, I know this shop just doesn't hold themselves to a high standard. There was also a pretty serious clear coat run that I saw from like 10 feet away the minute I got there. So its no surprise they can't figure out how to make the fucking bumper and washer bottle fit. So what I'm going to be getting back is a car with good paint (good, not GREAT) and probably shitty fitment on a bunch of panels that I'll have to realign with my friend. The plus side is the paint itself does look pretty good aside from the big clear run I saw, my wife and I spent a good 15 minutes examining it under good light. I will for sure need to have paint correction done but that's no surprise. I refused to take the car and they are apparently going to fix the clear coat and attempt to align the panels better. But at this point I just need to cut my losses with these guys, take the car, and fucking fix the fitment myself I guess.

Oh and another fun side note, they want to charge me for the kevlar bumper carrier, even though I sent them a direct link to Schmeidmann to buy the right bumper to begin with. They used their own parts source, got the wrong part, and somehow that cost gets passed along to me? They are giving me a discount of like $1600 on the paint on the original estimate, so I am just going to grin and bear it, and never do business with them again at this point. Its not worth my time or the stress it will create in my life to bother with these people any longer.

[Nate047]

Alrighty so another month, another update Going in to get the car one way or the other tomorrow morning at 10. I asked for them to send me some pictures of the panel fitment and this is what I got. I circled some problem areas I can see in the small pictures, but lemme know what else you guys see. I will post better pictures myself once I have it.

At this point I definitely need to just get the car and part ways with this shop, they have shown me a complete lack of respect for me and my time. From what I gather they are still trying to charge me for the bumper carrier and additional hardware, even though it was their oversight that caused this whole problem to begin with. Anyway.

[oceansize]

For the what you have circled on the rear bumper you probably need one each of these (if your car was made at or after 6/2002):

51127896161
51127896162

Pre 6/2002 is
2 x 51124015053

[Nate047]

For the what you have circled on the rear bumper you probably need one each of these (if your car was made at or after 6/2002):

51127896161
51127896162

Pre 6/2002 is
2 x 51124015053

Good looking out, thank you. It's an early build date (02/2002)

[liam821]

Gaps aside, the paint does look great.

[Nate047]

Gaps aside, the paint does look great.

Yea honestly, it presents pretty well overall. If it weren't for the ridiculous painful process of getting here, I would be less annoyed. I also don't have a washer bottle and that is in fact a bigger deal than some might think. You never realize how small things like that do matter for actual real life use. I have the old one and I ordered a facelift one too so I'll have to try and finagle one of them in there when I take the bumpers off to align them, hopefully within the next week or two when I have time.

[liam821]

Yea honestly, it presents pretty well overall. If it weren't for the ridiculous painful process of getting here, I would be less annoyed. I also don't have a washer bottle and that is in fact a bigger deal than some might think. You never realize how small things like that do matter for actual real life use. I have the old one and I ordered a facelift one too so I'll have to try and finagle one of them in there when I take the bumpers off to align them, hopefully within the next week or two when I have time.

Looks amazing! Mine also has a missing/bad washer bottle, not sure what the previous owner did but it's pretty annoying when you actually need it.

[Nate047]

Looks amazing! Mine also has a missing/bad washer bottle, not sure what the previous owner did but it's pretty annoying when you actually need it.

In the end, it was just a bracket the body shop had bent the wrong way. There is a metal bracket kind of behind and under the brake duct. Like literally, they bent it all wacky for some unknown and confusing reason, and as soon as we bent it back to normal, it the bottle fit fine. We also got the bumper fitting like stock visually. Those guys are giant fucking idiots and I'm glad I never have to talk to them again

[jet_dogg]

What body shop is this? I find in generally almost all of them are incompetent and just cranking out cars, even in socal it's hard to find a good one.

[Nate047]

Fleiner Automotive Company in LA

To summarize:

Brought car in for insurance repair
Arranged a deal with shop owner for a discount on additional paint/body work in trade for photography services
I gave them part numbers for the early model bumper, they ignored me and got the wrong stuff, and charged me about $1600 for their mistake
Job took almost 4 months when it should have been like 3-4 weeks
They gave me a car back that wasn't complete and I had to fix the final fit and finish details with my friend

Full disclosure, I did not shoot anything for them, and no I will not honor that deal if they ever contact me. That offer went out the window when they charged me for their mistakes and didn't even finish the job.

[Singh]

The car looks good man, I am glad that you were able to get it figured out. I fear the shops for the same reason.

[Nate047]

The car looks good man, I am glad that you were able to get it figured out. I fear the shops for the same reason.

Thanks! Needs paint correction and protection now, that's up next.

[jet_dogg]

Don't ever take your car to beverly hills autobody.

Lots of companies bank on profiting from the mere association with an affluent city whereas you will get superior work done by a small shop that doesn't take on more they can handle.

[Nate047]

Haha for sure. I don't know where I'd go next time if/when I need something done. I want to respray my E36 sometime over the next couple years but I just know that's going to be another gigantic pain in the balls.