stillen body kit

toner123

See i really don't care about it being three pieces. I care more towards when those three pieces come together if they will look as one, meaning the lines will come together and not be any overlay that requires sanding or building it up with bondo.
Frank

Kyle@STILLEN

In regards to it clearing your intakes or the intercooler, that I have no idea. If it were my own personal vehicle, it wouldn't worry me. I would make it work. However, I take on projects with more of a custom approach than most people anyways. For example, when I installed our urethane roll pan on my Titan I removed the factory back up sonars and molded them into the roll pan. It was a pretty simple affair really, simply found my desired mounting location, grabbed the whole saw and cut it out. Then filed in the corners to accept the clips and it was done, only took about an hour to do all four.

In regards to the 3 piece design. That was done to reduce shipping costs. It is actually VERY easy to fill that gap in someone's driveway if they are willing to take on a custom project in their driveway for a couple hours on a weekend. The gap is very small however it is not invisible if you don't fill it. We do provide a two part epoxy that is very easy to work with and use to fill that gap. I actually would not recommend bondo. Bondo does not stick very well to urethane and if not done professionally has a very good chance of seperating later on.

Basically, when you get your fascia, sand down the edges of the two mating surfaces. make sure you scuff it up well enough to get rid of any shine in this area. If it's shiny, it won't stick...simple as that! Don't worry about sanding too much as you are going to fill that area, just give it a nice radius and a good surface to adhere to. Once you have prepped the area, insert the provided nuts and bolts in to the structural support area on the rear flange. Now, mix the supplied two part epoxy and pour it into the channel and spread evenly. You will only have about 15-20 minutes before it sets up so you don't want to waste your time but at the same time, 15 minutes is more than enough time to complete this. Once you have put enough epoxy in the gap, tighten down the bolts holding the corners together. Once these bolts are tight it should squeeze some epoxy out. Take some of that epoxy and blend it back over the top of the line. Let it sit for about an hour or two so that it is hard enough to work with. Once it has entirely set up, simply sand down the epoxy to smooth out any bumps.

At this point you can call the project finished, or you can take one extra step if you're a perfectionist. If it were my personal vehicle, I would let the epoxy set up for a couple of days and let the fascia rest in the corner of my garage. Sitting on the bottom, not the corners. Sometimes epoxies and urethanes can shrink and this shrinkage can pull back into the gap a little bit. Most people will never see it, but if you're a perfectionist, you'll look for it. So, after you've let the fascia rest for a few days come back to it and inspect it. If the epoxy has shrunk, simply mix a small batch of epoxy and blend it across that line. You may or may not need to sand it down again. This is just a final detail touch. Like I said, most people won't need to worry about it.

This whole process from start to finish will probably take you 2-3 hours. If you're a professional who has done this type of work before, more along the lines of 2 hours. This really is a very easy project.

Once the fascia has been prepared, make sure your painter uses primer!!! They will tell you that they use an "adhesion promoter" for urethane parts...Adhesion promoter does not work as well as primer. USE PRIMER!!!

toner123

Thank you kyle for jumping in. I am going to do a little more research and then i am going to go from there. I watched videos of you guys mounting the three pieces and and then installing the bumper and you guys really do make it look easy and like a 3 year old can do it, but then I hear these guys on the forum who are having fitment issues and they all seem to be very car savy. So I am kind of torn. i like the look of it and it has a very nice price tag compared to other brands who make there bumpers out of the same material. Once again thanks for your time
Frank

toner123

hey just to let everyone know I spoke to john at z1 on aim and he said that the stillen V2 bumper is good quaility. He installed one on to a 370 with the gtm twin turbo kit and said he did have to do a good bit of shaving. So I think now the stillen bumper is in the runnings again and this is the one i am leaning towards.
Frank

simota1

to the original post... and on an honest note.... i love the stillen front bumper... but the 3 piece is just fail.... the only time ill ever get it is if they made it one piece.... here is something to think about... poly is flexible so when someone thuds your car... it wont dent but just kinda absorb the impact and flex.... kyle is right about the bondo part... it WILL seperate no doubt about it.... the reason why is bondo dries hard like a rock... and wont flex... so when you start driving the bumper starts to get shaken and goes through vibrations boom... the poly and bondo seperates... as for epoxy sticking to poly... its a better alternative but i imagine it will seperate in the future as well... it lasts longer though cuz epoxy is a lil flexible for a little while.... but once that baby hardens like a rock also.... and your bumper flexes at that point for any lil reason.. that part will hairline crack... the best alternative is using polyurethane filler... because its flexible and is the correct method of joining the three pieces together.. the only thing is that you need a gun and is sold in a two part tube kinda like a caulking from home depot but two canisters... the gun is needed so you can dispense it evenly and at the same time.... i recommend having a shop that does this method because the filler cost like 80 bucks for the two fillers and almost 200 for the gun... [i live on guam so i dont know if it costs cheaper in states] (this is the way i would recomend if you are absolutely hell bent on getting the bumper.... its really nice thats why ) but even then im still not sold on it when i can use this method because i think of the 3 piece bumper like a broken bone... it is never as good as a 1 piece and it has been broken already so it will always be weaker than a bone that hasnt been broken.... i hope i made sense... on a serious note and personal opinion i would stay away from it.... you gotta pay to play... get the amuse FTW

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toner123

Thank you for your response. I was thinking of the amuse but I really just don't like the look of it. Also I am not understanding the whole fext thing. The stillen bumper three pieces get bolted down from reading the directions and kyles post. I could see your point more if they were just held together by only the glue. I think more along the lines they tell you to put the glue that way it sqeezes out into the crack to help fill it. Or are you meaning by using the glue to fill the crack that is what actully is going to start to crack and cause flaws in the paint? sorry for not understanding i am sure you put it in a good enough explanation but i am stupid in the body work area.
Frank