My front bumper cover has a crack and is scratched to hell. My rear bumper cover has tons of indentations from being bumped by other cars that were parking (their front license plate bolts gouged my bumper, apparently)

I want to get a Stillen kit this summer and I don't want to install it with ugly front and rear bumpers. What is the cheapest route to getting them both replaced with real Nissan OEM bumper covers? The options I can think of are:

1. Dealer [rip off]
2. Salvage yard or car-part.com [not new so probably scratched; have to find matching color]
3. eBay "virtual bodyshop" type place [cheap and primed but not Nissan OEM]
4. Discount Nissan parts store [cheap and apparently OEM but will have to pay shipping]

I would be willing to consider used covers if they were in immaculate condition, but that would be very hard to find. So I want new parts. I'm thinking that option #4 is my best bet.

A quick web search has turned up Everything Nissan (front bumper cover $155.38, rear $150.99) and Nissan Parts Pro, which is insanely cheap and claims to be OEM but I'm suspicious... (front $78.16, rear $45.49).

I appreciate anyone's input!

P.S. I also need an idea of how much a body shop will charge to paint front and rear bumper covers and the Stillen kit. I want OEM Nissan black paint and clearcoat, etc., and I want to do both the bumpers and the kit at the same time to save money (maybe a little?). Is black cheaper than other colors?

 

i got a replacement front bumper off ebay for 49 plus 40 something shipping, it was great , i would do that

 

Perfect fit and appearance or did you notice any slight differences from the stock/OEM cover?

 

Certifit:
4500 West Burnham Street
Milwaukee, WI 53219-1607 Tel: (414) 385-5000
Fax: (414) 389-9106

 

What is that place?

 

i wouldnt trust ebay bumpers. I bought one off of ebay $80 shipped. And I had fitment issues. I had to toss it out.

 

That's what I thought, thanks for sharing your personal experience.

 

Certifit is one of the major aftermarket body parts brands/places.. they're not bad, but I have yet to see an aftermarket cover fit like the OEM..
on the 3rd gen, all of the aftermarket ones don't fit right under the headlight and corner light, to the corners stick out about an inch over the bumper. looks pretty stupid if you ask me. went through two of those on my old GXE, then finally forked over the money for an OEM.. fit perfectly.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...948000215&rd=1

this guy has good stuff, jsut check feedback when buyign on ebay

 

Yeah Matt, that's my view. I really do not want anytrhing but true OEM Nissan. I e-mailed this Nissan Parts Pro place about whether their parts are indeed true OEM Nissan and am awaiting their response. Price is too good to be true but they do include the OEM part number...

 

OK, I'm going to post what my friend Broaner PMed me regarding getting new bumper covers painted at a body shop:

The design of the Maxima bumpers is such that it is required to blend. Remember how mine was different? On the Max the seams between the bumper and body are vertical rather than horizontal. If you notice, most modern cars have minimal vertical seems for this reason. The eye will not notice if paint doesn't match on a horizontal line. Your brain will just tell you its a shadow. But when its a vertical line even a very slight difference is very perceptible. Seeing as your car is 6 years old it is very faded (Sorry to say, but even black fades.) If it were new they could easily just spray the KH3 code on it and be done. But to match correctly and perfectly they will have to blend into the 1/4 panel and front fender. It will cost ~$400 for each. If you do prep work like remove the old bumper and install the new one it'd be more like $200 each. Let me inform you how painting bumpers works. Since it will be brand new it is required to paint the cover off the car. This way they can get paint in all the way behind so it won't flake at the seam. They will do the blending at the same time to make sure the conditions don't change and alter the laydown of the material. As I've said before Maaco is just as good as any other place if you pay for their high level service. Gates does a fantastic job also as is evident in the gloss of my front end.

Anyone have any further advice? $400 just to get the bumper covers painted is steep but not surprising to me because I know that a good paint job is extremely expensive. Maybe my best bet really is going to a salvage yard and finding used Super Black front and rear bumper covers in much better condition than mine...