So, somebody hit my 03 Z bumper a few weeks ago and put a nasty crack/dent in it and messed up the paint pretty bad.

The estimate from a collision center was $723. I've been seeing body kits (unpainted, of course), for around $800-900 that look relatively great. Of course I'm staying away from Duraflex, but I've seen a few VIS kits that look decent..

How hard are they to install and get to fit correctly? I don't want to be driving around such a nice car with a kit that leaves gaps and overlaps all over the place.

Here's the kits I was looking at, if anyone was wondering.
http://www.andysautosport.com/nissan...r00238463.html
http://www.andysautosport.com/nissan...r00238484.html

 

Hey welcome to the forum. Have you searched the bodywork section as I'm sure you'll get some good honest opinions as to what fits and looks the best, but then again looks are purely down to personal opinion.

 

In my experience, body kits almost never fit perfectly and need a lot of work to get everything to match. Is there any other body work done to the car? If not, it will look VERY out of place to only have that bumper on the car with stock sides and rear.

 

I personally think the aero you picked looks hideous, but that's just me. From personal experience I can tell you Duraflex isn't even bad. It all depends on who is the person that installs your aero. Make sure he is familiar with fiberglass. If he is crafty he can get rid of the minor imperfections.

 

With no body work experience or fiberglass skills, nearly impossible. With prereqs, not hard at all. And yes, those kits are pretty atrocious.

 

i was involved in a hit and run and the guy messed up my bumper pretty good, I bought a "vis" bumper at least i was told it was a vis, but anyway its the amuse 370z front bumper, I test fitted it a week ago and the fitment was horrible, the mesh grille sits so far in that i have to take a saw zaw to the bumper so i have enough clearance to mount the bumper properly, in all honesty its going to take at least a full day of messing with the front bumper cutting and molding to make it fit right, try to find a used bumper off of the fourms or on craigslist that has already been mounted

 

Not a fan of your selections.
Check body kits from Shine.They fit very well.
They make e'm in house(CA).Check their website to see
if any look good to you.All I know is all the parts I've bought from them
fit perfect.So my referral is not the usual,"I hear/my buddy says " etc.

 

Don't think it was a VIS then unless it says VIs on the inside of the bumper (obviously). They're usually pretty good with fitment.

 

I helped my cousin fit a duraflex bumper on his g, and it actually fit pretty well, no major modifications needed. But I saw pictures from a body shop of a rear bumper that was about 4 inches too wide. It needed some serious work. Idk they're too hit and miss for me. Shine auto has great stuff, I'm running their sideskirts

 

I'm looking for a front bumper, skirts, and rear bumper. not worried about the color at the moment, as I have someone who will be painting it after i get everything done to the exterior.

 

I've heard nothing but bad things about duraflex.. I'll be sure to check out Shine, though!

 

Installation is easy, but tweaking it to fit properly is best done by a professional with experience.

 

Installation and fitment should be spot on if you buy a good name brand kit. I've personally installed several kits on my car and have had zero fitment issues and no gaps, and I don't have any body work experience ( had them all painted professionally first ). Save up and buy the real thing if you can...and want it to fit correctly.

 

Duraflex offers a satisfaction guarantee. If your bumper is off, has blemishes, etc you can tell them and they can get you a new bumper. There's no reason to stay away from it.

As well, unless you have professional experience doing body work I wouldn't even try installing it myself. Think about it like this. You have two exactly similar steaks. You cook one and a pro chef cooks the other. Obviously the one the chef made is going to taste better, but the difference? Exact same piece of meat, just different chef. The same goes for body kits. A great body shop will mean the difference. Can you install this yourself? Yeah perhaps. Should you? Probably not.

 

buy something OEM & save yourself the hassle.

 

You could buy a vis body kit and try to install it yourself, or shove shuttes of bamboo under your toenails. Both would be equal