warning Onderground MP5 bumper

[sheller]

Hey all,
I just wanted to give you a heads up on this bumper. I just had one installed last week and while quality and fit/finish are fine, it just sits too bloody low. I have H&R sport springs on my car with the stock tires so I sit a little lower but not much and this bumper scrapes on everything. The center part doesn't seem to be a problem but the pieces on each side that hang lower are. I can't take take speed bumps at the speed they are designed for nor come into a slightly raised parking lot at anything more than a crawl. This morning stopping to get a mocha on my way to work I hit a small pothole and it completely crunched both sides that come down.
So, it looks like I'm going to cut those side pieces off entirely (making it even across the bottom of the bumper). I'll see if that doesn't make things better.
I'm not trying to besmirch Onderground's reputation or anything as I'm sure there is this problem from other types of bumpers as well. But, had someone told me that my driveability would suffer this much I would not have gone with this style.
Steve

[babyblueMX3]

what's your ground clearence to the lowest point of the bumper to the ground?

[seneca]

Dood..it can't be that low. I have the same bumper. Stock, my rear sits less than 4" and the front has a good 5-5.5". Just to give everyone an idea, and that's with the K8 in the front too. the only prob. I had w/ onderground was fittment, but that was all worked out! coming out of a parking lot...creeping and still! lol I love the low look, but damnn! It can be tough, but it's a good price to pay for a sexy ride! GEt some pics up so we can take a look at things.

Tyson

[babyblueMX3]

I sit 4-1/2" to the ground with my Pak front and ST springs..bumper needs to be repainted as I scrape a lot

[sheller]

I just checked and I have 1 leatherman's length of clearance...4 inches. Comparing it to the curb that it is in front of it, I am an inch or 2 lower than the stock bumper with GS lip was running. The stock bumper and lip would scrap on the bottom if I got too close to the curb but this is now well below and will solidly smack if I pulled to far foward. Also, before I could pull into my driveway without scraping but now I do scrape (in fact I can't park in my driveway).
So, add the increased likely of scraping to the decreased survivability of it (the fiberglass compared to the urethane) and I stand by my warning that overall driveability suffers. Also, keep in mind that I live in the NW so everything is designed for rain. That means pretty much every parking lot (and everything else) is raised.

[GregoryChristian]

I have the MP5 also and I love the look ...just have to take driveways at a angle, but I have no problems with speed bumps

[seneca]

Yup lol It's all about the angles! Actually I was concidering picking up a hill guage (or whatever it's called) It tells to the angle of decent, so you'd know if you'll bottom out or not. I gave up on that idea and just started eyeing things up. I Still feel bad about my rear. Of course, since I notice it's there I'll ALWAYS notice the scrape :'(

[seneca]

I wonder what the new Blitz sits at???????

[mitmaks]

unless you drive extremely careful or live somewhere in cali, i wouldnt get that kind of front. ive got fx front and car is not lowered and ive bottomed out few times, check out my cardomain see what i mean lol

[GregoryChristian]

hey ,just checked out your mx-3...what's up with the yellow front signals ? did you paint them ?

[seneca]

So far I've bottomed out twice in less than 2 months!!!! Once was comming out of a parking lot. The rear has a nice scrape on the drivers side, and the second was last night!!! I was heading down to the beach, turned into the parking lot (it didn't even look like a drop) and boom. My bumper met gravel! I mean you'd think there would be sand, but the first couple feet was gravel Good ridance to canadian roads!

Tyson

[sheller]

Well, I chopped a couple inches off of each side making it pretty much straight across the entire bottom. This removed most of the damage fiberglass as well as raising it up. Honestly, I think it actually has more ground clearance than the stock bumper with the GS lip on. However, it sits out further than the stock which does mean in some situations it will still hit where the stock stuff didn't.
I'll post pictures next week of how it looks now with the bottom sides chopped. I think it actually turned out pretty well. Most of the "look" that the bumper goes for is still there while making it decidedly more driveable.
Steve

[bmwm3guy]

<img src="http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbullet ... seless.gif" alt=" - " />

lets see what it looks like now..

[GregoryChristian]

any pics yet ??

[sheller]

Ok dokey. Pictures are posted on my cardomain site. A link should be in my address line.
Steve