$89 USP front lower valence (pics)

[lookaught]

After 9 years of wanting to put a USP lower valence on my car, I finally did. I took a risk by ordering a knock off lower from Discount Body Parts. It's not the same gray color as the original bumper, but I'm going to wrap my whole car so color match is not important to me. Although considering the matte black finish, if I wasn't going to wrap the whole car I'd consider just wrapping the rest of the unpainted lower parts in flat black vinyl. The part can be found here:http://www.discountbodyparts.com/det...PA017501P.html

The total shipped cost to me was $89. Pretty cheap, particularly considering I live in Lander, Wyo. It arrived in a huge Box, not packaged very well but it did arrive without damage other than a little tiny chip on the bottom.

I have always wondered about fitment of these knock off parts, so here are the install pics. It took about three hours start to finish. I used a regular angle grinder with a 4.5" cutting disk, it makes quick work of the plastic, way faster and easier than a dremel or a hacksaw:

Before shot of car:


Have to trim extra off the USP along the bottom where the grill tabs are to fit the intercooler:


After:




Close up, I don't know if all USPs fit just a tiny bit off because it's being stretched onto a bumper cover that it's not designed to fit on, or if this part is just not quite perfect, but there is a very slight gap about 1/16" to 1/8". Can't notice it from eye level though, only when down looking at it up close:


The trimming, which is covered in the DIY, is pretty simple. cut off everything except the two large center supports that separate the grills, and trim the fog light areas down quite a bit. THis is what I had left of the center supports, some people trim even more but I left them generally intact for the extra rigidity, and riveted the USP to them rather than relying on the two snap tabs:


And the fog light supports, most of the time spent trimming is done here:




Dark photo but this is all I was left with of the original bumper cover:


Attach with two rivets on the center supports, two zipties near the fog lamps, and the two original screws from the inside of the bumper (no pic):










And there you have it, the $89 USP lower.

[MurkyRivers_A4]

The gap is quite common on the aftermarket pieces. Mine has it too but its pretty damn noticeable since my car is white.

Good job though. The USP front makes a wold of a difference on the car and even more so when its color matched.

[jpulll]

Sweet! Hope the fenders turn out good too!