HankLloydRight
No Roads
The refresh hood is very different from the classic hood (we've been through all this before). A lot more changed than just the plastic bumper, so no, I don't think it's a trivial retrofit.
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The refresh hood is very different from the classic hood (we've been through all this before). A lot more changed than just the plastic bumper, so no, I don't think it's a trivial retrofit.
Either way it should be substantially less than the retrofit bumpers.
Yeah, I'm not basing it on a one-off test mule that was clearly a pre-facelift car fitted with a test mule bumper (the rocker panels were still unchanged). I'm sure by the time it got to production, significant other changes were made, for instance, relocating (or eliminating) the 12-volt jump posts, among many other structural changes noted by owners.
if it really is "substantially less", would there even be a retrofit bumper business?
In 1967-70 loads of 1966 Corvette Coupe (Split Rear Window) owners decided to remove the split in the rear window... As in 1967 Chevrolet had eliminated the splitter on the Vette. They wanted their 66's to have the "new" look... Having done this, eventually as years passed by, they realized that they totally destroyed the value of their coupe. However, it can be "restored" at some considerable expense.
Not saying this would happen with the Model S at all... do not get me wrong.. but I personally would not do anything that could not be "undone". Been there, done that.
I think everything about the X is going to so much better in the next year or so.
Then I will buy one.
It's not "my only argument". We've been through this in great detail in this and/or other threads. People have compared both side-by-side, and among the differences are things like the facelifted cars have very different internal frunk trim. There have been many more changes than just the curvature of the hood -- which, by the way, would look awful with the facelifted front end. I'm not saying it's not possible to figure out how to bolt on a stock facelifted bumper onto an older car, but I am saying it is A LOT more work than that to get it to look and fit right.
Based on what? Have you tried? Have you had a car apart to see the differences? If you haven't then that's not a statement you can make with any degree of certainty. The trim might be different, sure but at the end of the day the bumper cover mounts to the car, not the trim. All I see on the forums is people talking about how it won't work based entirely on speculation and then others repeating it until it's basically just gospel that it can't work. Nobody's actually taken any action. Everybody just talks.
I've looked at both closely with the trim removed. To me it looks even easier than I first suspected. Maybe on AP cars it might be different but on a classic car this looks to be pretty straightforward and there's nothing I've seen so far to suggest that it would be a lot more work than the retrofit kit. I'm not saying it absolutely will or that it will be completely painless but I'm not saying that because I haven't tried. So how people can speak in absolutely when they too haven't tried defies logic to me. Also, I don't know about you but I'm willing to do marginally more work to save a decent amount of money and I'm also willing to do marginally more work to get the lines of the OE bumper which the retrofit does not match, especially near the headlights.
So far the crux of your argument seems to be "if it was easy to do why would the retrofit bumper exist?" and that's a pretty weak point, especially considering that the retrofit bumper was announced just a few weeks after the facelifted car was announced and likely just days after the first facelifted cars were delivered and the pictures on their site appeared to have all been edited, not of any actual existing product. In other words, it's more likely than not that they hadn't even set eyes on a facelift car in person before announcing that retrofit bumper and yet you cite the existence of said product as proof that it wouldn't work.
I don't put a lot of merit in internet speculation though and I have a hard time taking people seriously when they assure me something can't be done or can't be done easily and they speak when they have made no attempt to try and are presumably basing their opinions off of others that also have made no attempt to try. I've owned two performance companies and have spent nearly two decades on forums watching people speak in absolutes about what will and won't work only to then be proven wrong by me or others. And I'm not some magical wizard. I just don't follow the logic of dismissing something outright without even attempting it. I've been wrong before too. I've been wrong a lot. But I try.
So if you want to tell me specifically what won't work or what will be "a lot" more work to retrofit and you can say this based off of specific parts you've seen not match up that you're sure couldn't easily be addressed, I'm all ears. If you're just telling me people have compared pictures and angles then you're in no better position to say it won't easily work than I am to say it will. The difference is that I'll try and if I'm wrong I'll be the first to say it.
But when I say it can/ can't be done easily it will be because I did it, not because I compared pictures on the internet and declared it to be too hard.
are you planning on doing this? whats pricing like on the facelifted front bumper? This is something I'm interested in now that I have a car in pieces
This tickles my interest - trying to make it fit/work?(I bought an LED headlight last week)