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Idea for front lip spoiler

12K views 17 replies 10 participants last post by  Trionic3000 
#1 ·
So I've always kind of been trying to figure out a solution for a more aggressive looking bumper on my 9-5. Frustrated by the fact that no one seems to offer an aftermarket "lip" or "splitter" for the 04-06 aero, I came up with an idea while I was looking through different websites. I noticed that Saab sells the front lip from the 9-3 turbo-x individually. Taking a closer look, I saw that the turbo-x front bumper is similar to the shape of my 9-5 aero bumper; And that the lip curves nicely to fit underneath. I figured it was worth checking and sure enough, the front width dimension of the turbo-x is literally 0.1" away from the front width of the 9-5. After alot of eying and comparing photos, I've decided it looks close enough to go for it; And I went ahead and ordered the turbo-x front lip. This weekend I'm planning to try it out and I'll post pictures if it actually works. If it doesn't fit, at least no one will make the same mistake again; And I'll have a turbo-x front lip for sale :)
 
#4 · (Edited)
Well I got the lip and lined everything up. The good news was that I can tell it will look great once it's on; The curves on the sides of the lip line up with the 9-5 aero bumper lines really well! I'm excited to get this thing on the car....

The bad news is that the shape of the 9-3 turbo-x front end slopes in more narrowly than the 9-5's more boxy shape. So the lip doesnt quite reach across to both sides evenly.

The solution will be to cut the lip in half and epoxy a small abs segment in the middle to lengthen the arch of the lip. I feel like the only way it will line up perfectly would be with an exact duplicate of the segment shape that the lip forms. So I'm planning to do an impression of the center section of the lip, and then mold a piece that I can use to "paste" in between the two halves of the original lip.

This might seem like a lot of effort for a silly modification; But I love working on this kind of stuff, so I'm looking forward to the result!
 
#6 ·
I started adding up the cost of the materials/equipment to make an impression and casting of the lip; I realized that with the employee discount I still get at the saab dealership, I might as well just buy a second lip and cut the center section out of it to keep the materials consistent; I'll post some photo's of the process. I was pretty pleased with the results. I can definitely notice two small marks in the lip where the texture changed from the plastic welds, but I doubt I'd see them unless I was looking for it. I'm waiting to have the front bumper re wrapped from the owl I hit a few weeks back before I actually mount it. I put it on temporarily with some 3m tape, I was really happy with the way it looked. Will post final pics after it's all done!
 

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#14 ·
Wanted to chime in on the custom lip. I aftually ran into an issue with the stock ARC lip cracking in two.

I took it off and looked into it more and more and I came to realize that this is actually a soft plastic. I filed groves in them and then used super glue to bind them together to see if it would stay. Good news is, it held up fine. Right now I am debating on filling in the imperfections with something. I am either going to strengthen it with the bumper repair fix that you get at the parts store or I am going to mock something up with urethane calk and maybe templates. We will see.
 
#15 ·
So went to ebay and purchased one of these guys

04-10 BMW E60 5 Series M5 Under Front Bumper Lip Spoiler Splitter (PU) | eBay

From there I repaired my original ARC lip. Started with super glue to keep things in tact and then went the route of getting some permatex plastic weld epoxy to fill in the big chunks of the breaks. The look I am looking for is something subtle but somewhat noticeable.

I will be posting up some pictures of my progress.
 
#17 ·
I'm not really modifying plastic pieces. I am repairing a lip that was broken and then adding a little front spoiler to it in a scenes.

That tool would still come in handy for my valance on my 9000. That thing broken in 2 pieces right at the passenger fog light.
 
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