[NightRyda]

Hi everyone. I’m new to this forum & new to BMW in general. I got a 2007 335i e90 sedan last fall and now want to do some exterior mods. I did a lot of research, but I’m now confused after reading lots of conflicting opinions.

Basically, I want to get either an M3 replica or Mtech rep front & rear end + side skirts from **********s, but I have questions about fitment for pre LCI & LCI…

I know that I have a pre LCI & that LCI is basically a facelift for the e90; but here’s where I get confused…

1) In terms of both of these replica front/rear ends; does the pre LCI & LCI look any different? Ex: Does the pre LCI M3 rep front look any diff from the LCI M3 rep front?

- Whenever I see any pics for these reps, they rarely state if it’s a pre LCI or LCI front or rear; so it’s hard to tell what’s visually diff. Does anyone have any side by side pics? Does pre LCI look more dated than LCI for these reps?


2) Will the LCI front/rear ends for either of these reps fit on my pre LCI e90 and which will take the least amount of mods to get it to fit?

- I would prefer to get an LCI version of these reps because I assume the LCI would look better/less dated than the pre LCI version. I prefer the M3 rep over the Mtech rep, but I’ll choose based on how difficult/expensive it is to get either to fit.


3) For the LCI M3 rep, will I have to get an m3 hood/headlights/fenders or any things like brake ducts, brackets, etc?


4) Since the M3 has a quad exhaust, I’m guessing the M3 rep rear end won’t fit my 335i w/o an exhaust mod… Would I have to get a whole new exhaust or can I just swap the tips out for a quad tip or something?

I prefer to go w the M3 rep, but as a noob I can’t figure out what I’ll need to make this work & if it’s better to go w the Mtech. Anyone who has done this before that could share any info would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance for any advice/help you can offer.

[NightRyda]

I had a few replies to my post which have magicaly disappeared. Now i have to retype all my questions w/o the replies & it's going to be confusing w/o the replies.
Not loving this forum's user interface at all so far

[NightRyda]

Someone please help. I'm lost regarding pre lci & lci replica front ends & this forum somehow deleted the few replies i got.

Basically I want my front end to look exactly like this...



What do I need? I know I need a m3 rep front bumper which I'm getting through **********s, but what kind of hood is this? Is it a rep or OEM and is it LCI or pre LCI? Where can i get it?

Also, what kind of headlights are these and where can I find them?

I know if I go LCI on my pre LCI car, I need the bumper, hood & kidney grills, but what about the fender liners?

**********s sent me pics of a pre LCI & LCI front for both the M3 rep & the Mtech rep (shown below), but each one looks exactly the same visually when comparing pre lci & lci respectively.

What is the visual diff between these front ends when comparing pre lci & lci? The only thing i can think of is the shape of kidney grills may be a bit diff.

For instance: Can someone please explain to me how a pre lci m3 rep front bumper is visually different from a lci m3 rep front bumper? Why will a pre lci one fit w/o a lci hood, when a lci one will only fit w a LCI hood if they look exactly the same? Thanks.

[Supermoon]

Try these websites for the bumper and the hood.

http://ltmotorwerks.com/collections/exterior

http://www.topgearsolutions.com/2006...ber-hoods.html

[NightRyda]

Originally Posted by Supermoon

Try these websites for the bumper and the hood.

http://ltmotorwerks.com/collections/exterior

http://www.topgearsolutions.com/2006...ber-hoods.html

Thanks for the reply. So I'm actually familiar w LT motorworks and all the custom work Long Tran does, but they're stuff is pretty pricey. Have you had any experience with them? Is their quality better than other vendors?

Also, I checked out top gear solutions but there stuff is from Seibon which has a reputation of having awful fitment & poor quality. Have you had any experience with them?

Thanks.

[Fabb]

don't do exterior mod not worth it

[NightRyda]

Originally Posted by Fabb

don't do exterior mod not worth it

Can you elaborate on why you suggest not doing the mods?

[Fabb]

Originally Posted by NightRyda

Can you elaborate on why you suggest not doing the mods?

Just a personal preference. Prefer to spend $$ on something practical like tires or tunes

[jauloz]

for the pre-lci e90,

i personally would do m3 style front bumper, custom the headlight (take out that orange shit, add some rings),

then upgrade the rear to LCI trunk (may be even CSL too), then do LCI tails with it. M-tech bumper, your choice on the diffuser.

but like Fabb said, put some money into a tune and decent suspension first, you enjoy more the car when driving it, not looking at it. (as long as the exterior look decent with minor mods)

[NightRyda]

Originally Posted by jauloz

for the pre-lci e90,

i personally would do m3 style front bumper, custom the headlight (take out that orange shit, add some rings),

then upgrade the rear to LCI trunk (may be even CSL too), then do LCI tails with it. M-tech bumper, your choice on the diffuser.

but like Fabb said, put some money into a tune and decent suspension first, you enjoy more the car when driving it, not looking at it. (as long as the exterior look decent with minor mods)

Thanks for the tip... As far as the exterior mods you suggested, I'm actually doing just that. I'm going for the lci m3 rep front end, lci mtech rep rear end w diffuser, aftermarket headlights (i hate that orange shit), lci m3 hood, and a csl trunk- but Ill get the trunk next month.

I just got confused between all the lci & pre lci stuff & if i'll have any fitment issues. I'm doing the exterior now because I've already upgraded the suspension (KW) and put some 19x9.5 & 19x10 satin black VMR v10's on it as well, and have a jb4 but haven't installed it yet due to my busy work schedule; so all that's left was the exterior.

I don't want to mod the motor too much cuz this is my daily driver, I already have a FI S2000 with a fully built motor and an dc2 integra w a JDM type r motor that's also fully built.

I think the only other thing i'd do for my e90 is down pipes & a FMIC.

[NightRyda]

Hey guys, I appreciate all the advice & tips everyone has responded with. Although my main question still hasn't been answered yet...

What's the VISUAL diff between the pre lci & lci rep front/rear ends? Both the m3 rep & mtech rep look exactly the same when comparing pre lci vs lci respectively.

Is it just the kidney grills? And is that why if you go LCI you need and lci hood to match the shape of the grills?

I'm gonna purchase the body parts next week so I really need to figure this out... I don't wanna buy an LCI front & rear end and then find out after they've been shipped to me that they don't fit w/o major body work.

If it's just that i need to get an LCI hood to make the LCI conversion, then that's no big deal.

If there's visual diff between pre lci & lci, then I'll go pre lci to make my life easier & ensure proper fitment. I also assume that if I went the pre lci route, then i could just use my stock hood -correct?

Someone please shed some light on this soon. Thanks much.

[udm328i]

You have pre lci, so buy compatible parts. I don't think those rep bumpers will vary in appearance, in that regard (pre lci to lci)this only applies to oem parts, I see what your saying about hood, maybe you could find dimensions, but I think fitment should be ok, lci just had slight visual differences

[xXSupa]

The main difference between a pre-lci and a lci part is fitment. Pre-lci parts are made to fit pre-lci cars and lci parts are made to fit lci cars. In terms of appearance, you can even tell for yourself that there isn't anything really noticeable.

Let's start off one-by-one for the parts you listed:

1. M3 Replica Front Bumper
Between pre-lci and lci: 99% identical in terms of appearance. 1% difference because of fitment.

2. MTech Front Bumper
Between pre-lci and lci: 90% identical. The only difference is that the LCI fender flares a little more, and has slightly more aggressive lines. In my opinion, it is not worth it to try and fit the LCI one on your car. A LOT of work needs to be done for very little in terms of appearance.

3. M3 Replica Rear Bumper
Between pre-lci and lci: 100% Identical. Exact same bumper. A lot of companies offer a choice between quad or dual exhaust exit. So you don't necessarily need to mod your exhaust.

4. MTech Rear Bumper
Between pre-lci and lci: 100% Identical. Exact same bumper.

As for the hood you posted, it's a replica as well. BMW does not make M3 hoods for non-M3's. Pre-lci and lci should look 99% identical.
For the headlights you posted, it's still the pre-lci headlights, but I believe some custom work was done on it to white out the orange strips. Likely involved opening up the headlight and painting it or something along those lines.

And for the people telling him to not waste money on cosmetic mods... Let him do what he want, lol. It's his car after all.
Personally, I started with cosmetic mods on my car too before going into performance related stuff. It's all about personal preference and you gotta start somewhere.


Edit: Actually I take back some of the stuff I said. Just realized that the red E90 you posted is pre-lci but did a lci conversion (looking at the grilles). If you plan to buy a new lci front bumper and a new lci hood, then I think it is possible to fit it on. Just need to find a good bodyshop who has experience dealing with aftermarket fittings. I don't have a E90, so I'm not 100% sure on the process, but if you search up "E90 LCI Front Conversion" you should be able to find a few threads of people doing the conversion from pre-lci to lci.

Edit 2: According to this thread I found, you just need a new front bumper, hood, and grilles to do the conversion:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=584647

[NightRyda]

Originally Posted by xXSupa

The main difference between a pre-lci and a lci part is fitment. Pre-lci parts are made to fit pre-lci cars and lci parts are made to fit lci cars. In terms of appearance, you can even tell for yourself that there isn't anything really noticeable.

Let's start off one-by-one for the parts you listed:

1. M3 Replica Front Bumper
Between pre-lci and lci: 99% identical in terms of appearance. 1% difference because of fitment.

2. MTech Front Bumper
Between pre-lci and lci: 90% identical. The only difference is that the LCI fender flares a little more, and has slightly more aggressive lines. In my opinion, it is not worth it to try and fit the LCI one on your car. A LOT of work needs to be done for very little in terms of appearance.

3. M3 Replica Rear Bumper
Between pre-lci and lci: 100% Identical. Exact same bumper. A lot of companies offer a choice between quad or dual exhaust exit. So you don't necessarily need to mod your exhaust.

4. MTech Rear Bumper
Between pre-lci and lci: 100% Identical. Exact same bumper.

As for the hood you posted, it's a replica as well. BMW does not make M3 hoods for non-M3's. Pre-lci and lci should look 99% identical.
For the headlights you posted, it's still the pre-lci headlights, but I believe some custom work was done on it to white out the orange strips. Likely involved opening up the headlight and painting it or something along those lines.

And for the people telling him to not waste money on cosmetic mods... Let him do what he want, lol. It's his car after all.
Personally, I started with cosmetic mods on my car too before going into performance related stuff. It's all about personal preference and you gotta start somewhere.


Edit: Actually I take back some of the stuff I said. Just realized that the red E90 you posted is pre-lci but did a lci conversion (looking at the grilles). If you plan to buy a new lci front bumper and a new lci hood, then I think it is possible to fit it on. Just need to find a good bodyshop who has experience dealing with aftermarket fittings. I don't have a E90, so I'm not 100% sure on the process, but if you search up "E90 LCI Front Conversion" you should be able to find a few threads of people doing the conversion from pre-lci to lci.

Edit 2: According to this thread I found, you just need a new front bumper, hood, and grilles to do the conversion:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=584647

Thanks so much for your reply; this is exactly the kind of info/feedback I was looking for & thanks for the link, I had actually come across that when I was researching things. I just get confused when people post multiple conflicting opinions.

I do agree that the visual diff between pre lci & lci is minimal and it's a pain how much an lci hood costs just to pull off an lci conversion. I prefer to put money into performance over body mods, but as i mentioned this is my daily driver & my turbo s2000 is my race car. I also am hesitant to heavily mod my engine as bmw aren't that reliable... But like you said, you gotta start somewhere.

I really appreciate your help, good looking out. I'm so thankful for this forum. Wish you all the best.

[NightRyda]

Originally Posted by udm328i

You have pre lci, so buy compatible parts. I don't think those rep bumpers will vary in appearance, in that regard (pre lci to lci)this only applies to oem parts, I see what your saying about hood, maybe you could find dimensions, but I think fitment should be ok, lci just had slight visual differences

thanks