First, a little background...so when I purchased my RA back in November, I had ordered it to be shipped to Ann Arbor Mitsu, in MI, since they didn't have any in stock at the time. Well, along the way I guess it got taken off the truck in Ohio and a dealer there prepped it for sales...apparently they didn't know it was supposed to stay on the truck and go to Ann Arbor Mitsu to be prepped here. That's fine, no big deal - they got another truck to take it up.

Now, while the car was in Ohio; they drilled holes (poor drill job too) into the bumper cover for a front license plate, because they're required to have a front plate there. I now have no use for these two holes with rubber grommets in them, since we aren't required to have front plates... Instead of ordering a new bumper cover and waiting for it to come in/get painted...I was thinking of doing something along the lines of an X bumper, where it has "snouts" in the black plastic center piece.

Like this:


If I remember correctly, the black center bar on the RA is not removable like the X's are...so I'm thinking my buddy who runs a body shop can probably just cut the rectangular sections out of the bumper and fabricate some rigid plastic inserts.

What do you guys think? If I were to do this, I'd probably get a side mount frame and stick this on it:


Keep in mind that my end goal is to find something to do about the two holes, because they stick out like a sore thumb to me - I'm not necessarily trying to "look like an X" but it seems like a viable solution
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PS. Thanks Bye2u for the source picture above, and inspiration.

 

go for it

 

I'd say try it out too, and let us all know how it works out.

If you ever upgrade your FMIC to a larger one, those extra 'vents' could help improve airflow, too

 

i vote for cutting the slots in the bumper. i think it will look good.

i believe you will also have to cut out some "foam" behind the bumper.

 

FTW do it

 

go for it; it looks good; I just hope you don't end up screwing up your front bumper; that piece is only found at Mitsu dealer right now, and I bet you it's 800 bucks or more

 

what about this?

http://www.bodykits4me.com/product/3...nt_Bumper.html

 

I had considered doing a bumper swap...but I don't want a fiberglass copy (it doesn't say, this is just an assumption) of an X bumper. I've grown accustom to the durability of the plastic . And, it doesn't say if its the wide-body bumper or not...if it was wide-body I'd have to get fenders for it too, then my front would be wider than my rear, .

I'm meeting with my buddy on Monday to see if he can do it this week or not, I'll let you guys know how it goes (and take pictures.) I've got a minor concern that the black bar is giving some structural support to the whole bumper, if so we'll have to get some tough plastic inserts to make up for the amount of material we're removing.

 

great job going out on a limb to see what works!

 

if you do have a bigger intercooler for the RA then it probably would be better to do an Evo X front bumper for better airflow for the intercooler but i dunno ive been looking around for a different bumper