I thought I had read about someone doing this but I cant find it. I bought a 05-06 XK8 front bumper cover for my 97 XK8 for $165. It's in great shape. I put it on today just to see what I'm up against. Fits nice. I will need to add some shims under a few bolts on the core support( the 4 in the middle). I will need new fender liners. I will need a front lower filler panel. That looks about it. Everything looks to line up nice. I really like the look alot better. I will also need new fog lights. I could use a picture of what that filler panel looks like. I have to take the cover back off to paint it. I will post step by step pictures to let everyone see how it works. Let me know if anyone has done this. Maybe some extra tips for me. Thanks,Mike.

 

I cant answer your question but sure would love to see what it looks like. I bought my XKR needing a front bumper and I am amazed at what they want for a used 97-01 cover. Since I do business with a factory in China I actually thought about having some covers made and selling them, heck at half of what every one else charges I would still make a couple bucks.

I prefer the 05-06 bumper and have wondered the same thing. Since im a body/paint guy (for my own stuff) and now knowing this will work I might just give it a shot. Please post some pictures when you can I would love to see.

 

What are you going to do with your old bumper?

 

The old bumper cover is cracked and has a hole on the side. I bought the car this way.

 

You will need the undertray, you can use your original liners if you wish and fit filler panels, the 4 bolts at the top will require roughly a 5/8 spacer on 4 of them...

I have done this conversion around 50 times, very easy to do, but I would suggest also adding the side sill covers, you can get away with your old rear bumper

This is a 96MY XK8

 

I will add the side sill covers if I can find them cheap. Do the sill covers bolt on?

 

Here are a few pictures of what I have done so far. Just checking to make sure everything fits.

 

Keep us informed. Mine, a 2006, old type XKR is scuffed up badly from too steep of a store drive way and needs painting.

 

how difficult of a job was it to remove the old bumper

 

May I suggest, if you're going thru all this, install a 2005-6 XKR front grille.

 

Getting the old bumper cover off wasn't to hard. I know it helped by removing the hood first. There are alot of bolts. Getting the headlights out was the hardest. As for the XKR grill, I just dont like the flat mess look. I'm going to stick with the original 97 XK8 grill for now.

 

Wow, that's gonna look neat with the XK8 bumpers. Get the Mina lower grille. I'd even consider doing the 3 piece XKR grille too.

 

Here we go.............Got started today on the bumper cover. Over the year's I found out the best way to paint bumper covers is to make a stand to hold them. Make it as if the bumper cover was bolted to the car. Keeping the same shape and size. Keeping the bumper cover from flexing while you work on it and paint it is very important to the longevity of the paint, you will not get spider cracks and paint starting to chip and peal. I keep the bumper cover on the stand through the whole process from sanding and body work to color sanding and buffing it out. The last picture the bumper, it is painted silver metalic. I've learned that the plastic bumper covers tend to be darker than the rest of the car after painting. So I use a little bit lighter base coat as a primer. I will paint the bumper cover next week . I am not a paint and body guy, I just do this for myself at home in my garage. It's getting there.

 

Looks good, cant wait to see it finished. Same fog lights from the 97 fit the 05/06 right ?

 

good update, almost done!

 

No, the fog lights from the 97 do not fit. I had to buy some for the 05-06.

 

Looks good, cant wait to see the finished product!

Where'd you get the spray paint from? Did you have it mixed for you or use an online supplier? Do you have a compressor or did you get aerosol cans?

Looks like you got some aftermarket wheels on there too, I'd be interested to see a few more pics of those!

 

What kind of paint are you using? Most 2K urethanes requires a flexible additive for parts as bumpers to avoid the cracking.

 

The paint I'm using is the Omni brand. It's made by PPG. I will have to add flex additive to the clear coat. I've talked with some painters and you can get away with not using a flex additive on the plasitc bumper that are fixed solid and do not move around on the car. Flex additive back in the day was used only for reassembly of the bumper keeping the paint soft so as you move the bumper around it wouldn't crack on you. Todays flex additive will last for ever and helps resist rock chips and if you have a small mishap and actually use your front bumper as a bumper the paint wont crack and fall off.I mix the paint at the local NAPA. I've been working with the guy's over there for over 20yrs and I think we got it down on how to mix the paint. I spray it right in my garage with a HVLP spray gun.

 

Mixed up the paint today and getting ready to spray the bumper Friday. I will see if I can take some pictures while I'm painting. The picture I posted is of the base coat paint, the Urethane clear, the topcoat hardener and flex additive. The base coat paint is a 1:1 mix with a medium reducer.