It's been in the shop for over three weeks due to a ford explorer taking a right turn from the left lane in front of me making me clip his back bumper. He ran with probably less than a scratch, I was left with 5g's of damage. However, I took advantage of the situation to get an aftermarket front bumper and euro headlamps. However, I have had a few issues with LLTEK and the RSR Aero bumper. I wanted the RS4 front bumper, but can't afford 1200 for the real thing and LLTEK was back ordered 4 weeks on the Reiger bumper so I opted to go with the new RSR bumper that is made out of poly-urethane (sp?).

Anyway ordered the bumper on Tuesday July 25th, and they said I would get it by the next week. Well the person taking the order was obviously wrong, since I did not recieve it until Monday August 7. Called them on Wednesday, August 2nd, and the shipping department said that it was getting the fog lights put on and having the mesh molded to the bumper for me, and said I would have it in 5-6 business days. I called back after finding out I can get the OEM bumper in 2 days to cancel since it wasnt even boxed or anything and I just wanted my baby back. They said they have been full of orders since June, so I figured why would I be charged if they can just send it to someone else and that person can get it quicker.

Called LLTEK to cancel and said that the shipping department was wrong, my bumper was already boxed up on the pallet to be shipped that afternoon. They wanted to charge me $350 in restocking fees, box fees, etc. After exchanging words with Mark for about 15 minutes, I decided to give up and said fine I'll wait for it, he said he would throw something special in for me as a thank you. So I was happy after that patiently waiting for my bumper.

Finally came the following monday and the body shop called me and wanted me to come out and look at it. The primer was already chipping off, which LLTEK said is because the people who actually make it use a not so good quality primer, but it is a courtesy so I shouldn't complain. Why prime it at all if you are going to make more work for the shop to take it off? Which ended up taking an air hose and blowing it all off in 15 minutes. I paid $94 for the matching grille for the hood, usually 188, because of a deal going on. The grille had dips that looked like a dremel went too far in, and was not very good quality at all. Which I dont expect much, but for 180 bucks you would thing the front part that everyone can see shouldnt have visible marks and dents in it. However, it did fit perfectly.

The holes that were drilled for the fog lights were not done very well, again a complimentary thing that LLTEk does that it doesn't do for everyone. The mesh grille was not molded to the bumper as promised, and apparently that is complimentary as well and since mine was rushed through it was not done even though I was told it would be done. The bumper also have nicks and parts that had to be filled in (about 8 different places each being half an inch long). The body shop owner even called to bitch for 15 minutes without my knowledge because of the quality. I don't expect OEM quality from any aftermarket company, but I mean come on I'm paing $660, almost $100 more than stock, and they still do that shitty of a job?

Also, in the installation manual it says to take out the brackets that hold the pop up washers and hoses and fog lights out of stock bumper, and spray glue on the new bumper to attach the brackets, then tape to the car for the glue to set in. You are supposed to be able to use the supplied glue can, which they give you one, my shop ended up using almost three.

The whole point of this post is to rant a little, and make sure anyone buying a bumper or kit from LLTEK knows what to expect, cause I sure didn't. If I was told that the primer that comes with is pointless, the holes they will drill for you are not done well, that you will need to fill in parts and mistakes that were done when making the bumper, and that I will need to glue on all the parts because for some reason they don't all align the same so everyone has to be done seperately per car, I might have thought twice. And if I did buy it anyway, I would at least know what was in store for me.

And if they are backed up and it will take 3 weeks to fill an order, shoudn't they say something on the website or when you make an order? "Sir, just so you know, this bumper is in high demand and it will probably take a week before the bumper is shipped out, and if you want the fog light holes drilled and mesh formed to the bumper it is complimentary, but will take longer to get you your bumper." Now was that so hard? And the "thing" he threw in was a pair of $10 walmart fog lights, probably the ones they sell for $70. Anyway I'm done, I get it back tomorow so hopefully after everything I am at least happy with the outcome, even though it cost me an extra $200 to get all the chips filled in, mesh and fog lights put in etc.

So just know when you get an aftermarket bumper, at least from LLTEK (he said any after market bumper will need chips filled in, primer redone, etc.) the primer sucks and will need to be removed and redone so ask that it not even be put on, there will be chips that need to be filled before priming and painting, holes will need to be drilled for fog lights, pop-up washers, etc., mesh will need to be formed and installed by the shop, that the brackets in the stock bumper that hold everything in will need to be removed and glued into the new bumper overnight, and that all this will be at your cost because if LLTEk does it it will be complimentary, not done for all customers so you don't know if it will get done or not, and you don't know how good a job since they are rushing these through and sacrificing quality for time. So I would reccomend doing everything yourself so you know it is done well.

If you have actually read this far congradulations, I'll have pics up this weekend so you can see what it loks like once a great bodyshop does their magic!

 

WOW, that kind of sucks, but how is the finished product look?

Put some pics up, I to have been looking at the bumper instead of the RS4 one.

 

Have not personally seen it, the car is not going to be put back together until tommorow morning, but in terms of fit and alignment it was almost perfect. I'll post tommorow after I get to see it on the car and take a couple pics.

 

If you ditch the rs4 one let me know