What's the difference?

[Mercguy04]

What is the difference between these to aftermarket front bumpers?
Here is the URL from ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-FRONT-BUMPER-COVER-2003-2004-MERCURY-MARAUDER-03-04-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem5a dd2a1c45QQitemZ390257581125QQp tZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fParts Q5fAccessories

[musclemerc]

No diffrence Russell, its the same bumper with a front and rear pic

[MMBLUE]

I remember someone recently posting a thread that had a CVPI MM clone or a GM clone, and bought one of these and said it was a POS. I'm not the best on the search button, but bluerauder claims he's the best J/K. Anywho, maybe you can find it.

[BurpyTurtle]

If you are going to buy a front bumper on ebay, go to somebody like Prestige Bumper (user name prestigebumpersinc) and get one of their repaired & reconditioned original MM bumpers, add the prep service and have it shipped in a box. It ends up costing about $725. But you get a prepped original MM bumper that is ready to paint.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130445320515

[Marauder Rick]

that pic is like an optical illusion

[fastblackmerc]

Many have had fitment issues with non-Ford, ie. aftermarket body parts.

[FordNut]

I've had two aftermarket fronts with absolutely no fitment problems.

People who try to put one on a CV or GM have problems because they aren't Marauders. The same fitment problems would exist if they had tried to install an OEM MM bumper.

[BurpyTurtle]

There shouldn't be a problem fitting a MM bumper to a MGM of the appropriate years. Headlights, front(header) panel and corner lights are interchangeable - the only difference is the color.

The CV has a different front panel than the MM or MGM - the headlights are different too. Also the corner lights attach with only one bolt through the front panel, not two as in the MM/MGM. and unmodified MM bumper won't fit to a CV. I've read where somebody supposedly split the bottom half MM bumber and attached to top half of a CV bumper to get the foglights. Never seen a picture though.

Personally, I'd rather have a reconditioned original bumper than an aftermarket. But then again, I'm not certain that I could identify an aftermarket bumper if I saw one.

YMMV

[Glenn-ho]

I have found that an aftermarket part could fit one time and not the next. Take sheet metal for example. The OEM manufactures know that after pressing a said amount of parts the stamp wears out and the parts will no longer fit properly. Do you think the Chinese aftermarket part manufactures will throw away a stamp before it falls apart? As far as reconditioned bumper covers quality of repair varies from vendor to vendor. If I had a choice I would go with the reconditioned OEM before an aftermarket bumper cover. Talk with the auto body shop that is going to refinish the cover for you. They know what vendors do quality reconditioning. I see a lot of aftermarket parts that are junk. They cannot make the part exactly to OEM specs due to copy write infringement. Something has to be different. I know for a fact the aftermarket rear bumper covers will not have Marauder on it.