I prefer 93 front end with 99 spec lip.

 

Old thread is old....


I am starting to come full circle. When this thread was created I would have voted 99+ all the way. Now I am starting to prefer the 93 bumper but with the 99 lip. To me that looks the best and whenever I go 'retro' that's what I am going with.


Lol at the Hitler mustache.... Anyway when the OEM 99 bumper first came out I thought it was hideous with the plate holder. Now remember at the time there wasn't any plateless bumpers and yet our eyes told us that it was off. That is the reason why the plateless bumpers were created in the first place. The demand of people not agreeing with the aesthetics of the original.

Eventually, the OEM plate bumper grew on me to the point that I couldn't/can't decide which looks better. So when it came time to purchase mine I rationalized that there was something there in regards to my initial first impression. I ended up going with the plateless due to my my initial reaction of 'it just doesn't look right' and therefore ignoring what I grew on me.

Anyway some eye candy:





Which looks better? I'm still leaning with the plateless but w/plate looks damn good too.

 

i like the stock 93 look, thats why i kept it! love any FD though cant lie

.

 

I like the way the 93 bumper looks....not how it warps.

 

I like plateless bumpers. I also like a lot of the aftermarket bumpers as well. I think the 99 design is more performance oriented and lets more air for better cooling. If you can get a 93 bumper to work cooling wise, and I had it on the car, I would use the 93. I do think both look good.

 

I'm about to get my car painted and I have a plateless 99 replica bumper that I had assumed I would use. But now I think I'll stick with the old nose.
Aesthetically, for a while I considered the 99 to look "better" and fresher, but now I think the early front end with smaller more ovoid openings may be more in keeping with the overall character of the design, sculpted with no hard edges/lines/corners. The 99+ gives the car a more "friendly", extroverted and engaging look, which I do like. The early nose is a little less overt and obvious, with maybe even the slightest hint of malevolence...

Functionally, the 99+ nose has larger openings for more airflow, but the earlier nose gives less drag and lift at the front of the car, to the extent that they had to make the 99+ splitter larger to keep the same front end lift as the earlier nose with the smaller splitter. Since I have no overheating issues at the track or on the street in traffic in 95F temps with the A/C on, I don't think I need the larger opening.

Thinking I'll stick with the early nose and the 99+ splitter that was on the car when I got it.

Regarding the obvious afterthought of the 99+ license plate brick, it just ruins the nose. A square brick grafted onto the nose of an otherwise swoopy and sculpted car is totally jarring and out of place. I guarantee that if the factory nose had been clean and someone grafted on an identical brick to mount a front license plate, NO one would think the brick nose looked better.

 

I've been on the fence about this for a while. I agree that the '93-'95 front bumper integrates more harmoniously with the curvy body lines. The '99+ looks more modern and racy, in my eyes, and I would definitely pair it with the newer rear signal lights if I were going that way.

Voting with my bucks and hands, I think I'll keep my '93 body parts and just add the R1 front spoiler and the '99+ adjustable rear spoiler for increased downforce.

 

My recently installed setup. 99 lip in carbon fiber on a 93 front bumper.

 

93-5 with the MazdaSpeed lip fits the rest of the body better than the 99 imo.



Jason

 

I re-read through this...
Some good points and some frustration...

I voted for the '93, I don't dislike the '99 w/o plate, I am very bothered by the one with the plate.

As I am an architect and a designer, I can see the points ptrhahn made over and over. While your taste is personal and you might like the plated '99 for whatever personal reason, objectively, the design is simply out of sorts and plainly ugly, from a design standpoint. Many have highlighted why, no need to repeat, every single point was pretty much bang on.

I am going to add that the '99 lights do not go with the design of the car, create a copule of sharp ends, are not at all aligned with the lines coming from the flip ups and the hood and therefore are in my opinion the major reason why it is not as nice a bumper as the 93.

I do agree that the plateless '99 has a large space from the edge of the hood to the front opening and I do see why people have such a problem with that, to end up preferring the one with plate horrible box. I believe that even with the emblem that area is a bit too vast, with no ridges, lines, opening, which is the reason why I do not prefer the '99 to the '93.

Noted that the '99 solves several heat dissipation related issues, if you don't have those, I believe 93 is the way to go. The '93 is perfectly integrated in the design of the car and I prefer its grunt to the loopy smile of the '99.

Regarding the lip, I do not like the 99 one simply because it tends to stick out the sides of the car and that also disrupts the overall design. I do not like it on the 93 lip either, for the very same reason.

I don't think I'll change my '93, but if I did, I'd like to go with the PFS, which looks like a '93 but has a bit more height and bigger openings.

Jason94R2: isn't the lip in the silver RX7 not a '99? I'm just curious, but it does look different.

 

Jason94R2: sorry, I missed that it was the mazdaspeed lip, as you stated. My mistake

 

I am among these!
I realise now that my desire for 99 spec, starting about a decade ago, was to adapt a 12 year old car to a more current era. However, now that 2002 is long gone, the 99 spec look does not, in my opinion, "advance" the FD's look to the same degree anymore.

What I mean is, back in 2006 having a '99 spec bumper put you on the same level as most new cars of that era.

Now, the same 'upgrade' keeps you looking at cars from that era (the previous decade).

whereas the '93 look retains its OEM/classic/retro feel, that the '99 spec just hasn't (and maybe won't ever) earn in the US.

I still like the 99 spec look, but I've realised that my justification for the several thousand dollars to convert was based principally on me looking like I was driving something built recently.

 

Very good and interesting point. I agree with your analysis.

 

Well, Gordon, you just burst my bubble, lol... Although I'm not at the point of getting one, I was toying with the idea, maybe once everything else I want to do is done. I am ignorant in regards to this, but... Is the reason that PFS no longer makes stuff of this sort?

 

They don't make them because they can't sell them. Ray had one made for me at special request last year but I ended up not using it and I sold it to a guy in Florida.

 

i like the 99 with or without plate... on my personal car .. i bough the plateless because of availability.. the oem one is 3-4 month backordered from japan awhile back.

IMG_0671 by tbkonwso1, on Flickr

dont mind the wheel gap , i raised the car up for the video i was shooting driving through mud and mountain road lol

my oil and coolant temp dropped 5% with the change of the front bumper btw!

 

You're V8, who cares about oil/coolant temps!

 

I prefer the pre 99 bumper and would only change for the Mazdaspeed bumper PureRx7 has for sale

 

You're likely right, after you "broke the news" to me, I went on a internet search rampage and there are pretty much no bumpers out there...
That means I'll have to stick with the 93 stocker...

 

is this what yall are going on about?

 

Like I said in my earlier post, I was able to get Ray at PFS to have one made for me last summer. He can still get them made but they don't sell very well so he doesn't bother. You might be able to tempt him with some dinero

 

I'm pretty sure that was originally a Knightsports design. Erebuni (which appears to be out of business) also made a copy.

 

Do you know roughly what their original price was/could be nowadays?

 

Yes, it is.

 

No idea what original retail Peter was getting. I think ray charged me the friend rate of $450.
I picked it up though myself from the glass shop that did the work for them. Ray still owns the mold as far as I know.