SPOautos

I was looking at the 99 Spec bumper but since the front tag doesnt come off I'm thinking of getting the Pettit.

Does anyone have any experience with the Pettit? How is the fitment? The only problem I have with it is that its fiberglass

I'm basically looking at three bumpers:
99 J Spec
Pettit copy
Feed seen at www.rxecret7.com/feed-02.html

They all have probs, the Feed doesnt have head lights and is fiberglass, kida expensive to not have light or anything (it uses my stock lights). The 99 J-spec is expensive, by the time you buy everything its $1550 + shipping and you cant remove the tag holder which I dont need. The Pettit is a little cheaper than the real 99 JSpec but doesnt have the tag holder or Mazda emblem but I dont know about the quality and its also fiberglass.

What do you guys think??? Can anyone vouch for the quality of the Pettit bumper??? One plus for the Pettit is I dont think I'll have to wait along time for it.

Thanks a ton,

SPOautos

Oh yea, does anyone have pics of these bumpers besides the pics on vendors sites, I've seen those already. I'm looking for it mounted on someone car.

Thanks,

Dimcorner

I got one.

SPOautos

ok??????

Can you tell me anything about it? I assume your talking about the Pettit. Do you have any pics of your car? How is the fitment and overall quality? Does is look at good as the 99 J Spec?

Thanks,

Dimcorner

Ok... here is the skinny...

Fits good, needs a little fixing on the corners where it meets up with the fender (it leaves about a 1/8" gap) but since it's FG it's easily fixable.

It holds up pretty well cuz i have scraped bottom and no cracks yet. I think it cools much better, but you might wanna get the 99 brake ducts cuz the oil cooler ducts get eliminated with the 99 brake ducts.

SPOautos

What brake ducts are you refering to? The chin spoiler that pushed air to the brakes? Is that what you mean?

How does it eliminate the oil cooler ducts? I thought they are still in the drivers side hole?

It does look pretty good thought. Its a tough decision. Did you have to buy the 99 chin spoiler seperate?

Thanks for the help

Dimcorner

the center underbody plastic tray is ok. The ones on the side where the brake ducts are are..(?) different. Teh chin spoiler is separate along with the turn signals. I did notice a difference in cooling since it takes so friggin long now to warm up my car

DefBringer

Holy crap that looks great!!

How much did it cost you to get that thing painted and put on your car? Did you get it put on then have the whole car painted or what? It matches really well...

SPOautos

Maybe this will be my last question hehe

The OEM 99 Spec bumper normally comes with a renforcement bar that is fiberglass and hard foam but the Pettit does not. Did the 93-95 renforcement bar work or did you have to remove it and just not use one???

Whats the skinny on the renforcement bar (I think thats what its called anyway)???

Damn, its a hard decision, for about the same $$$ as Pettits I can get the Feed shown at www.rxecret7.com/feed-02.html

I really like it a lot as well!!!!!

Thanks for the info!!!

DefBringer

Dude that FEED front end is $1300 and the Pettit is $550. They're priced nothing alike! (Unless you have some incredible deal on the FEED)

SPOautos

The pettit for $550 is the bumper cover only. You have to buy the turn light for another $500 and the bottom lip for like $180 or so. Anyway the Pettit works out to be $1225 + shipping which is around $75 for a total of $1300 for the Pettit

The Feed is $1300 shipped so they are the same price

I wish the Pettit was $550, I wouldnt even asking all this if it was...hehe

Later,

DefBringer

oh dang...forgot about the turn lights. :o

RX7_RCR

Dude! It rained on your car and no one elses! :p

But nice front. Was there any modifications done to get it to fit, besides the side gap issue? Do you just take off the stock front and bolt the Pettit back on? Is it THAT simple?

DefBringer

What front gap issues? That front looks like it fits great. Probably better than my (sagging) stock front.

0piston

iTrader: (9)

The pettit one is nothing like some of the Japanese products that I have seen. Its true that Japanese take pride in their work. When I recieved mine from pettit the area around the lens was chipped off, a little flimsy around some edges. But overall it had a good fit onto the frame and fenders.

For the reinforcement frame you can use spray foam found in some marine/boating shops. It is cheap $30, and will work well
in conjunction with the stock reinforcement frame.

When you paint it bring it to someone who knows what they are doing, experiance goes along way. Make sure they use flex additives when painting to make sure it holds up to the stress.

You can also use something called Helicopter Tape, found in some aviation supply shops. It is a thin transparent flim that you put on to prevent rock chips, cracking. The Pettit race car has some applied to the front of it, and Jeff says it holds up pretty well.

Good luck in your choice!

Maelstrom

Dimcorner,

That does look awfully nice. Although I don't like the updated chin spoiler as much as the old R1/R2 one. Is is possible to still somehow "fit" the R1 style chin spoiler? Also, how much did you have to pay to have it installed and painted?

t-rex7

My thoughts:

I had a fiberglass bumper and within a six months i had a **** load of chips from pebbles that got kicked up on the highway and It cracks very easily when you get those "friendly bumps" in parking lots.
On my RX i have the `99 j-spec nose and it fit perfect due to the fact that it is made by the factory to factory specs. It doesn't crack when you get a "friendly bump" and i haven't seen any chips as of now.

hapa

You only need the reinforcement bar on urethane front ends. Fiberglass doesn't sag over time, is lighter than urethane, but doesn't hold up to abuse like urethane does. The japanese body kits use better fiberglass and hold up better than their american counterparts/copies. But after long term exposure to the road, some cracks/chips will almost always appear. My roomate has a real veilside front end on his 240sx for 5 years, and has cracks and rock chips, but he drives it very carefully.

Dimcorner- does the stock underbody tray work with the new petit front end?

eric

Dimcorner

I took off the reinforcement bar. There was no need for one. Make sure that the Feed one comes with lights.

I haven't done the tape mod to it and it has a very small rock chip, but the urethane one had more anyways so i'm not concerned. I try to park head in if there is no one ahead or *** in if there is another car on other side. The FG one is MUCH lighter than urethane and i'm sure you can fit the R-1 chin since the pettit one doesn't have predrilled holes on the bottom of the bumper.

The underbody tray fits fine, except that the 99 has updated brake ducts that eliminates the oil cooler ducts. The install was free (My dad is a body shop mech ) But it was a very quick and painless process. He said he would have charged around 300 bux for paint and install. He also said that if I was patient that the gaps are a really easy fix too and would have done them in one more day

Nameless

the reinforcement bar is diff with the 93-95 and 99 spec bumpers, but it's a piece of styrofoam that the body shop should modify quite easily.

Dimcorner

The Re-bar is not styrofoam... the reason it need modification is cuz it has holes or the turn signal lights, and they don't line up with the 99 ones. it's made of REALLY FRIGGING HARD fiberglass of some sort. in the front of the rebar is a shell of syrofoam, i think thats' what you are seeing.

clearthinker

you plan to keep your FD for less than a year go for the fiberglass but if your like me and want to keep your FD for years to come then there is only one answer: 99J spec!! urethane will outlast/outshine fiberglass by a mile...

ask any of the older vette owners how they like their fiberglass bodies...

They both will look great at first but give in a few mos and you'll be crying if you have the fiberglass...

Now if its a weekend car only then the fiberglass should hold up well but for a daily driver order me up urethane