ScrapeArmor alternative installation procedure

OK, so I got my RaceRamp 12" 2-piece cribs. I jacked the car up on each side and slide the 6" sections under each front wheel.
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I then removed the front under tray.

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Next up was to temporarily attach the scrape guards to the bumper using the supplied double sided tape. This didn't work out so well, so I used small pieces of 3m automotive trim tape. I didn't use large pieces of the tape as it's meant to be permanent. With a bunch of small squares you can remove it easily.

Starting on the passenger side, I then used the included countersunk auto-centering dill bit to make pilot holes, then removed the scrape guard and drilled the holes using a 5.5mm drill bit as recommended by ScrapeArmor since the F430 has a fiberglass bumper and you can't use the self tapping screws like the videos on YouTube. I forgot to take a picture of this part, sorry.

I then tried, and I do say tried to install all the m5 bolts, washers and lock nuts. A couple were easy, but a few were impossible. I tried the grabber trick that Dan from NGS used on his smaller guards, no luck. I spent some money at Harbor Freight buying locking forceps, extra long nose pliers but no matter the tool I could not do it.

I had two options. First option, take the bumper off. Second option, use a Rivet Nut (Rivnut). I asked the ScrapeArmor support why they didn't have them as a recommended way to install. They said they didn't want to require a special tool, so the bolts w/lock nuts are their recommended way. Lucky for me I had just bought a metric Rivnut tool to install m8 nuts for locking castors on my son's sim-racing rig so that we can easily move it around our theater. he was blocking some of the front row seats.

I measured the thickness of the bumper in a few places and found that it was borderline if not too thick for the standard Rivnuts that I had bought with the tool. Some google searching and a 1 hour drive to McMaster-Carr, I a set of aluminum rivets (I chose aluminum because they won't rust and are easy to install with the tool one-handed, though I have to be careful not to strip out the threads when lining up the bolts). Here is a picture of the ones I got and a comparison of the different rivnuts for different thickness panels.

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So I drilled out the holes a little larger to match what is needed for an m5 Rivnut and started inserting the Rivnuts with some white construction adhesive to provide extra spin resistance.

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For the two outer holes, I used a washer own the inside to provide extra support to the Rivnut because that is the skinniest part of the bumper.

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I repeated the process for the other side. Screwed in the ScrapeArmor and repeated everything for the other side. I did have a few holes that weren't perfect so the Rivnuts wouldn't thread cleanly (didn't want to risk stripping the threads) so I slightly enlarged some of the holes to provide some adjustment and all is good. Since you have to left about 1/4 inch gap before sealing them up I didn't not put any purple (222) thread lock on the bolts. I may do this over the weekend. For those who don't know, purple is made for things like Aluminum threads, it's low strength and more for vibration protection.

After I completed the other side, I started the sealing process using the included black silicon.

 

The sealing part of the ScrapArmor install...

With the ScrapeArmor you leave 1/4 inches so that you can seal the edge.

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To make cleanup easier, I used painter's tape along the edge of where the armor would be when tightened down.

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Next, you apply the silicon along the leading edge. Tighten the ScrapeArmor down starting in the middle and working your way out while the excess silicon squishes out.

Then spray the included smoothing spray (it smells like denatured alcohol) along the silicon and use the sharp point of the included scraper/smoother to smooth out and remove excess silicon. Clean the scraper with paper towels as you go along.

Remove the painters tape, and repeat the smoothing using the spray and scraper. Any excess that gets on the bumper spray and carefully remove with a paper towel. It was a little fun removing some excess from the edge of my PPF, but with care, some of the spray and a Q-Tip all is good.

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I'll try to take some better pictures on the weekend of the final product.

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The aluminum piece is from my Fabspeed carbon fiber scrape guards. I forgot to install the carbon parts after I had my bumper re-sprayed and scraped the bumper a few weeks back. I could have just installed the Fabspeed carbon parts which would have covered the scrapes, but decided I liked the look of the ScrapeArmor. I will be removing the aluminum pieces this weekend once my replacement bolts show up as they aren't needed with the ScrapeArmor. I may sell the Fabspeed set as it does the job and doesn't require drilling the bumper.

 

Here is a link to the Fabspeed carbon fiber guards, I am referring to.

https://www.fabspeed.com/fabspeed-ferrari-f430-carbon-fiber-aluminum-bumper-protection-kit-2005-2009/

 

Here are some closer pics of the ScrapeArmor from the "street" aka my driveway.

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Happy to hear it worked for you and you didn't even need to remove the front tray.

Even this weekend the ScrapeArmor saved me. I went to the "Festa & Motor D'Italia" in Staten Island, NY, and took a wrong turn. Getting back on track, I had to go up a hill. I heard the dreaded scrape as I went from the flat area at the bottom of the street to the hill. Not only did the ScrapeArmor do its job, but you could barely see where it hit on the scrape armor because it is not flat like the cheaper plastic scrape guards I see on eBay. While both would have done the job, the way that ScrapeArrmor has ridges means it's not very obvious on the black plastic when you do scrape since the scrape is on raised ridges, not a flat surface which would have long connected scrape lines. I guess that is where the R&D goes in and how they justify the cost. I mean most manufactured products are 90% upfront R&D and 10% or less production cost and marketing.

Here are some nice pics from that festival...
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The other thing about having some sort of plastic scrape guard is that you can use black plastic epoxy to fix it in your driveway vs repainting the bumper. If I got a bad gash in the ScrapeArmor, I would either take out my kid's old 3D doodler pen with some ABS plastic sticks or use some black plastic repair epoxy to fill in the scratch. Sometimes I'm amazed how my kid's 3D plastic doodler pen can repair plastic items with a few tricks I have learned over the years. Even when they outgrew using this "toy", I still kept it and ABS filament sticks around just for basic plastic repair and fusing.

https://the3doodler.com/