"In this new Special Series, I document the greatest lip ever designed by BMW M and my experiences sourcing various replica lips across Europe, ultimately leading to the development of OE+ GTS front lip kit.

In this entry, we fit the prototype fiberglass upper GTS lip to the Stripper and take a step back."
- Matt

It's easy'ish. 

I previously documented the installation of the complete 5 pieces kits here. The complete chassis mounted GTS lip kit is a much more intensive affair, requiring cutting, drilling, riveting and alignment between brackets to pull off a proper fitment. 

The GTS upper lip is a classic lick, stick, and bolt affair. I filmed and edited a 2 min trailer for the YT channel below. 

The double sided tape was not included.  

Take it off, I tell you!

Fiberglass's lack of structural flexibility versus pre-preg carbon variant requires taking the bumper off, in my opinion. 

If you care about fitment, this is the way. Taking the bumper off allows you to tighten and eliminate gaps where it matters.

We started with loosely bolting the lip to the bumper, to understand which section needed massaging before removing the double sided tape's red layer. 

P.S.: You want the protruding bolt aiming downwards, otherwise it may come into contact with other chassis components if you bolted towards the sky!

We ran out of a specific double sided tape style, the other one had a grey'ish appearance instead of black - you could notice it at first, we had to redo it. 

This is the gap you have to live with, and the one you want to achieve to have proper fitment across the middle grill and ducting sections further outwards.

After having 3x different 1:1 GTS lip replicas, they all had this gap. All 3x were molded from the original GTS design, there's something going on.

The good news is you don't see this when mounted as it sits at the lowest point of the bumper.

See what I mean? Can't see the gap, even with the bumper standing 3 feet up on a panel stand. The middle and ducting sections are air (and light) tight. 

Bolt it back [...]

Bolting the bumper back on is a relatively simple affair. Take the time to realign it with the hood. The key is usually the top bolts by the radiator cover. 

Don't forget your ambient temperature sensor by the driver side duct - otherwise you're going to read +50C or -50C. 

[...] and take a step back.

I am extremely satisfied with the final fitment we achieved, and the aesthetics are on point. I expected nothing less from Antonio and his team. 

I'll let pictures do the talking here. 

We unfortunately couldn't wrap the upper lip in Xpel's Stealth satin paint protection film. The lip's single stage finish is rugged, and wouldn't allow it.

I will have this lip eventually satin clear coated to showcase the PPF installation, and for its improved aesthetics over single stage. 

Overall, fiberglass made the installation slightly more difficult due to its lack of flexibility. 

It's a small trade off to "pay", to pay a lot less. 

Up next: the updated prototype metal brackets and the plastic lower splitter show up, soon. 

These will be the critical improvements to the discontinued 360Carbon GTS front lip kit. 

You can source the GTS upper lip now here.