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This story began even before the tail lights replacement. As I mentioned previously I had no plans to upgrade to the clear tail lights. Instead I planned an upgrade of the rear bumper. But the real question is what to upgrade to.
The Giulia looks awesome even in base trims, but who doesn't want his car to look even more cool? Initially, like everybody, I thought of installing the sport diffuser on a non-sport bumper to give a bit of aggression to the back of the car. But the reality showed that the non-sport and sport bumpers are surprisingly different and diffusers are non-replaceable.
The next step was to consider installing a Chinese sport diffuser copy available for the non-sport bumpers everywhere: from Amazon to AliExpress. The problem with this option was that I thought in the following way: I would install it, spend $150-$300, and still wouldn't be satisfied with the look. Then I decided to consider purchasing the whole sport bumper assembly on eBay. But the prices were even higher. Around $600-$900 and I would have to paint it as well. I asked the same body shop that did the side skirts painting and installation how much it would cost for the rear bumper painting and installation. The quote was $500-$800, depending on the bumper condition and installation complexity. So, my brain calculator imagined something around ~$1500 total price toward the OEM sport look.
And I still might not be satisfied with the look. Then suddenly another thought came into my mind. Why not get the Quadrifoglio bumper? This will perfectly match Quadrifoglio side skirts. However the genuine Quadrifoglio bumper is way more expensive. I found one guy on Facebook Marketplace, who asked $2000 for the whole bumper assembly, but in Rosso Competizione (paint color 361), but I have Rosso Alfa (414). So the total budget for the Quadrifoglio bumper must be around ~$3000. When I recalled that there is a cheaper option...
Of course I'm talking about Alibaba. You've seen all of those listings on their website, but probably didn't decide to take the risk and pull the trigger. So, I'm that guy who took the red pill. Now let me tell you, Neo, "how deep the rabbit hole goes."
As you know I already installed the side skirts and the quality was quite good. Yes, there are some imperfections, but you'll forget about those a week after installation, and will enjoy the look for the rest of the time. So, I purchased the rear bumper assembly kit from Alibaba for $1153 total (shipping included). The kit included:
Overall, it was very well packed and shipped to me within 1,5 months. Meanwhile, the car got into a small accident on a highway, which resulted in the clear tail lights upgrade. The accident, as you know, also affected the rear bumper, but I didn't care because the new Quadrifoglio bumper was already shipped.
So, when the new bumper was delivered to a body shop it was time for painting. We all know that the most problematic part in automotive painting is color matching. Since I had a positive experience with side skirts painting before, it was a no-brainer how to paint the bumper. However this time I got a few more technical details on Rosso Alfa (414) color matching.
My body shop uses Sherwin Williams paint. The matching color code for 414 Rosso Alfa, mentioned on a driver door pillar, in the Sherwin Williams catalog is 414C. It is used on Fiats, Alfas and Lancias. There is a chip in Sherwin Williams color catalog on this. Next, if you put the 414C color code into a coloring program you'll see there are two color formulas (recipes) available:
Each formula also has its own revision history, meaning that over time during the production cycle Alfa Romeo made some small changes to the formula and the final result may be a little different on different cars. This is why it's gambling when you purchase colored used parts in the same color.
Since my car was made in 2023, to have a near perfect color match my body shop made a spray-out of two small pieces of plastic with both formulas and the closest version year. The result for my particular car is the 103186817 revision from 2022.
To be honest, all of that was done during the side skirts painting, I'm just giving you more details discovered this time during the bumper painting, so if you ever need to paint your body panels, you can be on the same page with your body shop.
Now when the bumper was ready for installation, I couldn't be happier. Being a perfectionist it was a nightmare to ride knowing that some of my car's body panels were damaged, even though the damage was barely visible. After removal of the stock damaged bumper I found out that one of the plastic parts was cracked. Luckily this plastic part is cheap, and doesn't affect the installation process. Maybe I'll replace someday, if I decide to restore the car to a museum condition.
The next step was to replace the standard power enforcer, and the heating shield. To be honest I've no idea why the standard power enforcer needs replacement, because the new bumper fits them all. Although we decided to use the new power enforcer, just in case. The replacement is bolt-on, so no surprises here.
As for the heating shield, for some reason Chinese guys decided to split the rear diffuser into 2 parts. I assume for the sake of packaging purposes. Therefore you have to change the original plastic heating shield to a modified one, which also has to be tied to the new Quadrifoglio diffuser with screws. Simply because it will fall off otherwise. No worries, it's under the car, so nobody will ever see this. But the question of why not to reuse the standard heating shield was left with no answer. The heating shield replacement is also bolt-on.
Now when we have the bumper painted, we need to assemble it with the diffuser, reflectors, transfer parking sensors and blind spot assistant radars. And there is also a small impediment. This is only my assumption, since I've never compared the genuine Quadrifoglio bumper side by side to the standard one, but the plastic holders for blind spot radars on non-sport and Quadrifoglio bumpers are located at different spots.
So the parking sensors wiring harness length is just not enough to fit onto the Quadrifoglio bumper. My only assumption is that the wiring harness for Quadrifoglio is a little longer than the standard bumper or... Chinese guys messed with the original spots of radar holders.
Of course I was not prepared for that, and didn't have another wiring harness. Luckily the radar holders, even though they're soldered into bumpers, can be easily transferred from the standard bumper to Quadrifoglio. You just have to solder or glue them to necessary spots on the Quadrifoglio bumper. We measured the distance from the outer left and right sensors and put the holders approximately to the same position where they were on non-sport bumper. Presuming your questions here are the answers:
The very last thing which required attention was the exhaust tips. You may say: "OMG, how many things require attention!". But I promise, this is the last one. The thing is Chinese guys included the exhaust tips of ~220 mm length. You can find a lot of such on Alibaba/AliExpress. But the problem is that this is way too long; to put on standard exhaust pipes. If you install them "as is" they will popup from the bumper for... Well, about 5-6 cm I guess. I know that some really like when their exhaust tips are not aligned with the rear bumper and popup like cigarettes from the mouth. But I'm not that kind of guy. I want to mimic Quadrifoglio stock style as closely as possible. The fix is simple, you have to cut the original pipes as much as possible, so the exhaust tips become aligned with rear bumper surface. Well, almost... The issue is that the stock exhaust pipe on both sides have a corner, so you cannot cut it to the maximum. The exhaust tips will still popup, but only for approximately 2 cm, and I can live with that. However if you want it to be absolutely as Quadrifoglio stock like, you have two options:
One day I'd probably go with option #2, since it's just cheaper and I can choose from multiple options. Maybe I'll try matte black tips. Who knows?
And the very, very last thing which can be noticed only by a picky Alfa owner is that the Chinese exhaust pipes are 100 mm in diameter. The genuine Quadrifoglio tips are 90 mm in diameter. But, I've just had enough with the number of modifications for this season. I'll get back to it next season. Especially taking into account that all of those imperfections are barely visible, and even Alfa owners can't see the difference sometimes.
As you understand, all these to-dos here and there increased the final body shop charge to $900. So, if you ever decide to go the same way, bear this in mind.
However! All of these go away when you see the final result! And it's stunning! Ladies and gents. Here we have Giulia Quadri... Well, almost. Since my car is a 2-liter turbo and it doesn't have full Quadrifoglio body kit I called it Giulia Bifolio. Quadri in Italian means 4, while Bi means 2. So Bifolio, 2 cloverleaves.
And when I said that the final result is stunning that was really true. Seriously, if you want to upgrade the look of your car - forget about those sport Chinese diffusers, forget about front bumper lips, forget about those fake side skirt inserts. None of those give you this feeling, of how cool your car looks in a Quadrifoglio body kit. Together with Quadrifoglio side skirts, from the back and 3/4 angle it's just a different car. Aggressive, stylish, outstanding and captivating. And taking into account that there are sooo few Quadrifoglios around, your car is going to be even more noticeable.
Now I'm done with the 2026 season modifications. Thanks for reading this, stay tuned, and love your cars!
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