I built my car with the graphite plate, but i have always thought the stock bumper was too soft and sat too low. I broke and put a t4 hard bumper on, sanded so the graphite plate sits just inset of it, and cut it like the stock one to fit the lower plate as the stock one does. since the bumper is naturallythicker, even with the carving ive done, the graphite plate hits more of the plastic in a crash than the stock one would have.
in the stock location, i had my upper plate dalam a tiny bit in a crash. sucks but is life.