Pretty sure it's plastic, not 100% but 90%.

Would you consider getting a winch? Then there is a metal winch tray, front metal with a winch fairlead, and a couple of vertical metal bars.

I've got the Trophy Ed and this is what my front looks like:
https://www.carscoops.com/wp-content...-Edition-1.jpg

 

With my use case, the winch would probably be a show off more than a useful thing; I do carry a Hi-Lift at all times, though, and the current plan for getting out of trouble is to use its winching mode to do it. Sure thing, it'll be slow, painful, and cumbersome as hell, however, on the Probability Impact Matrix it's close to where I want to be.

 

The undershield/skid plate that surrounds the tow hook is aluminum.
The aluminum colored central section of the bumper that sits directly over the undershield is plastic.

 

That almost settles it.

Last question for me, are those "raised corners" indeed raised significantly enough to make a difference in clearance?

I wish there was a high res picture but no, all I can find is "fade into black". Another quick search, another question just like that here, and a nice picture: https://landroverforums.com/forum/20...e4/#post902213 (and here's the picture link from that post, not to get up twice).

So, does it provide better clearance, or just a different look? Also, it looks like FEPS has replaceable outward positioned bottom parts which would take less money and effort to replace - assuming they are sold separately, I wasn't able to find the part number yet. Good question to a dealer, asking now.

 

IMO, no. I couldn't find a pic on a quick search, but there's not much difference clearance-wise from what I remember. The Exped Pack corners did have some sort of aluminum cladding IIRC, which, given the flexible nature of the entire bumper made absolutely no sense to me.

The L663 front bumper is made up of a shipton of individual pieces. The corners are replaceable. And IIRC (once again) the standard corner pieces cost like 20% of the Exped Pack corners (I might be exaggerating slightly, but there was a huge difference). There re even aftermarket copy corners to replace your OEM pieces with if you don't want to shell out the LR premium. I don't think I'd spend my money on the Exped Pack. I'd go with the aftermarket skid plate/undershield and call it a day. If you do have probs with clearance in front of the wheels, pick up a pair of used corners or the aftermarket ones (see Powerful UK) and look at trimming them.

But that is just my opinion.

 

Having spent a few more hours on research and having stumbled upon the shop manual in the meantime, I agree with you firmly. Reason is, FEPS, as it turns out, is not a part-by-part change, but a cut-and-slap-together change. You actually have to cut live healthy pieces of the original vehicle to slap FEPS on it. I know now it's a port install option, I have no idea whether they have custom template cutters to do this or do it by eye, but the whole idea is repulsive to me, so hard no. That, by the way, explains why those parts are so expensive - they're custom.

The only thing I have to come to peace with is that this apparently a dealer installed option, and hence a) risk, and b) unclear if it is covered by any warranty. Might as well DIY it, now the choice is whether I want to go full Monty and install the JLR part, or go with the "easy install" one.

 

If you look at the shop manual (someone on here posted the multi thousand page PDF a while ago) you will see that the standard parts have cut lines molded onto the back surface. Smart design negating the need for templates. I’m still not ready to take a dremel cutting wheel to my 2022 under warranty vehicle though

 

I'am searching this part for over 2 years on Defender2.net

https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic83517.html

​​​​​There has to a be a set somewere out there, please let me know - Thx.

 

One of the last nails in this coffin for me was the fact that when I started drilling down the diagrams to find this specific part, I saw a lot of "no longer manufactured" entries.

The very thought of cutting something perfectly usable where another usable part could be manufactured sounds like bad (design, planning, marketing, foresight - pick one) to me. I refuse to participate in this travesty.