[LKNGOOD]

Originally Posted by Bonefish

Yep! I thought the same thing! I am going to buy the ones from Tischer when I get more cash. This mod will end up costing me $270.00!! I should have bought the ones from Tischer to begin with since they are OEM!

I got mine from Jlevis for $45 - matte black = perfect fit.

Why is everyone else paying $70+ for the same item?

"This mod will end up costing me $270" - How?? Is it because you ruined your oem ones and now have to buy new ones?

I was going to get the CF version for $160 but honestly on a Sparkling Graphite Metallic car - the CF is hard to notice from a far.

Did I mention - this mod is awesome - looks 100 time better.

[jas07k]

looks good

[wootang_clan]

I was replacing my grills with the flat black and noticed that the Torx screw wouldn't go on tight as when I took it off. Has this happened to anyone else? Do I need new plastic spacer that's in between the screw and the hood?

[Nedim]

awesome, doing it this weekend, along with fixing curb rashes on my wheels..lol

[jeremicium]

Matte black kidney grill through Jlevi for an e92 was $70.

As for replacement, what worked best for me was...remove the 2 Torx screws, pull back the plastic bumper piece, use a small screw driver to release the top clips. then once i pulled the three top clips completely out, squeeze my hand behind the grill and release the two bottom clips and one side clip. Took me about 15 minutes to figure this out on the first grill, and about 2 minutes for the second one.

Hope this helps anyone needing to replace their E92 grills.

[ironlung]

This is probably the easiest method to fix the problem with the screw not loosening when installing the kidney grill:

I also had the probs with the screws keep turning without actually loosening...i used vice grips and clamped them on the screws...then while pulling downwards i turned the vice grips and it loosened! i did that with two problematic screws and it worked!



the vice grips might eat up the sides of the screws a little but wtvr!

[newbimm]

so I did this mod last night. (Which by the way is awesome) But there are small specks on the paint. I also applied clearcoat on mine. Question is what can I do to smooth the paint out? sand it?

By the way, I bought I guess the car paint and even without clearcoat it was shiny. I wouldve liked matte a little more but still better than chrome.

[Euro_man]

Originally Posted by Duhst

looks like that one back fired.....
whats differant? hahah

anyone got any pics of alpine white?

Hey I'll be painting my grills JET Black on my alpine white this weekend...post pics when done...

All materials including paint is costing me $50 Aus

For people in Aus...dont go to Autobahn or anyplace like that cos thye dont have a clue. Professional paint shop makes up a proper spray can for $35


Sorry to be a noob but a guy at the paint store said I may need plastic primer to spray on before painting. Would I need to do this or will the paint be fine just sprayed on with a few layers with clear cote on top?

[FinerThingsinLife]

Sooooo bought the grill and everything was going smoothly, until i was putting the screws on the top started tightning them down not to much top piece is still lose doing one at a time being careful b.c. i herd of everyone was having the screws spin, seemed like i was gonna have to tighten it down to much so i stopped and unscrewed them and now they are spinning freely the top part is on but its lose. Was reading an earlier post and someone said that they unclipped them and was able to get to the female end, HOW DO YOU UNCLIP THEM!!!! lol starting to get frustrated with it about to take the car to my mechanic for a stupid grill lol
Any help would be much appreciated

[treese07]

Excellent DIY, I will definitely be doing this to my grill once I'm home for the summer from school. Less than a week!

[NSFW 335i]

awesome

[E92-Lighting]

great guide

[Euro_man]

Hey Guys,

Here are some pics as promised. I think it turned out great. Looks a lot more aggresive and matches my shadow trim theme. Only issue I have is they have not turned out 100% like the oem shadow line trim as they do not have the deep black shine to them. No idea as to why.

[Murph335]

Or be real lazy and just buy a set for $40 on ebay! Then part out later.


Man, these orange headlights are ugly.

[zenmoused]

Just did mine today. Took about 15 minutes of work and maybe $2 of materials. I let the paint dry in the sun between coats and had a few beers, so total time might have been an hour.

I'm really confused as to how anyone is having trouble with this? The directions were excellent and there are only 6 really easy to access screws?

[colamaniac]

Very good guide. Gonna try it out later. Thanks

[ZombiE90]

Great write-up and review. Sounds like if you go with quality OEM paint from a car shop you'll end up spending almost as much on paint and supplies as those $45 drop-ins from JLevis. I guess it's just up to the individual... and the risk of installing a cheap plastic replacement versus modding OEM...

[zenmoused]

Originally Posted by ZombiE92

Great write-up and review. Sounds like if you go with quality OEM paint from a car shop you'll end up spending almost as much on paint and supplies as those $45 drop-ins from JLevis.

True, which is why I opted for the $0.99 can of paint from home depot. I think a big part of this is to be patient and give it multiple layers. I used pretty much the entire can on mine with stellar results. With matte black paint I really don't think quality of one brand over another matters that much- if it chips a few months down the road it takes a few minutes to take these off and repaint.

[E46toE90]

wow i didint know it was this simple ! thanks

[g_rant]

Originally Posted by zenmoused

True, which is why I opted for the $0.99 can of paint from home depot. I think a big part of this is to be patient and give it multiple layers. I used pretty much the entire can on mine with stellar results. With matte black paint I really don't think quality of one brand over another matters that much- if it chips a few months down the road it takes a few minutes to take these off and repaint.

what kind of paint did you buy?

[buck61]

wonderful instructions. I just used it to replace with gloss black BMW from Tischer but this made it very easy, grills just popped out and snapped back in. Thanks again!

[jon328i]

my first mod to my E90, a sandpaper, and duplicolor black paint