[siestas]

Did up a quick photoshop of a mineral gray with black grills and gray reflectors.

[cheluto2]

I just did this myself on my girlfriend's AW M235i. It was relatively easy, although I messed up and scratched the paint while cutting the slat
I just covered it up with regular white paint for now and it's barely noticeable.
But after the cut and realizing I had to stick most of my forearm in there to release the tabs, and that the slat was not going to break off, it was a piece of cake and the result is worth it. Here's a few pictures...
Before:


The scratches


After

[chaswyck1]

Don't worry about the scratches yu made with the saw. No one will ever see them because of where they are. I'm going to try to do it without making the cut because I think there is a market out there for the M, M Sport, and Sportline grilles among people who have 228i's without those packages. Fewer slats make that grille much more aggressive looking than the stock 228i grille without the packages. If I can preserve the OEM grilles intact, I figure I can sell them for at least what I paid for the black ones. Is there any way to use a trim tool without having to make the cut or remove the bumper screws?

[Emilantonn]

when i get my 220 i am going to do the easy way. Thanks for advice!

[rti35]

Those look awesome - where's the best place to get these?

[hoppy6698]

Originally Posted by rti35

Those look awesome - where's the best place to get these?

GetBMWparts - $120 for the set. Its the average price online from what I have seen.

http://www.getbmwparts.com/partlocat...catalogid=4462

[rti35]

Originally Posted by hoppy6698

GetBMWparts - $120 for the set. Its the average price online from what I have seen.

http://www.getbmwparts.com/partlocat...catalogid=4462

Wound up getting them off eBay for around the same price. Installed them yesterday - the install wasn't bad at all (took about 20 min) but I wound up butchering the driver's side OEM grille, lol. I tried the "1 cut" method but just couldn't get my hand in there to unlatch all the clips. Had to cut 2 slats completely out to get all of them. It being really cold out just made me lose my patience because my hands were killing me haha.

Car looks much better with these grilles though. Definitely a nice appearance upgrade for not too much money. Next up: window tints

[rti35]

Originally Posted by chaswyck@yahoo.com

Don't worry about the scratches yu made with the saw. No one will ever see them because of where they are. I'm going to try to do it without making the cut because I think there is a market out there for the M, M Sport, and Sportline grilles among people who have 228i's without those packages. Fewer slats make that grille much more aggressive looking than the stock 228i grille without the packages. If I can preserve the OEM grilles intact, I figure I can sell them for at least what I paid for the black ones. Is there any way to use a trim tool without having to make the cut or remove the bumper screws?

The clips are actually kind of a bitch to unlatch. Correction - they're not hard at all to unlatch, they're just hard to unlatch given the extremely limited space to work with.

To unclip the "bottom" clips you have to get underneath the clip, push up on it, while simultaneously pushing the clip out (towards you) to fully remove it. It's the opposite for the clips up top; get on top of the clip and push down on it. The ones on the sides are pretty easy. I feel like this would be extremely difficult to do with a trim tool while not cutting any slats.

[M235ixDriveMP]

How much time you need to replace the M Performance Grills?

[jmjordan]

I know I'm probably in the minority, but I'd like to replace my black grills with the chrome ones. Does anyone know the correct part numbers? The closest I can seem to find is the one for the sport like 228i.

[psi_blades]

Spent an hour tonight trying to install the new grills without any success. Tried slipping my fingers in to release the tabs and also the brute force method. Don't want to do the bumper method, so will try the cutting method next.

[M-tavo]

I've done a few already and the BEST method for me it has been unscrewing the upper part of the bumper, sliding your hand through and unclipping 3 clips on one side and gently pull out. do the second one through the one you just took and voila!

No cutting, no breaking, and it only takes you 15-20 minutes.

make sure to slide the bumper thing into the headlight slides.

[PARTS@STBMW]

Much better!

[ndallen]

Originally Posted by M-tavo

I've done a few already and the BEST method for me it has been unscrewing the upper part of the bumper, sliding your hand through and unclipping 3 clips on one side and gently pull out. do the second one through the one you just took and voila!

No cutting, no breaking, and it only takes you 15-20 minutes.

make sure to slide the bumper thing into the headlight slides.

Second this. Just did this upgrade last night and it looks great. Super easy and quick and no cuts.

[CP911]

Originally Posted by jmjordan

I know I'm probably in the minority, but I'd like to replace my black grills with the chrome ones. Does anyone know the correct part numbers? The closest I can seem to find is the one for the sport like 228i.

Funny. I ordered my moonroof delete m240i with the black kidneys thinking they would be more fitting to the overall build, but the more I looked at the car and at pics online, I came to realize I prefer the classic yet still sporty looking standard grille. I broke down and ordered the OEM kidneys...

I think it was the Sunset Orange m240i launch car pictures that did me in!

PM me and remind me to dig up the part numbers from my email...

[stevenvillatoro]

Originally Posted by CP911

... I came to realize I prefer the classic yet still sporty looking standard grille. I broke down and ordered the OEM kidneys...

Glad that you guys posted these comments. I had been starting to question my sanity for preferring the standard chromed kidneys, with so many people touting the black ones as sportier.

[emtrey]

I had a friend help me. He is a dent buster guy so he knows his way around these things.

He pulled back the bumper cover and they popped right off. Just be sure when you reattach the bumper cover you keep the gap line even across the hood line before tightening.

My car is AW so I consider the black grill a must do upgrade.

[BM235iW]

I've replaced a few BMW F22 front grills this last couple of years using the method posted below. The one exception was I rolled up a towel just thick enough a placed it between the plastic bumper and radiator support to allow me to get inside to release the grill clips without scratching my arm up. After you remove one grill you can reinstall the bumper because you can release the second grill BEFORE installing your new grill. When reinstalling the weatherstrip ensure it is exactly as it was before you removed it. Partially close your hood the first time that your hood to bumper body gap is correct.
Writing this little recommendation actually took me longer than the time i needed to remove the first grill.

This method doesn't damage your original grills if you wish to reuse them latter.

[BM235iW]

After installing double slat gloss black grills.

[BabyMDriver]

Thanks, PigWig! This worked like a charm.

I had to remove the entire slat to get my arm in there, but that didn't matter to me. I really wanted to avoid removing the bumper after having alignment issues with my F30.

[st_mdna]

My hand is small enough to fit through the slats without cutting, and I can access the tabs with my fingertips. The problem is that I can't get any of the tabs to budge. It doesn't feel like I'm pressing or pulling on anything. Am I missing something? Thanks.