[m80theWolf]

My black grilles arrived today, and I was planning on installing them and painting the lowers. Found some good DIY options on the forums, seemed easy. But, my car has these silver bar or splitter things going across the left and right grille (e90 sport package bumper). Never realized most bumpers don't have the unsightly thing. This adds a degree of difficulty.

Has anyone painted those too?

I hadn't decided if I would try to pop them out for spray, use the balloons behind to prevent overspray, or just brush yet.

[cpie168]

Too bad you're in CA. I'm in Canada and am looking for someone to trade me their silver ones for my OEM black ones...

[m80theWolf]

Originally Posted by cpie168

Too bad you're in CA. I'm in Canada and am looking for someone to trade me their silver ones for my OEM black ones...

That would have been nice.

[m80theWolf]

Also just realized the center lower grille is much darker than the outside grilles next the the fogs... So weird

[mike3000fl]

i painted mine, pics in here... http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=378556





i bought a spray can of paint online that was custom matched to my jet black paint code. still looks good. maybe 20 bucks. i took the bumper cover off, then removed the lower grill from behind. its not as much work as you would think. something like 4 bolts up top, two in each wheel wheel, and a bunch underneath. i even repainted the bottom of my bumper cover while it was off, since it had scratches everywhere.

[AWDBooSTIn90]

^ looks good!

I have an e92 so somewhat different but i ended up taking my grills off to paint them. Made it so much easier. Its not hard to take off. Might be your best option if that bar is removable. I painted mine black and i think black is best for any color car imo.

[cpie168]

Funny how so many people like them black but I want mine silver...

[mike3000fl]

Originally Posted by cpie168

Funny how so many people like them black but I want mine silver...

thats like that the window trim with the 328 guys, they want silver. And the people with 330/335 silver trim want black.

[m80theWolf]

Originally Posted by mike3000fl

thats like that the window trim with the 328 guys, they want silver. And the people with 330/335 silver trim want black.

Mike, your paint job was super clean. I'll likely go that route. And yeah, since I'm shadow line exterior gloss black trim, the silver/chrome just looks wrong.

[TitanLH8]

you can try plastidipping the silver bars

[m80theWolf]

Originally Posted by TitanLH8

you can try plastidipping the silver bars

Never used plasti dip before... But I guess if I mess up it just peels off right? Also, I'd prefer to do a gloss or satin black to match.

[Micura]

I have OEM black trim and black grills, and plasti dipped the silver splitters black. I chose this instead of gloss black paint because I don't even want to notice that they are there. Matte black makes them sort of "disappear".

[TitanLH8]

Originally Posted by m80theWolf

Never used plasti dip before... But I guess if I mess up it just peels off right? Also, I'd prefer to do a gloss or satin black to match.

Yup you can peel it off if you want

[mpaone23]

I bought these, i figured they would look better than paint:

https://www.getbmwparts.com/partloca...catalogid=4462

[MiniXP]

Originally Posted by mpaone23

I bought these, i figured they would look better than paint:

https://www.getbmwparts.com/partloca...catalogid=4462

Well those are a lot cheaper than I would have thought.

I've considered painting mine, but for $15 I think buying those would be the way to go.

[WapArtist]

I plastidipped mine and is holding up perfectly 6 months in. (not shown in profile pic) This is a great way to go as you cant hurt them/dont need to risk breaking tabs and can make it stock later.

The only drawback is if you are going for Ultra-gloss. You can add shine with "Glossifier" which is what I did on my side turn signals I smoked and cleared.

[cpie168]

WapArtist, by "dont need to risk breaking tabs", I assume you left them on while spraying the plastidip? Wouldn't there be a lot of taping up to do to prevent overspray?

[WapArtist]

Great question. I actually did remove them this time and bent one of the tabs on the center section. They aren't super hard to get off. The key is pulling them up and out, not just out. And the fitment worked out even with the tab issue.

Next time I might not pull because the underside is literally invisible. You probably could get away with spraying on the car. But youre right you would need to mask fairly generously around the mesh and inlets.

[piker28]

I like you wanted to get rid of my ugly silver bars and checked out most of the options. I was about to buy the black bars but I heard the clips were a pain to get off without breaking and then the cost. In the end I went with plasti dip and am glad that I did. Simple to do, cheaper, and can be removed later if I ever desire.

[cpie168]

I'm actually thinking of wrapping mine in vinyl. That way I can keep them on the car and probably not have to worry too much about the underside either. I'll do up a template with a piece of paper first and then use that to cut up the vinyl. I'm hoping to achieve the following look (turning my black ones to silver):

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...5#post16837245

[WapArtist]

That looks good on a dark car. And it's the center one that I would definitely prefer to remove mainly as well.

[cpie168]

Yeah the LCI doesn't have the center piece, and the silver looks quite nice on the left and right pieces.

I agree the center piece looks hideous on the Pre-LCI, black or silver. It is best to get rid of it.