Aftermarket E46 black breasts (grills) - what to buy?

[samjarvis1987@gmail.com 0]

Should I fork out the big money and get some factory produced ones i.e.; http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-...n-505761611.htm

Or I found these which seem to be painted plastic ones for $40USD;

They also do other colours; http://sv-concepts.com/3-series/e46-1999-2...he-bmw-e46.html

Or could I just spray paint them myself?

If anyone has had any experience in replacing their OEM grills with black ones please let me know.

Car is silver with black exterior trim, and got a two tone black and grey interior trim in progress, so reckon she would look mint with some black grills.

Thanks,

Sam

[Escay 0]

on an E46 swapping the grills is very easy, just a few clips, painting/vinyl wrapping is the cheapest and easiest option, but be aware that after time stone chips will chip the paint leaving the chrome showing through sometimes. better to buy black plastic ones.

Also buying from J levi is like $50 for shipping? Tardme would be cheaper. try the bay maybe.

[samjarvis1987@gmail.com 0]

Friend at Jeff Grey BMW said they don't do black grills for the year of my car so I will have to go aftermarket. She did say however I could get chrome surrounds with black flutes (the vertical bits)...

That could potentially look quite cool? Might go with the silver/black look I'm going for too.

Agree re the spray painting/wrapping - I think my best bet is to source some plastic ones locally.

Although the two toned grills are intriguing - I didn't even know they were too separate bits.

If I get a pair of black ones I can two tone both of them and see which one looks better, or just use the full black.

[allan 295]

Try here they range from $19 to $72US odd I bought one with the chrome surround black vertical bars for 19 odd wouldn't do it again as a word of warning. http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/catalog/sh...t_pg1.htm#item0

[qube 3571]

if you dont want to fork out the money, then all you need to do is sand off the chrome, polish using finer sandpaper and water, then leave it to dry, paint it black or whatever, clear coat it (if u want, i didnt) and put them back on. its simple as. to remove them from the body, all you need to do is just punch the |||||| area and the surround will pop out, sounds silly but it works, otherwise u can just pry the clips from behind and slide it out. same thing.

[Michael. 2313]

Make a CAD drawing of the original grilles and take it to a plastic moulding company, they will be able to make your up some black ones from scratch.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 3003]

If you want anything moulded, you will need to invest in the tooling... a half decent tool from China for an E46 grille would be about NZ$50k, and you would need a tool for each side...

[euroriffic 624]

I brought a black one for the sedan and painted the tourings one as the chrome was stonechiped and starting to peel.

Came up pretty good

[Michael. 2313]

  E30 325i Rag-Top said:

If you want anything moulded, you will need to invest in the tooling... a half decent tool from China for an E46 grille would be about NZ$50k, and you would need a tool for each side...

Haha, good response!

[m2geek 4]

  samjar said:

Should I fork out the big money and get some factory produced ones i.e.; http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-...n-505761611.htm

Or I found these which seem to be painted plastic ones for $40USD;

They also do other colours; http://sv-concepts.com/3-series/e46-1999-2...he-bmw-e46.html

Or could I just spray paint them myself?

If anyone has had any experience in replacing their OEM grills with black ones please let me know.

Car is silver with black exterior trim, and got a two tone black and grey interior trim in progress, so reckon she would look mint with some black grills.

Thanks,

Sam

I just painted mine over the weekend - they look sickaz:

Edited August 27, 2012 by m2geek

[samjarvis1987@gmail.com 0]

Sounds like the consensus is, matt black looks pretty decent. (Sorry I need to put notifications on for my threads/posts)

I found this cheap pair on Ebay for $25 AUD so might give that a go.

This way if they don't look that good I can always return them to standard - and if I ever decide to sell, I can revert back..

Off topic, but what do people think about those aftermarket screw on pedals?

[samjarvis1987@gmail.com 0]

  m2geek said:

I just painted mine over the weekend - they look sickaz:

Mean as, what sort of paint did you use, just a standard matt black?

Hoping mine will look just as good!