Quote:
Originally Posted by kimi_fan
The following describes what you'll need to do to replace the front grills (or grilles) on an E70 35i. For me this was all about replacing the grilles from the aluminum finish to the matte black finish to match the blacked out BMW performance kidney grille. Thanks to the Jason at Tischer for sending me the correct part numbers...and the quick shipping once the part came in...my only advice is to make sure you're getting the right part as cars with Active cruise may use a different part. Replacement actually isn't as difficult as I thought it may be and only took a total of 1.5 hours...you could probably do this faster but I was being careful not to break anything. First, the small top grille simply snaps on and off and could be swapped out in about a minute. The bottom one however requires that you remove the front bumper cover because of the way it snaps in and the fact that you have some support bars in your way that do not allow you to swap these out without removal of the bumper.
Tools you'll need: 8mm socket, flat head screwdriver for prying if necessary, and a phillips screw driver. It is also helpful to have a friend or someone to help hold one side of the bumper as you remove the other side. A box or other support would also work.
Here you go:
1. Remove the 4 screws (phillips, quarter turn screws) under the front aluminum colored skid plate.
2. Remove the 2 screws on the left and 2 on the right under the car that hold the bottom of the bumper to the trim (8mm small screws).
3. Remove the 5 screws along the top of the bumper, just above the small grille in the front of the car (8mm screws with the large heads).
4. Remove the 3 screws on the left and 3 on the right in the wheel well that secure the bumper to the fender flares in the front.
5. At this point you should have removed a total on 19 screws (4 aluminum colored phillips, 5 8mm screws with the big head, 6 8mm screws from the wheel wells, and 4 small 8mm screws from under the bumper.
6. The next part for removal is all about patience as it requires unsnapping a few things. The front fender flares are snapped into the front bumper using tabs...this was actually the hardest one for me to remove. Unsnap the flares from the bumper on both sides.
7. The bumper is free now, other that the tabs at the tops of the bumper on the left and right that are holding it in. My technique was to rock the bumper off, holding the top and bottom of the bumper, on one side. Once one side is free (I started with the driver's side) you'll need to disconnect the wiring harness that powers the fog light. This is where your friend, or a box, needs to hold one side up while you work on the other. I removed the passenger's side using the same technique...keep in mind you'll have both the fog light and PDC wiring connection on that side that needs to be disconnected.
Your bumper should now be free and you can unsnap the old grille and replace with your new one. As a side note, if you plan on replacing the grilles on the left and right (the one's with the aluminum horizontal fins) with the open one's like the 50i has now would be a good time since they appear to be easily removed only after you have the bumper off. I'm not sure if that's a good idea just yet, since in the 35i there is nothing behind them and it looks like there is a limited amount of space for air to escape...which i can only imagine would assist in lower my gas mileage.
Replacement is just the opposite of removal. My only tips are to take your time, make sure everything is back together correctly (the fender flares have a piece that gets tucked in, which is nearly impossible to do while snapping the bumper in from the front by yourself...have a friend help with this as well), and make sure you reconnect PDC and the fog lights before you put it back. I also checked the lights and PDC before screwing everything back together just to make sure I reconnected everything.
Hope that helps!
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Super detailed instructions! I'm gonna try to replace my black ones w/ the silver ones soon!