Kidneys and grills
 

I'm getting some touch up paint work on the 2004 X5.
I bought new front end kidneys, and fresh air grills.
I got exactly what I had. They are chrome and silver.

After seeing other X5's that are like silver, I'm liking the black
kidneys better.
Where does one buy the black kidneys and grills?

Mine are BMW factory unopened parts.
If I find black, mine will be for sale.

Ebay....

My bodyshop refuses to paint OE with whatever money I throw at them. They adamently stand by the fact it won't last.

Ecstuning has black aftermarket kidneys. I don't know which grill your talking about whether it be the hood vents or the mesh on the bumper, but I am pretty sure you can get either in black from BMW.

Or you can just use a can of spray paint or plasti dip.

Up until recently the only aftermarket grilles were available in flat black. I wanted gloss to match the sport trim. On the 4.4i I had the OEM titanium grilles painted gloss by my detail shop. That turned out like:

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/o...5/DSC_0165.jpg

They were okay, but not great as a respray is never perfect. It chipped more than I would have liked as well... not terrible but I have OCD when it comes to things like that. So I went with these on the new 4.8:

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/o...C_0006%202.jpg

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/o...C_0009%202.jpg

The quality on them is okay. They look good but I had to do some mods/trimming to the clips to get them to click in. I also used some silicon strategically to tighten them up (keep them from rattling when opening and closing hood). Overall I think they were worth the ~$75 as I won't have to worry about paint chipping. They have a nice aggressive look imo as well. They can be had at the link below and are the only gloss black grilles I have been able to find for our cars. I am running their version of the X3 (e83) grille on my wife's and it is a tad nicer than our version as far as fitment is concerned. I am definitely still happy with these though.

Edit: Forgot the link... http://www.ebay.com/itm/161585976475...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I have had mine plasti-dipped for a while, leaving the chrome accents around.

Mine arent matte but more of a satin like the plastic trim around the bottom of the car and flares when treated properly. All blends very well.

A trick for the dip is when you clean your car use turtle wax interior cleaner on them gives it a nice sleek look but not super glossy. I only ever use that on exterior items that are dipped.

Pic-

http://i.imgur.com/Pqoj3Ck.png

The red is gorgeous!

Thinking hard...

I used rattle can plastidip on mine. As mentioned it matches well and wears well.