Kidney Grill Advice
 

I am wanting to change out my chrome framed kidney grills to black on my Jet Black E53. So my question for advise is matte black or gloss black?

I checked ECS Tuning and FCP Euro and neither have black face lift kidneys. Any other vendor I should check?

There are plenty of black E53 Chinese grills on fleaBay. I know the fitment is not recommended for the E46, does anyone have experience with these on their X5? TIA :thumbup:

I know this shot is a pre face lift model but I just kinda like the look.

https://c1552172.ssl.cf0.rackcdn.com/613947_x800.jpg

Have you considered plasti-dip? Cheap, easy, looks great, and matches the oem finish of the bumper. No need to destroy the clips on the old grills either..

No I hadn't thought of that. I ordered a set off fleaBay for $45 and if they don't fit to my standards, I might give that a try. Thank you for your input! :thumbup:

Here's some food for thought.. hope it helps!
http://i.cubeupload.com/oXPCBX.png

One of my grills fell out (or maybe stolen). I bought a set of some of the higher priced eBay set and I got matte and I'm happy with them. They aren't perfect fit but you have to look to find seam gap. (And look a hell of a lot better than a missing grill!)


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You can check this website as well

https://www.schmiedmann.com

Thanks! I'm gonna try those and see how the fitment is. I have paint matched aftermarket kidneys on my E46 and they don't fit perfect either but they have been fine for 13 years.

The fitment on the face lift e53 grilles I ran was fine around the edges, but I did use silicon in key places as an extra to hold them in. The grille slats were cheap though. They were the 6 series style grille though as that was the only gloss offering at the time when I purchased them. Now I believe they have OEM e53 style available in both gloss and matte.

Right now I am rocking plasti-dipped OEM grilles with glossifier. They look good, but I'd prefer gloss OEM style grilles. Keep us updated as I might purchase another after market set if they are worth it.

I've been searching for a set for years and still couldn't find anything to date - not sure why no one is making the facelift grille ;) Most of the clips on mine are so brittle that it would come apart at anytime - a couple of them already disappeared. Please update us on how those replacement work out? Thanks.

Will do. They are shipping today but I still don't know where they are coming from. The seller is located in the US but who knows if he drop ships from China... I'll take plenty of pictures and document the process. :thumbup: