bumper grill inserts
 

After taking a large rock to my front end the two upper inserts were toast on my car. They already had holes in the mesh but now the plastic behind the mesh broke out as well. So I notice the replacements in titanium (what I have) are $42 while the standard black is $24. personally I really couldn't care less about the color on these. How is bmw charging over 40% more just for a different color!!?

Second - I don't even know if I even want to replace these. The plastic was so flimsy on mine they broke out of a pebble hit them even The only thing I don't like is that this leaves some of the metal of the bumper exposed. It is hardly noticeable though. What are your guys thoughts on these things, Is it just something that needs replacing periodically if you want them to look good?

if you think this is strange to charge 40% more for a different color (titanium was sport package deal, if i remember correctly), check out the rear wheelwell flare between the diesel E53 and the "is" E53 - the diesel version (slightly different) is about $20, the "is" version is about $180!!!

I haven't seen them being a maintenance item, even though a buddy of mine at work has his busted on his 4.4 - but he had a tree fallen onto his car, and he did not bother to fix any of the other dents either...

EDIT: I will stand corrected - those are the bumper mesh thingies you are talking about - they do take a hit and they are plastic, so they break... we had a thread somewhere, and you can go to a Home Depot or whatever, buy yourself a metal mesh and paint whatever color you wish - definetely will not break!!!...

On my buddy's car, the nostrils on the hood were busted, and i incorrectly referred to them originally... sorry... getting old... :nanana:

okay that metal mesh makes sense. That was what I was originally going to do but the rock took out the plastic bezel that goes around the mesh so I don't have that option anymore. I'll probably just buy the black inserts and be done with it. If I wanted titanium I'd just buy a rattle can.

Check out the price difference between the piano black a/b pillar covers in relation to the regular ones... and there's 4 of them!

Where are you finding titanium for $40ish? I looked and only saw it for $70+ plus shipping. I have a hole too.

Josh you have a pre facelift which is different mesh (1 piece)

When I first looked around for possibly upgrading to a titanium grille I thought I was missing the two smaller uppers but the pre-facelift only has the one long bottom grille. Those two smaller ones on face lifted usually retail for around $40.

So the Diesel's had a flared rear wheel flare? Can't seem to find a good picture online.

He was referring to Lemans Special Edition that came on diesel model. It was tapered in on the bottom compare to IS version.

http://www.xoutpost.com/attachments/...on-photo-1.jpg

And the Lemans flares look out of place with the 4.8 rear diffuser, look at the lines.

The Lemans flares were released for non-diffuser equipped vehicles because they follow the flow of the rear better as such.

Regardless, the flared wheel arches which either Lemans edition or models equipped with a 4.6/4.8 rear need are 150 a side. Not exactly a cheap mod by any means whether equipped with the diffuser or not.

But one would presume if you are dropping the 500 bucks on the rear diffuser equipping with the proper flares would be the right route