E36 Grill Removal/Painting
 

I finally got around to removing those nasty E36 stock headlights and replacing them with new ones and decided now that its time to fix the whole front of my bimmer the best i can. As much as i would love to buy a whole new bumper, i dont have the money right now so fixing up what i have will do just fine. The only thing wrong with my stock E36 bumper is the paint on the lower grill. The 12 year old paint is starting to chip off and it needs to be repainted. I've looked under the car trying to figure out how to remove it but couldn't find any clips or screws. Anyone know how to remove it? or any write ups that already show the process? and also what paint should be used to repaint it? THAnkS.
-JAKE
Here are some pictures of the grill I'm talking about -->

http://i52.tinypic.com/jpwu4m.jpg

:cool:

http://i51.tinypic.com/2gsmsr9.jpg

I don't think the grill's supposed to be painted, looks like someone painted it black to hide the fading. I'm thinking you could just sand it down and put a few coats of flat black primer on it.

no idea how it comes out though, sorry

yeah i dont know if the previous owner painted it or what. I'll sand it and i found some paint to use just need to find the way to remove it.

It is mounted from the back, so it is easiest to be removed from the back. Takiing off the bumper is the simplest way to accomplish this.

Do you know of any write ups on how to remove the bumper? Don't want to just start removing screws

should be 4 bolts behind the plastic trim that hold the bumper on, just pop the trim off with a flat head, then there's 10 or so screws in the wheel wells and underneath the bumper that hold it onto all the plastic panels underneath

okay thanks a lot. i'm going to try this weekend. if i can't figure it out, ill ask q's on here

ECS Tuning has them new for $40.

http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E36-318.../Body/ES75177/

It just clips in. Easy out, easy in. They are black plastic. Should not have been any paint.

Mike R

You could snag the license plate delete trim also. There isn't a front plate here in Michigan. Looks better without the plate bracket IMHO.

Now I just need a nice Non-M bumper lip. Considering doing the VW MKIII lower lip mod.

Mike R

hey jake im looking to do the same to my bmw, how did u actually remove the old grill did u get underneath the car or just pull it from the front ??? cheers

hey man.i had the same problem. it is best if u remove the whole bumper. you see, the grill is atached to the bumper by 6 or so plastic clips at the top, and those 4 vertical bars are also holding the grill with their own clips. i used an aerosol spray, black satin. the mate works fine but after a while it turn greyish. the satin looks like you just washed the car. i also painted the black plastic lines in both bumpers with this paint and it lloks great.- let me know how that worked out for ya. greetings from argentina! salud!