BMW
X1 / X2
BMW Garage BMW Meets Register Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
BMW X1 (F48) and X2 (F39) Forums General BMW X1 Forum (F48) M Sport Performance Grill - Removal Tips?

Post Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
      05-26-2016, 01:26 AM   #1
dj_intrinsic
Second Lieutenant
dj_intrinsic's Avatar
United_States
321
Rep
233
Posts

Drives: 23 G80 M3 6MT
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Bay Area, CA

iTrader: (1)

M Sport Performance Grill - Removal Tips?

Has anyone purchased the black performance grills and installed them? I'm looking to either Plastidip or replace the original ones but can't figure out how to remove them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
__________________
2023 G80 MT / AW / Fjord Blue/Black | KW HAS | Apex VS5RS F:20x10+8 285/30-20 R:20x11+18 305/30-20 | Maxton Street Pro Splitter | OEM M3CS Grille | SST Valve Controller | CS Style Yellow DRL | MAD Non-Res Single Midpipe
Past: 2018 X3 M40i | 2016 M-Sport X1 | 2013 MT M-Sport 328i | 2021 Audi A6 Allroad
Appreciate 0
      05-26-2016, 02:37 AM   #2
silverstein
New Member
Germany
15
Rep
23
Posts

Drives: BMW X1 F48 25d Sport Line
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Germany

iTrader: (0)

User BLUE SLK posted this at Motor Talk. It is in german, but it might help you

http://www.motor-talk.de/forum/-nier...72.html?page=3

(Last post of the page)
Appreciate 2
      05-26-2016, 07:44 AM   #3
ForkLiter
Private First Class
37
Rep
126
Posts

Drives: 2016 X1 M Sport
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Rochester, NY

iTrader: (0)

I'm going to give it a try this weekend. I did take a look and I can see that the shroud on top behind the kidneys has to go. I picked up a radiator hose tool but no dice, I can't get in there enough. I'm also thinking of a one day subscription to https://www.bmwtechinfo.com/. I also have the HK tweeters to swap out so I may get the service information on the door cards (shouldn't be that hard) so I can do that cleanly too. Tool pic is giant, sorry.
Attached Images
 
Appreciate 0
      05-26-2016, 12:52 PM   #4
usmabmass
Second Lieutenant
232
Rep
251
Posts

Drives: 08 550i, 23 i4 M50, 24 iX M60
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: United States

iTrader: (0)

It looked like such a pain on the X1 (compared to how easy it was to do on my E60 and E91) - I just asked the dealer to do it when I bought it and they did it for free... well as part of the purchase agreement. Looks dope!
Appreciate 0
      05-26-2016, 09:11 PM   #5
dj_intrinsic
Second Lieutenant
dj_intrinsic's Avatar
United_States
321
Rep
233
Posts

Drives: 23 G80 M3 6MT
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Bay Area, CA

iTrader: (1)

Bit the bullet and just tried. Took me about 20 min total to remove both sides. 8 clips in total with 3 on the top and bottom and 1 clip on each end

1. Remove weather stripping and 4 torx screws holding the bumper in place
2. Pull the bumper cover out a little and you'll see the three top clips for each grill
3. Do the same to unclip the sides
4. This is where it got a little tricky...
- The passenger grill, I decided to just manhandle and pull. This worked fine and didn't damage anything
- The driver side, I actually just stuck my finger down and around to unclip. If you have long fingers it may be slightly easier. If you have one, I recommend using the tool that ForkLiter posted.
5. Finished! Now, I had to separate the silver surround from the slatted grill for PlastiDipping
__________________
2023 G80 MT / AW / Fjord Blue/Black | KW HAS | Apex VS5RS F:20x10+8 285/30-20 R:20x11+18 305/30-20 | Maxton Street Pro Splitter | OEM M3CS Grille | SST Valve Controller | CS Style Yellow DRL | MAD Non-Res Single Midpipe
Past: 2018 X3 M40i | 2016 M-Sport X1 | 2013 MT M-Sport 328i | 2021 Audi A6 Allroad
Appreciate 0
      05-27-2016, 12:55 AM   #6
dj_intrinsic
Second Lieutenant
dj_intrinsic's Avatar
United_States
321
Rep
233
Posts

Drives: 23 G80 M3 6MT
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Bay Area, CA

iTrader: (1)

And 5 coats of Plasidip later....



Saved me $140 for a new set
__________________
2023 G80 MT / AW / Fjord Blue/Black | KW HAS | Apex VS5RS F:20x10+8 285/30-20 R:20x11+18 305/30-20 | Maxton Street Pro Splitter | OEM M3CS Grille | SST Valve Controller | CS Style Yellow DRL | MAD Non-Res Single Midpipe
Past: 2018 X3 M40i | 2016 M-Sport X1 | 2013 MT M-Sport 328i | 2021 Audi A6 Allroad
Appreciate 0
      05-27-2016, 01:12 AM   #7
KPD
Lieutenant
KPD's Avatar
United Kingdom
170
Rep
549
Posts

Drives: F48 xDrive 20i xLine
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Surrey

iTrader: (0)

Looks great. Honestly, I think all-black grills should be standard on M and M-Sport trims across all BMW models. Roof rails and window surrounds are black. I don't understand why the grill isn't!
Appreciate 1
      05-27-2016, 03:15 AM   #8
silverstein
New Member
Germany
15
Rep
23
Posts

Drives: BMW X1 F48 25d Sport Line
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Germany

iTrader: (0)

+1
Appreciate 0
      05-27-2016, 03:17 AM   #9
alnchiang
Private
alnchiang's Avatar
Taiwan
85
Rep
56
Posts

Drives: F48 S-drive 20i
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Taiwan

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by KPD View Post
Looks great. Honestly, I think all-black grills should be standard on M and M-Sport trims across all BMW models. Roof rails and window surrounds are black. I don't understand why the grill isn't!
the black grill also work great with X-line.
Attached Images
 
Appreciate 2
      05-27-2016, 03:34 AM   #10
PF1
Second Lieutenant
92
Rep
236
Posts

Drives: F48 X1 xDrive25i M Sport
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Australia

iTrader: (0)

The plastidip black grille looks fantastic!! As good as the real thing! Wish I had the skills to do it haha
Appreciate 0
      05-27-2016, 06:37 AM   #11
KPD
Lieutenant
KPD's Avatar
United Kingdom
170
Rep
549
Posts

Drives: F48 xDrive 20i xLine
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Surrey

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by alnchiang View Post
the black grill also work great with X-line.
I love the matt aluminium finish on my xLine grill and don't think an all-black grill would look that great with lighter colours. But darker colours, it looks great. The BMW promo shots when they first launched the accessories line for F48 is also of an xLine (Sparkling Brown; fantastic colour):

Appreciate 1
      06-01-2016, 08:57 AM   #12
ForkLiter
Private First Class
37
Rep
126
Posts

Drives: 2016 X1 M Sport
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Rochester, NY

iTrader: (0)

Went ahead and got this done as described above. Not super fun, but not impossible.
Attached Images
 
Appreciate 0
      10-29-2018, 11:45 AM   #13
ZetaSeattle
Private First Class
13
Rep
108
Posts

Drives: 2018 xDrive28i
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Seattle

iTrader: (0)

Thanks for the write up! Dealer wanted to charge 2 hours labor to do this.

20 minutes is about right and I wanted to mention that I also found it a lot easier after pulling out the long plastic piece that runs along the top inside edge of where the bumper cover clips in. It involved 6 more torx screws and then pulling it out. This gave me more room to negotiate the clips.

I think it was the "Impact absorber, top" part labeled "2" here: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=51_9789
Appreciate 0
      11-21-2018, 03:39 PM   #14
Al_Maryland
Registered
3
Rep
3
Posts

Drives: 2016 Bmw X1
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Maryland

iTrader: (0)

Black grilles on my Silver 2016 X1

Just installed these. It is a pain, but if you have the patience and tools it can be done at home.
Attached Images
 
Appreciate 0
      01-18-2019, 11:16 PM   #15
quaman26
New Member
2
Rep
15
Posts

Drives: 2017 BMW X1 Xdrive
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: San Diego, CA

iTrader: (0)

Hi all,

I want to do this with my 2017 X1 and when I was peeking into the grille, there looks to be some kind of rubber shroud around the grille. Does that shroud come off together with the grille or does it stay there when you take the grille out?
Appreciate 0
      12-14-2020, 08:43 AM   #16
ozzie8888
New Member
0
Rep
5
Posts

Drives: BMW 530i
Join Date: Sep 2020
Location: Chicago

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by alnchiang View Post
the black grill also work great with X-line.
Looks awesome. Great job! Can you provide steps on how you removed the OEM grille?
Appreciate 0
      12-17-2020, 09:17 PM   #17
ZZZZ
Captain
50
Rep
753
Posts

Drives: Z4 3.0i winterbeater
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Toronto, Ontario

iTrader: (1)

Quote:
Originally Posted by ozzie8888 View Post
Looks awesome. Great job! Can you provide steps on how you removed the OEM grille?
Post #5 in this thread provides step by step directions. Just be patient. There are 3 versions of the grill. Regular is all silver. M-Sport is black slats with a silver surround. M-Performance is an extra cost and all black.

I swapped to all black and didn't like how it looked on Estoril blue and went back to the M-Sport version (silver surround + black slats).

Zzzz
Appreciate 0
      01-10-2021, 04:42 PM   #18
Homersbud
Captain
United_States
189
Rep
754
Posts

Drives: BMW X1
Join Date: Mar 2020
Location: Chicago

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by ozzie8888 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by alnchiang View Post
the black grill also work great with X-line.
Looks awesome. Great job! Can you provide steps on how you removed the OEM grille?
If you don't mind breaking some clips, here are the steps I took:

Don't bother taking front bumper off, literally no access to stick your arm through there, however, a long enough tool (flathead) might work with some patience, but I didn't want to deal with this hassle, so i put bumper on and went this route knowing i'm hanging the old grille in my garage wall, so I don't mind any broken clips

There is the rubber cover around the grille that can be moved away enough to get your fingers in there to un-clip the sides & bottom - I started on passenger side with the side clip. Once I got that un-done, I went one-by-one on the lower clips as they can be accessed by prying down on the rubber & sticking your finger down there to un-clip - once all bottoms and sides were done (make sure to apply pressure on grille when you pull so they don't go back into place), this is where a flathead may work (if you want to save clips), but I just yanked on the a few times & the top clips came out, well, 1/3 (two broke)

I basically followed the same steps on the driver side grille & a cpl top clips broke, but new kidney grille has been installed & looks great!

I might do the lower r/l grille inserts to the glossy version, but happy with this mod
Attached Images
 
Appreciate 0
Post Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:49 AM.




xbimmers
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
1Addicts.com, BIMMERPOST.com, E90Post.com, F30Post.com, M3Post.com, ZPost.com, 5Post.com, 6Post.com, 7Post.com, XBimmers.com logo and trademark are properties of BIMMERPOST