[ssm12]

This DIY summarizes how one can remove the E90 (pre-LCI) center finishing (finisher) rod by completely replacing the OEM plastic lower mesh grille piece on the E90 front bumper with an aftermarket metal mesh grille piece. This DIY assumes that you already know how to remove the E90 front bumper from the vehicle. (Removing the front bumper should only take about 15-20 min if you are already familiar with the process.)

*** WARNING: This DIY involves permanent modification of the E90 front bumper (see Step 10 below). ***

1. Remove the front bumper from the vehicle.




2. View of the rear face of the front bumper.




3. Place the front bumper on some old cardboard or other appropriate material to prevent scratches during the mod.




4. Close-up (rear) view of the center lower mesh grille area. There are 14 white tabs that serve to attach the plastic mesh grille piece to the front bumper. The five little black tabs that serve to attach the center finishing rod to the lower grille piece are also plainly visible.




5. Six white tabs serve to hold each foglight grille piece in place. I originally planned to replace the fog light grille pieces as well, but abandoned that idea since it would have been too complicated... (see Photo in Step 8 below and you'll see why).




6. Overview shot of the front bumper after removing the lower mesh grille and fog light grille pieces.




7. Close-up view of the center area of the front bumper after removing the plastic lower mesh grille piece.




8. Close-up view of the fog light area of the front bumper after removing the fog light grille piece. Because the vertical support brackets that anchor the fog lights to the bumper can not be removed, it was easier to just leave the OEM fog light grille pieces in place and forget about trying to replace them with a metal grille piece.




9. View of the front of the OEM plastic lower mesh grille piece after removing the finishing rod. The horizontal bar running across the lower mesh is NOT removable. (At this point, I originally tried to dremel out the OEM plastic mesh area and then replace it with a metal grille piece, but abandoned that plan since it would have taken forever to do...)




10. The 14 white tabs on the front bumper that hold the OEM center lower mesh grille in place were permanently removed by using a Dremel tool.




11. Close-up view of the rear face of the front bumper after removing the 14 white tabs and sanding down the edges to make everything flush.




12. Close-up view of the front face of the front bumper after removing the 14 white tabs and sanding down the edges to make everything flush.




13. The central area of the front bumper was sanded down a bit to improve adhesion of the double-sided tape used to hold the aftermarket metal grille piece in place.




14. After laying down some double-sided tape, wrap the aftermarket metal grille piece around the central area of the front bumper. For more details about where I got the metal mesh grille and how I cut/modded it, see http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=278959




15. Close-up view showing how the metal grille was secured in place using Scotch (3M) double-sided Exterior Mounting Tape (from Home Depot).




16. After securing the metal grille in place, any exposed sticky areas of the double-sided tape were covered up with ordinary vinyl electrical tape.




17. Views of the car with the newly modded lower mesh grille after reinstalling the front bumper.






18. Views of the car after installing a Hamann style front lip and lowering the suspension.









More photos are at http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=281166
and http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=285598

Hope this DIY is helpful for others interesting in getting rid of that annoying center finishing rod!

[MalM3]

Hi

Interesting mod !

But a question.

1) why didnt you couple this mod with the replacement of the 2 outer grills?

part numbers 51 11 7134081 and 082 ?
allong with finnishing rods 51 11 7134091 and 092 ?

Just a suggestion for those considering this mod

Also just a tip for those looking to ballence out their front grill

partialy open side grills

¨

closed side grills

[ssm12]

Originally Posted by Mallard

Hi

Interesting mod !

But a question.

1) why didnt you couple this mod with the replacement of the 2 outer grills?

part numbers 51 11 7134081 and 082 ?
allong with finnishing rods 51 11 7134091 and 092 ?

Just a suggestion for those considering this mod

Also just a tip for those looking to ballence out their front grill

partialy open side grills

¨

closed side grills

Thanks for the comments. Yes, a while back I had also considered the possibility of swapping out the closed side grilles on my (Canadian spec) 323i e90 with partially open ones from a different model. In the end, I decided to just keep my existing closed grilles because I actually didn't know how good it would look to have two different types of diamond mesh patterns in the front -- I'm pretty sure that the holes in the metal mesh that I used for the lower center grille mod have a slightly different shape and dimensions from the holes in the plastic mesh part in the OEM partially open side grills. (See close-up pic below of the metal mesh I used for the mod (top) vs the OEM plastic lower center mesh grille that was originally on my vehicle (bottom).



But another reason why I didn't do the swap (yet...?) is that I was just too lazy to look up the the OEM part number (51117134081 ) for the partially open grilles...

In any case, since the shape/dimension differences between the metal mesh and the OEM plastic mesh really aren't that noticeable from a distance, it might not be a bad idea to maybe try the swap in the future!

[BillLee]

very nice. didn't know you made a diy for this.

[Metal*07*328i*Head]

Looks great, I may try this out

[LuvMyRide]

Great DIY..I've been wanting to do this forever but cant find the mesh.. IMO it would look so much better if you did the outter grills as well.. I've locate dthe site to get the mesh.. What size nesh will I be buying exactly??? I would like to purchased the same size that you installed... Please lemme know. Thanks!

[ssm12]

Originally Posted by LuvMyRide

Great DIY..I've been wanting to do this forever but cant find the mesh.. IMO it would look so much better if you did the outter grills as well.. I've locate dthe site to get the mesh.. What size nesh will I be buying exactly??? I would like to purchased the same size that you installed... Please lemme know. Thanks!

I ordered the 12-inch x 48-inch DIAMOND XXL Powdercoat Gloss Black version. This mesh size provided plenty of material to mod both the front bumper and the rear 3D Design style CF diffuser, too.

[FlyingHorse]

Look the new look, great DIY info.

[moczak]

Hey LuvMyRide can you please let me know the site? Looking into this myself, thx

[MalM3]

weird how miy pics got all mixed up from photobucket