Is my hood emblem bolted on or glued on?
 

this is a 2006 530i. my hood emblem has a big chip so I want to replace it. I see on ebay that alot say they are 2 pin but looking on the under side of the hood I see no way mine could have pins since there is no way to get to it. Are they just put on with sticky tape or glue or something?

neither. it is pressed into plastic grommets that are pressed into the hood. best way to remove the emblem is to put some masking tape on the paint, take a small plastic pry tool, and gently pry the emblem out. the pins that press into the grommet are at the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions on the emblem. google it, there are tons of pages/videos that show you how to do it. on the newer F-body cars, BMW started putting double sided tape on the emblems (no idea why, the grommets method worked fine for five decades+). E60s use the same emblem and grommets that BMW used for decades on other cars.

not a bad to buy two grommets and have them on hand. I always put new ones in. theyre about sixty cents each, and can be pulled out carefully using needle-nosed pliers.

good luck.

I see so they pretty much just press into the grommet then. i will see if I can find some videos to watch before I try it. sure don't want to break stuffB)

well you don't have to worry about breaking the old emblem; in fact if it breaks, that makes the job easier;)

new one presses in by hand. get the pins lined up with the grommets, then give it a good slap and it'll go right in.

here's a video: