Kidney Grill
Contributors
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 824
Likes: 0
From: dallas, tx
My Ride: e60
if you want a chrome strip (mine is matte silver vinyl), look at this one in the pics below. This is a German car, I have seen the strip on another car live, but I don't know who sells it.
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:l
:l
Contributors
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 9,986
Likes: 1
From: Zoo York
My Ride: Alpine White 2006 530Xi (SLD)
Funny this thread popped up - I was just about to buy some paint for my grilles and exhaust tips today, but realized that it may rain again soon, so I came to the forum for inspiration 
What I'm gonna do is not the "classiest", I'm sure hehe but I think it will match the overall theme of my car. I want to do the vertical slats and exhaust tips same matching graphite/grayish/light gray - something like that (was gonna actually pick the paint at the store and sort of figure out the hue on the spot. Now, for the grill bezels, I'm still undecided - maybe alpine white to match my car? Maybe something else - not sure. But I also wanted to get some pinstripes and make some [hopefully] tasteful accents in Bavarian blue - that's the same blue that's in the OEM roundel. I'm also planning to paint the calipers that same blue and gray. So basically, I think it has to be a coherent theme throughout the entire car to make it feel finished. I definitely feel that the matte black grilles are too boyish. They are better than the OEM ones, but still not the best they could be IMO.
Hope this helped in some way, somehow. Good luck and don't forget to share some pics when you're done modding them
What I'm gonna do is not the "classiest", I'm sure hehe but I think it will match the overall theme of my car. I want to do the vertical slats and exhaust tips same matching graphite/grayish/light gray - something like that (was gonna actually pick the paint at the store and sort of figure out the hue on the spot. Now, for the grill bezels, I'm still undecided - maybe alpine white to match my car? Maybe something else - not sure. But I also wanted to get some pinstripes and make some [hopefully] tasteful accents in Bavarian blue - that's the same blue that's in the OEM roundel. I'm also planning to paint the calipers that same blue and gray. So basically, I think it has to be a coherent theme throughout the entire car to make it feel finished. I definitely feel that the matte black grilles are too boyish. They are better than the OEM ones, but still not the best they could be IMO.
Hope this helped in some way, somehow. Good luck and don't forget to share some pics when you're done modding them
Senior Members
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 354
Likes: 0
From: Santa Clara, CA
Check them out on our site or shoot me a PM for more info
Painted Front Grill Set for the E60 [GRL604PNT]
Contributors
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 2,696
Likes: 1
From: Saskatchewan Canada
My Ride: 2004 530i
premium package/active steering/auto sunshade/tiag/black dakota leather/logic 7
35% tint all around
19' DPE GT7
I say painted grill same color as car and the black slats
Contributors
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 5,781
Likes: 2
From: CA
My Ride: BMW E60
Model Year: 2016
Personally, I have gone through multiple variations of this, and finally settled on the combo I like.
Just to preface this a bit. Originally my grills were all chrome, and after changing to glossy black trim, I had to change the grill to better match it. I know I didn't want matte black, as everyone on here pretty much have it, plus it looked plain to me. So I went glossy black. It looked good to me, though the downside is that from a distance away, it looked like matte black.
Anyway, after I got new wheels last month, I thought I wanted to change my grill again because I wanted to have a bit of an accent to match my wheels. So I decided to use chrome bars with glossy black bezel. It looked good -- but there was a problem. Due to how the bars make the grill stand out, the glossy black bezel actually created the illusion of a larger gap between the hood and bumper of the car.
Call me crazy, but I got my brother and friend to look at it, and they agreed that it did make the gap look bigger. Well, at this point, that kind of sucked, but I thought I would try out one more thing... and then if I wasn't happy with it, I can always go back to all gloss black.
I made the bezel matte black (GASP!)... and it actually looks great!
Personally, it's the best combo in my opinion, as it now contrast against the color of my paint, and with the bars visible it no longer looks like (in fokker's words) "someone robbed my grill".
Look below:
And this is a picture when it was entirely glossy black. I am sure that some is going to like this more, as it is more "sporty" or more aggressive look. It looks good to me, but like I said, from a distance, the grill disappears
Just to preface this a bit. Originally my grills were all chrome, and after changing to glossy black trim, I had to change the grill to better match it. I know I didn't want matte black, as everyone on here pretty much have it, plus it looked plain to me. So I went glossy black. It looked good to me, though the downside is that from a distance away, it looked like matte black.
Anyway, after I got new wheels last month, I thought I wanted to change my grill again because I wanted to have a bit of an accent to match my wheels. So I decided to use chrome bars with glossy black bezel. It looked good -- but there was a problem. Due to how the bars make the grill stand out, the glossy black bezel actually created the illusion of a larger gap between the hood and bumper of the car.
Call me crazy, but I got my brother and friend to look at it, and they agreed that it did make the gap look bigger. Well, at this point, that kind of sucked, but I thought I would try out one more thing... and then if I wasn't happy with it, I can always go back to all gloss black.
I made the bezel matte black (GASP!)... and it actually looks great!
Personally, it's the best combo in my opinion, as it now contrast against the color of my paint, and with the bars visible it no longer looks like (in fokker's words) "someone robbed my grill".
Look below:
And this is a picture when it was entirely glossy black. I am sure that some is going to like this more, as it is more "sporty" or more aggressive look. It looks good to me, but like I said, from a distance, the grill disappears
Thread Starter
Members
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 145
Likes: 2
From: Houston, Texas
My Ride: 2004 525i, Silver Gray Metallic on gray, Logic7,Adaptive Xenons
Model Year: 2004
Engine: M54
I've decided that the grill will be getting painted, but I'm still hung up on whether or not to paint the bezel silver and the bars gloss black. Or leave the bezel chrome and paint the bars silver, just like on the new X5.
And the lower black trim between the foglights is getting painted silver.
And the lower black trim between the foglights is getting painted silver.
Senior Members
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,026
Likes: 0
I've decided that the grill will be getting painted, but I'm still hung up on whether or not to paint the bezel silver and the bars gloss black. Or leave the bezel chrome and paint the bars silver, just like on the new X5.
And the lower black trim between the foglights is getting painted silver.
And the lower black trim between the foglights is getting painted silver.
Thread Starter
Members
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 145
Likes: 2
From: Houston, Texas
My Ride: 2004 525i, Silver Gray Metallic on gray, Logic7,Adaptive Xenons
Model Year: 2004
Engine: M54
I certainly will post pictures as soon as I get a chance to do it. I've been on vacation for 2 weeks. I'm sure my girlfriend will be happy to find out that when I get back all my free time will be spent with my car haha she's gonna hate me for it. Oh well.
Members
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 99
Likes: 0
From: Toronto, Canada
My Ride: The UDM
Personally, I have gone through multiple variations of this, and finally settled on the combo I like.
Just to preface this a bit. Originally my grills were all chrome, and after changing to glossy black trim, I had to change the grill to better match it. I know I didn't want matte black, as everyone on here pretty much have it, plus it looked plain to me. So I went glossy black. It looked good to me, though the downside is that from a distance away, it looked like matte black.
Anyway, after I got new wheels last month, I thought I wanted to change my grill again because I wanted to have a bit of an accent to match my wheels. So I decided to use chrome bars with glossy black bezel. It looked good -- but there was a problem. Due to how the bars make the grill stand out, the glossy black bezel actually created the illusion of a larger gap between the hood and bumper of the car.
Call me crazy, but I got my brother and friend to look at it, and they agreed that it did make the gap look bigger. Well, at this point, that kind of sucked, but I thought I would try out one more thing... and then if I wasn't happy with it, I can always go back to all gloss black.
I made the bezel matte black (GASP!)... and it actually looks great!
Personally, it's the best combo in my opinion, as it now contrast against the color of my paint, and with the bars visible it no longer looks like (in fokker's words) "someone robbed my grill".
Look below:
And this is a picture when it was entirely glossy black. I am sure that some is going to like this more, as it is more "sporty" or more aggressive look. It looks good to me, but like I said, from a distance, the grill disappears
Just to preface this a bit. Originally my grills were all chrome, and after changing to glossy black trim, I had to change the grill to better match it. I know I didn't want matte black, as everyone on here pretty much have it, plus it looked plain to me. So I went glossy black. It looked good to me, though the downside is that from a distance away, it looked like matte black.
Anyway, after I got new wheels last month, I thought I wanted to change my grill again because I wanted to have a bit of an accent to match my wheels. So I decided to use chrome bars with glossy black bezel. It looked good -- but there was a problem. Due to how the bars make the grill stand out, the glossy black bezel actually created the illusion of a larger gap between the hood and bumper of the car.
Call me crazy, but I got my brother and friend to look at it, and they agreed that it did make the gap look bigger. Well, at this point, that kind of sucked, but I thought I would try out one more thing... and then if I wasn't happy with it, I can always go back to all gloss black.
I made the bezel matte black (GASP!)... and it actually looks great!
Personally, it's the best combo in my opinion, as it now contrast against the color of my paint, and with the bars visible it no longer looks like (in fokker's words) "someone robbed my grill".
Look below:
And this is a picture when it was entirely glossy black. I am sure that some is going to like this more, as it is more "sporty" or more aggressive look. It looks good to me, but like I said, from a distance, the grill disappears