okay.. heres the deal.. ive seen a couple of cars with the grill in front black in the middle on the grill part.. but white around it.. to match the car.. i kinda like that look.. but do they come like that? or do i have to buy them all black and get them painted white around the outside? or shoudl i just stick with all black?.. i do like that CF look too.. but i like the white frame around it more.. help......

 

They are almost all painted. Mine's painted matt black with chrome center on my black sapphire metallic colour. I've seen alpine white kidney frame with chrome/black center, nice. Like they say 'what's your flava'

 

You'll have to paint it to achieve that look. Shouldnt be too difficult

 

+1, the grills are pretty easy to remove and mount. Think there are a few threads on DIY grill mods...GL

 

Based on my personal experience, I'm not a fan of painted grilles. I bought the Hamann black grille to replace my silver colored one. I wanted to make my car's profile less attractive to laser speed enforcement devices.

Anyhow, I'll attach a pic of what it looks currently. As you can see, the paint has been chipped off by normal road debris. I've now had it installed for about 10 months or so, but it started looking awful after less than 6 months. I'm very disappointed with the Hamann paint job.

So, now I am about to test out a vinyl covered grille (see pic below), which I suspect (and hope) will fare much better. I had the vinyl wrap done by a company called Vinyl Styles. Lyle is the owner and was super helpful. As you can see, they work mainly on Minis. It cost me around $200 plus shipping, but he said that's on the high side. I had an all chrome grille and I wanted it all (including the slats) wrapped in black vinyl. At the time I thought it would probably be cheaper an easier than buying a partially black grille from a 530/525 and then having that wrapped around the edges. I was also admittedly too lazy to check into that option, and I had my old 545 grille lying around collecting dust.

I have to say that in person the vinyl grilles look awesome. You would never know or guess they are vinyl covered. The texture is smooth. It's not what I think of when I think of vinyl... very slick. BTW, the very small specs on the vinyl grilles are dust, not an imperfection. I received these back a few months ago, but the weather is just now getting to the point that I feel like messing with the car.

We'll see how they do after I get some other parts in and have time to fit them.

 

ok.. so ill have to buy them in matte black?? and then paint the frame?? i can find them on ebay i believe.. but how the hell do i paint it without it looking retarded!? or do i have it done somewhere? my car is alpine white. or geez man maybe i should go all black.. thanks guys.. mel

 

Hmm.... well, I have a few thoughts...

1. Contact Lyle at above website and ask him if he can do white vinyl.

2. Again, ask Lyle re: if you paint your grille white can he wrap the vertical parts only in black?

3. I'm not sure if you can take apart the center vertical bits from the surround area, but that may be worth investigating.

Just my $0.02. Hope it helps a bit.

 

ok.. so heres another question.. ive been looking on ebay.. and i get confused i swear!!! i see some grills that are matte black.. which i DO like, but there only like 40 or 50 bucks.. and being so cheap that makes me nervous.. are they crap.. gonna fall apart? whats the dealy? and THEN...lol there are some that are the carbon fiber.. that are around 130 bucks..

will the matte cheap ones bubble up? or look like sh%t soon? or are they just cheaper...

 

My guess is that the cheapest black ones are just molded in black plastic and will actually hold up the best over time.

 

Painting would do the job