I have a 2006 Chili Red/White R53. Right now, I have the chrome grill - dealer installed option. Been thinking about the Aero grill, but I'm not crazy about the idea of cutting my factory bumper to install the lower piece. Are there any pictures of a car with either the standard or chrome grill and only the top part of the aero grill installed? I'm sure you guys have opinions, let it rip.

 

Hey whats up! i to had the same concern when I got the grill.
its really nice alot of cutting to your bumper. mainly to the lower grill itself. Its alot deeper than the non-aero kid bumper so you have to trim it down so that it doesnt stick out so much.

If you not keen on this idea, alot of people just paint there stock non-aero grill black.

I had just the upper aero grill on for a while ( dont have any pictures)
but it just doesnt look finished without the lower grill black.

So yeah man. you can paint the stock one, or trim the new grill.
your choice!
good luck
-Malcon

 

I didnt want to bother with taking the bumper off either.........solution black vinyl tape. I made template and then got some tape and cut it out actually very simple. I bought vinyl from a sign shop. Plus its easy to go back to stock if needed.

 

Taking the bumper cover off is not really that big of a deal. 95% of the trimming is to the grill itself, a bit time consuming to get it just right and just trim some of the two long slats a bit on the bumper. Used 3M trim tape to hold it on. Be patient and it goes just fine.

 

Here you go. This actually looks pretty good, I have never seen this before.

Sometime I am going to do this, but not until I can find someone who has done it before to help out.

 

i hear the top piece is easy.............
a strip of black vinyl tape on that one blue slat and i could be good to go

 

Just doesn't complete the look without the lower grill being done, take's a little time but worth it.

 

Might as well get used to pulling the bumper it is only about 4 bolts and 2 nuts. Besides you have to pull the front bumper for just about everything anyways

 

agreed, It looks FAR worse to black out the lower that to leave the aero grille sticking out a bit on the ends. It is important to understand that the periphery of the both grills are the same. It is only that the slots in the bumper and tabs on the grille do not align. Simply remove the lower grill and cut new slots for the aero tabs. It is not like there are gaps on the end where the aero does not sit flush, If you really dont like it you can still go back to the original ....or cut the $25 lower aero grill piece to sit flush. These half aero grilles look ridiculous

+1 removing the bumper is easier than changing the oil on this car

 

It does look OEM when finished, but the lower blackout grille is a lot of work with a Dremel to make it lay flush in the bumper.

However, all the cutting is to the backside of the plastic grill insert or to parts of the bumper that will be covered if you re-install the stock parts, so the risk is low.

Do tape over the painted parts of the bumper before getting out the Dremel, as it is easy to scratch the paint when moving the bumper around to work on it. Please don't ask how I know this...

 

or you can do what im doing. Im leaving the chrome trim from my old grilles and buying this
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...520&lpage=none
cutting it out into the size pieces i need, (i will use the covered edges for the bottom of the bonnet grill and for the top of the upper bumper grille) paint it all black and install it. i think the shape is pretty good, the mesh is not too big, or too small. I can always make it a little bulkier with some plasti-dip, its bendable, but by no means floppy, and compared to buying some M7 grilles, its cheap !( and its cheaper than the aero grilles). I got the sport mesh with chrome trim idea from the challenge mini which has that feature .
(ps, if you lowes are like the ones around me you will have to special order the gate.)

 

Or you could just buy the lower grille for less money and install it in less time

 

I looked into doing this and found it to be much more time effective to just get the aero grill. Hey time is money.

 

true, but im still in high school and don't have a job due to school and athletics, so im in for the cheap

 

Isnt that more expensive? you already have the grill right? if you bought the upper aero grill...? I'm confused.
good luck!...

 

no, im using my existing stock non-aero grill, taking out the slats, and putting the mesh in over it, connecting the mesh to the same attach points that the slats used.

 

- left click photo to enlarge....

I've always like this NAM Members CP Red MINI......nice mods

and it has the grille set up the way you want......