Hi all...
So after 8 long hours of research looking for a way to remove the grill on my F20 so I could have it painted, I turned up with nothing but a how-to on getting to the top clips.
So I decided last week to spend 4 hours exploring different methods to get them off, and then share it with you guys and other forums to help enlighten other F20 owners who would have spent R1800/or whatever your countries equivalent is for getting BMW to do it for them.
Step 1: Remove Rubber lining from the top of the Bumper.
Step 2: Remove the 6 bolts that you find under the rubber.
Step 3: Pull a section of the bumper above one grill using a light you should see the first 3 clips, use a long thin flat head screwdriver to depress the clips forward.
ONCE THIS STEP HAS BEEN DONE YOU CAN GO AHEAD AND PUT THE BOLTS AND THE RUBBER BACK ON THE BUMPER.
Step 4: Once the top 3 clips are out there are 2 clips, one on either side of the grill in the center, these you can depress with your fingers if you get your hand between the gaps and curl them you should be able to feel them.
Step 5: Now comes the tricky part, once the all the other clips are out you are going to struggle to get the last 3 out so what i recommend is using a small light placed behind the grill shining towards you and a small mirror or a facetime camera on a phone so that you can see the clips from inside the bumper. Once you can see what you're doing you can make a tool using a spoon or a strong, thin piece of metal, bend it into a hook-like tool and shape the end to match the shape of the clip. then using the mirror and the light you can unclip the last part of the grill. (check the bottom of the post for an example)
I WOULD RECOMMEND ONLY DOING ONE SIDE FIRST AS THE PROCESS OF REMOVING THE SECOND ONE WILL BE EASIER.
Now if you have bought replacement grills you can simply clip them in, if not and you wish to further separate the chrome from the grill follow the last step:
Step 6:There are 8 clips in total that hold the grill together.
Now that the grills are apart you can DIY paint them, send them to be wrapped or have them hydrograph dipped.
I personally sprayed mine matte black.
One final note to put the grill back together just reverse step 6.
Hope this will be helpful to you guys who want to do this
Here are the pics of the tool I made for this job (Thanks to @Bradbury for the tip to make this tool)
