Quote:
Originally Posted by ///M5Driver
Night Vision owners rejoice! I found a way to get that LCI look for.. well not exactly cheap, but not bad considering it's OEM parts.
Here was my first blind attempt purchasing non OEM double slat grills and trying to retro fit. The night vision vanity plate is molded into the OEM grill therefore even if I made this fit it would've looked awful.
You can see the slats have a vanity plate that extends from top to bottom and is molded in.
I stumbled upon a few photos showing M5's with night vision so I decided to try the OEM route. You'll want to look at 2014+ M5's for the option as the older cars use the grills shown above. My local dealer was kind enough to order the driver's side so I could mess around and see if I could make it work.
First off it's not a direct swap. The night vision module is different (narrower) on the newer cars therefore it took a tiny tiny bit of work.
The three torx bits holding the housing on easily remove and you can still use two of them correctly on the new grill. The bottom screw lines up after you remove a little piece of plastic from the night vision housing. Once its installed and completely flush you can self tap the top screw in a crevice that lines up pretty well. It's a tad ghetto but very solid and can be removed easily.
See, looks factory!
Another issue is the grill has an M5 badge which we all know has to go. Sadly the mount is molded into the housing and slats...so easily solution.
Pop off the 5 haha...
Doesn't look terrible.... not a fan of the badge but I think it's better than the whole thing removed.
On the car...
The next obvious is the chrome surround... and unfortunately it's the only color it comes in. I'll make short work of it and just have them painted factory black.
So there ya have it.. just shy of $200 for the pair minus paint and you're sportin' double slats! |
Hi did you cut plate from original grill and glued to new? Thx