[MickyD'bo]

Well, the modding has started already. Here are some before, during and after shots. Took 5 minutes to do. Nothing other than good old fashioned brute force and my god do you need to yank these bad boys to get them off. Thought I was going to set the airbags off!!!

Anyway, here's two before and after angles...









During...



Thoughts?

When I was at the dealer yesterday I priced up some replacement black roof rails...£170 +vat EACH!!!! So, quick call to my body shop guy and I can get them painted to match the grills for a fraction of that.

So here's what's next...

Black gloss roof rails to match grill...

Black gloss side repeater panel...

Painted Hubs (to get rid of rust, yes rust and only 3,500 miles since new)

Painted callipers...not sure what colour yet.

New private plates are ready to go on once I have revived the V5.

Then the saving starts for some 20" wheels....BOOM.

Michael.

[EZDozzit]

Looks very nice. Did you have any difficulty removing the old kidneys?

[MickyD'bo]

Originally Posted by EZDozzit

Looks very nice. Did you have any difficulty removing the old kidneys?

Yeah, it takes more force than you feel comfortable applying!! They do pop out eventually.

[Piers]

They are the pre LCI performance grills are'nt they, 12 instead of 10 slats

[MickyD'bo]

Originally Posted by Piers

They are the pre LCI performance grills are'nt they, 12 instead of 10 slats

Oh, not sure. No one mentioned that. Have I been duped by BMW?

[JustChris]

Looks great!

Word of caution on the black rails, my X5 ones start led to show silver marks where the clamping had taken the black gloss layer off. Looked pretty naff around the area you start to continually clamp on. Might have just been unlucky...or clumsy but thought at the time I would always go silver rails in future.

[FRG]

My thoughts are:

It looks brilliant, and

I wish mine was Space Grey



Have you thought about the M Performance decals for the sills? Mine are in the garage waiting for the nicer weather along with the 20's. I'd like to see the decals on a Space Grey car. Do it so I can wish even more that mine was that colour

[MickyD'bo]

Originally Posted by ChesterX5

Looks great!

Word of caution on the black rails, my X5 ones start led to show silver marks where the clamping had taken the black gloss layer off. Looked pretty naff around the area you start to continually clamp on. Might have just been unlucky...or clumsy but thought at the time I would always go silver rails in future.

Cheers ChesterX5, out of interest, were yours factory black or retro painted?

Not sure my car will ever see a roof rack!!

Might be wrong mind...

[JustChris]

Originally Posted by dobbo9

Cheers ChesterX5, out of interest, were yours factory black or retro painted?

Not sure my car will ever see a roof rack!!

Might be wrong mind...

No probs. They were factory shadow line on an MSport.

[MickyD'bo]

Originally Posted by FRG530

My thoughts are:

It looks brilliant, and

I wish mine was Space Grey



Have you thought about the M Performance decals for the sills? Mine are in the garage waiting for the nicer weather along with the 20's. I'd like to see the decals on a Space Grey car. Do it so I can wish even more that mine was that colour

Cheers FRG530, what 20" wheels are you getting?

I'm not too sure about the sill decals, but feel that the car might need something more?

I'm so in love with the current M5 alloys. I just can't justify £5k.

SWMBO would go nuts.

Michael

[MickyD'bo]

Originally Posted by ChesterX5

No probs. They were factory shadow line on an MSport.

Cheers. think it's worth a punt then if the factory black chipped off. That really surprises me. Paint coming off a factory OEM part of the car.

You'll hear that 6 month old hub and discs rust next.

M

[JustChris]

[FRG]

Originally Posted by dobbo9

Cheers FRG530, what 20" wheels are you getting?

I'm not too sure about the sill decals, but feel that the car might need something more?

I'm so in love with the current M5 alloys. I just can't justify £5k.

SWMBO would go nuts.

Michael

Here's the wheels:
http://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=937080

I was in two minds on going for the M5 20" wheels (reps) but CM Wheels didn't have the right offset for the non M F1x and BM Autosport were out as well. I ended up getting the Breytons which were a lot more money but I reckon they'll look the nuts when they're on, I hope so anyway!

See how it looks when you've blacked the repeater surrounds etc... You might find that's enough?

I had planned to wrap the repeater surrounds too but put some discrete ///M colour on there as well (the angle of the surround suits it) as I have with the performance grilles but I think that along with the decals it might make mine look a bit too much ///M wannabe


Cheers

Dave

[Balster]

Gives the front a bit of depth, very nice.

[0_steve]

There are a set of Avant Garde M355 (m5 knock offs) on Ebay in the UK right now. Only 720 pounds!

[EmArAsOnS]

Very nice m8

[BeeEmmDubleYuu]

From what i've heard the new 63 plate and onwards should have 10 slats. The 12 slats is from 11-13 plates i think. I did call BMW and they were not sure when they would have them in stock

[mroll320]

I don't personally like the all black on dark colours, works brilliantly on white... Black slats and chrome surrounds is my choice for this.

[EZDozzit]

Originally Posted by mroll320

I don't personally like the all black on dark colours, works brilliantly on white... Black slats and chrome surrounds is my choice for this.

Same here, which is how I went.

[SpeedTrip]

@ Dobbo - mind me asking how much the grilles were ?

[MickyD'bo]

Originally Posted by SpeedTrip

@ Dobbo - mind me asking how much the grilles were ?

Hi SpeedTrip, they were £111 from my local dealer

[SpeedTrip]

Ta; started to look at how to remove mine but got nervous when I saw that the 2nd vane in from the outside seems to support that stack of flaps in front of the Radiator !

What prompted even thinking about spending money was the fact that I managed to peel off the M-Sport spoiler from wheel arch to edge of kidney grilles by catching it on a bloody prone tree trunk (used to mark the edge of the trackway to a car park on the edge of the common) and neatly bending it out at a right angle like a broken wing .... its split the plastic around the grille and slightly damaged the chrome surround.

Soooo ... its gonna have to be an Insurance job & will doubtless be more than my excess - might as well pay the difference for a pair of glossy black ones ...