Recommendations for blacked out grilles vents

[chicane]

I'm reworking my M and I want to go with gloss black grille and vents but everything I see (especially on eBay/Amazon) looks cheap as shit. Could use some help with picking a vendor.

[oceansize]

I'm running the gloss black hood grilles from ECS and gloss black fender grilles from mod bargains. IMO both are fine but in the end they are plastic bits so....

[r4dr]

Can't remember exactly what brand they are, but I swapped my side vents back to stock and the blacked out ones are up for sale: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/c...ide-gill-vents

They fit great, just going for a more OEM look these days.

[Bostonbruck]

I'm running gloss black grills from ECS. They fit well, but are pricey. The fender vents don't come with the m3 sticker so you either have to pay $70 for a pair or go for cheap ebay ones. (and you can tell a difference)

[chicane]

I'm running the gloss black hood grilles from ECS and gloss black fender grilles from mod bargains. IMO both are fine but in the end they are plastic bits so....

Right that was the other thing I saw the Modbargins grilles had no M3 sticker $70 is steep, has anyone managed to find a safe way to remove the OEM stickers from the chrome vents and safely transfer them?

[Norocehcap]

I have a set of each OEM, matte black & gloss black. In my opinion the gloss black looks the cheapest out of the 3. I currently have the matte black on now because I like the contrast in color between silver grey metallic and black grills but quality wise neither compare to OEM. I'm pretty sure both sets of black I have are from ECS and the quality is better then some other aftermarket grills. Both sets of black kidney grills I have are the 8 slat instead of the 10 slat which I think looks better then the 10 slat black grills.

[chicane]

I have a set of each OEM, matte black & gloss black. In my opinion the gloss black looks the cheapest out of the 3. I currently have the matte black on now because I like the contrast in color between silver grey metallic and black grills but quality wise neither compare to OEM. I'm pretty sure both sets of black I have are from ECS and the quality is better then some other aftermarket grills. Both sets of black kidney grills I have are the 8 slat instead of the 10 slat which I think looks better then the 10 slat black grills.

Really? I had heard the opposite that the matte black looked cheap and gloss black had the more finished look. Now I am thinking of backing out of the blackout theme.

[Bostonbruck]

I think gloss black looks less cheap than matte. Atleast that’s for a jet black car

[Will ZCPM3]

I went with the IND OEM painted version. The fitment is perfect since they are OEM. The ones I purchsed from ECS rattled due to lose fitment and faded after a while. Hoping the IND versions wont fade since they are painted and not plastic.

https://ind-distribution.com/collect...ide-grille-set

[Norocehcap]

Really? I had hear the opposite that the matte black looked cheap and gloss black had the more finished look. Now I am thinking of backing out of the blackout theme.

I'm my opinion I think most people think matte black looks cheap because they associate it with plastic dip. I think the gloss black looks cheap because it doesn't match anything else on the car, hood vent, window trim, fog light housings, lower bumper grill are all matte black which the matte grills match and the gloss doesn't. TBH I don't love the black out look as much anymore but I think it looks better on light color cars for contrast, if I didn't already have a set of each which I can change at any time based on my mood I wouldn't be going out of my way to buy the black grills. This is just my opinion tho everyone will have there own taste/preference.

[Norocehcap]

I think gloss black looks less cheap than matte. Atleast that’s for a jet black car

I agree, on a black car the matte looks bad and gloss would look better. I think OEM looks best on dark color cars tho.

[marksae]

Bumping an old thread.

When I bought my car, it came with a set of cheap eBay quality gloss black fender grills. One of them just popped off when I hit a big bump on the freeway, so now I'm looking for a replacement. I took the remaining grill off the car. It came off with very little effort. I just pinched it slightly and it came right off. It didn't fit very tightly to begin with.

The ones on eBay and Amazon all look like the same cheap ones that were on my car. I'm leaning towards just getting the OEM painted ones from IND. Are the OEM grills made of plastic like these eBay ones? If I'm going to be forking out $$$ for replacements, I just want to make sure the OEM ones aren't prone to popping off like these cheap ones.

[old///MFanatic]

Bumping an old thread.
If I'm going to be forking out $$$ for replacements, I just want to make sure the OEM ones aren't prone to popping off like these cheap ones.

The stock ones are not prone to popping off.

[Hallerhan]

after spending nearly $100 on ecs grilles (and being disappointed by fitment) I decided to buy extra oem ones and paint them

For Hood Grilles and Side grilles I sanded with 400 grit then applied SEM Trim Gloss Black. The color is great, but it’s all about the fitment for me, which is oem. Picked up used grilles for $30 on fb marketplace

[old///MFanatic]

after spending nearly $100 on ecs grilles (and being disappointed by fitment) I decided to buy extra oem ones and paint them
For Hood Grilles and Side grilles I sanded with 400 grit then applied SEM Trim Gloss Black. The color is great, but it’s all about the fitment for me, which is oem. Picked up used grilles for $30 on fb marketplace

Yeah the side grilles are individual slats that clip into the mesh base. Two of the slats have the plaque for the M3 attached to them. Otherwise they can be unclipped from behind and inserted individually. So one can remove to prep and paint.

Of note, some of the better carbon fiber companies that made the good side vent/grilles used the oe ones and applied the cf to the slats for OE fitment.