OEM Chrome Kidney Grill Situation

[Nico]

I haven’t really purchased anything for this car in quite a while since moving it to a weekend car…

what happened? I can’t purchase OE chrome kidneys until July of that? I remember back in the day you can find them on eBay used with all tabs in tact for great prices…

are we just resorting to aftermarket chrome kidneys now?

[cobra]

That's the story with many E46 parts these days.

[Nico]

That's the story with many E46 parts these days.

that’s too bad. And LED tail lights are even worse… I replaced mine luckily 7 years ago and paid under $150 for one… so sad

[PSUEng]

You'll be able to keep the car on the road with aftermarket offerings, but getting original/genuine parts and especially trim/interior bits that aren't really made in the aftermarket is getting very expensive and as I've thought, hit or miss due to suppliers batch-building spare parts. Buying one of these cars to "restore" is probably not the best financial move. I changed my grilles out last year or so with brand new Genuine parts, no big deal--sold the old ones for like $40 (originals, which actually looked nicer, but the tabs were broken due to age and they'd taken some rock hits). Crazy how these things are hard to get now.

[Slideways]

What color is the car? On a lighter color, I'd run aftermarket gloss black grills and gills until BMW restocks chrome grills. They don't look nearly as meh as the aftermarket chrome or matte black grills.

[xansabi]

Hey! I got some good insight on this topic I think.

I was just recently sent on a wild goose chase for some OE chrome grills. OEs are impossible to find under $400 on EBay (absolute insanity) and of course the others are back ordered into oblivion. I had an option from a friend in Europe to ship some OE chrome border black slats grills to me, but was ultimately unable to do so. I also tried some aftermarket chrome grills, they fit horribly and the mounts needed to be cut to take off.

The best bet you have is part out. There’s one shop, straightsixautoparts on EBay and Instagram, but all their part outs are seen on Instagram first. I just kept DMing them about OE grills, and they finally got in an E46 M3 vert with OE chrome grills which I immediately snagged for 60 dollars, all mounts intact.

Part out is the way to go!

[Nico]

What color is the car? On a lighter color, I'd run aftermarket gloss black grills and gills until BMW restocks chrome grills. They don't look nearly as meh as the aftermarket chrome or matte black grills.

It’s that color, silver gray. I think I might do gloss black as a replacement for now

[bavarian3]

are aftermarket examples that bad/different?

[LSB4Me]

FWIW, I like (and run) the chrome outers with black vertical slats. That’s how the car should have come as it matches the side vent scheme. Maybe you can find a genuine set of those.

[WestBankM4]

I just went through my storage and came across my OEM front grills and fender grills. Original owner took them off very early and replaced them with black. I bought some OEM grills last year for $150, good condition but some of the tabs were destroyed so I had to make my own.

Current ones are 8/10 but my OEM ones are 10/10, going to be holding onto them if they're $400 on eBay!

[Nico]

are aftermarket examples that bad/different?

It took having to look at a side by side to see the difference, but the chrome aftermarket are different in that the slats are ALL chrome vs the OE version the slats are chrome but the side of the slats is dark/black. The aftermarket the side of the slat is like light chrome. Not sure how that would look but my OCD is saying no to that

[Lavatoad]

Going through this too. Got eBay knockoff until oem are available again. The ring fits like crap, but the slats are correct.

[Nico]

Going through this too. Got eBay knockoff until oem are available again. The ring fits like crap, but the slats are correct.

do you have a link for this one

[BlueBimmers]

I had to deal with this in October. Bought these, fits isn't totally exact but very close and color of chrome and slats good match: https://www.ebay.com/itm/15601338783...&segname=11401

Not having parts like this available on a model BMW made 40+K of for NA market is ridiculous.

[Lavatoad]

do you have a link for this one

https://www.ebay.com/itm/156736561006

That's the one I got. The outer ring fit isn't great or even good, but better than a hole.