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?