^ Thanks! Will let you know if I decide to go that route.

Which dealership did you order yours from?

VinX3 wrote

^ Thanks! Will let you know if I decide to go that route.

Which dealership did you order yours from?

life quality bmw in brooklyn

nyalpine90 wrote

life quality bmw in brooklyn

Same here.

Nice. Did you change the roof rails to black? My 2015
build M Sport package shows Satin rails. My current 2012 had the black and wanted to get that again but thought they changed the option.

Nice. Did you change the roof rails to black? My 2015
build M Sport package shows Satin rails. My current 2012 had the black and wanted to get that again but thought they changed the option.

PAX3 wrote

Nice. Did you change the roof rails to black? My 2015
build M Sport package shows Satin rails. My current 2012 had the black and wanted to get that again but thought they changed the option.

Call your salesman and tell him to change it to high gloss roof rails.

He said it is not an option. Where did you find this as an option? WHat your is your X3? It looks like the LCI 2015.

So it turns out the image on the BMW site may not be accurate. Wording says M package comes with high gloss rails but picture does not reflect that. Is your new one a 2015 M xDrive 28?

An M-Sport can have either satin or gloss, I had to ask my CA specifically to change it to high gloss black. Yes it is a 2015.

Looks really mean now! Love all the minor mods that makes a major difference!

Love you car !

I think the LCI X3 this generation is the best looking BMW X-series car/SAV ....

It's has all the right proportions...

Yours is a fine example !

Wow! Beautiful car!

I'm also in the process of installing my black kidney grills, but thoroughly frustrated

Searched threads, watched video tutorials (of different models, however), and attempted 2 different times but ended up giving up with bruised knuckles.

Almost ready to call it quits (and let the dealer install them), but does anyone have any installation tips for an LCI F25?

I've tried the method of unscrewing the torx screws and pulling back the bumper, which allows me to reach the top three most tabs with a long screw driver. With some force I can unlatch them, but I have no idea how to unlatch the two side clips, let alone reach the bottom three.

Even pulling back the bumper, I still can't fit my hand (or figure out how to jam a screw driver) in between the bumper and the black air intake (or radiator shroud ?) / plastic bits to reach the other latches. Reaching through the grill itself and trying to wrap my fingers around the side and bottom latches were unsuccessful as well

Nonetheless, I apologize if this is considered thread-jacking. Jonsc's X3 is definitely an inspiration on modding the LCI F25!

Looks good, I'm still on the fence about doing my mirror caps but seeing yours is swaying me to do it

benzosd: sounds like your doing everything right but unless you can get your fingers around those bottom tabs your SOL. I used a small slotted pocket screwdriver to get the side-tabs...it takes a little precession to hit them just right

...bruised knuckles are a given

-Scott

Thanks for all the kind words!

benzosd, it definitely took me forever to get the original grilles out. I just put a screwdriver in the little space there was from under the hood and pushed on the clips. Once I got one clip out, I had my girlfriend hold it so it did not pop back into place. After that, I did the other clips on the top and slowly worked my way around to the bottom of the car. Not the best way and definitely bruised fingers and knuckles but well worth it.

Thanks jonsc and scott@bmwhn !

Took your guys' advice and gave it one last college try, this time armed with a few more tools:

1. Mechanics gloves - Just needed one, to help with with pulling the grille and preserving my hand
2. A longer flat-head screw driver.
3. Head-lamp (so I didn't have to fumble around with a flash light) while pulling the grille and using a screwdriver.

I started off by unlatching the top 3 tabs by using the screwdriver while pulling the grille towards me. If I wasn't careful, the tabs would "re-lock" themselves as I was trying to get all 3 unlocked. I ended up putting a small screw driver in between the grille and the bumper to keep the tabs from going back in as I started to work on the side tabs.

Using a little bit more force than last time, I was able to pull the bumper far out enough to use my long screwdriver to push on the tab closest to the headlight while simultaneously pulling the grille towards me. It took a little bit of time, but the headlamp sure helped in this case (was working in a dimly lit garage and night).

Once that was out, I did the same on the tab closest to the wheel. Popped that out with a screwdriver, and was then able to pull the grille far enough away from the bumper to reach my hand in and used my fingers to release the remaining bottom 3. It took a bit of trial and error, but I eventually got it off

Once one of the grilles were off, I repeated the steps for the other side. It was much easier since I could put my hand/arm in the removed grille opening and work from behind.

All-in-all, it was much harder than I thought it would be but I'm happy with the end result (and happy that I didn't have to pay the dealer)

Thanks again guys! Looking forward to seeing more mods on your X3 jonsc

jonsc wrote

Just two photos of what I have done to the car so far,

1. Gloss black kidney grilles

2. LED turn signals

3. Vinyl Wrapped the mirror caps gloss black

4. LED rear turn/brake lights (not pictured)

Before

After


Before

After

Perfection! Well done!

looks really good.

Thanks for all the compliments guys! Had the rear diffuser wrapped in gloss black vinyl this week to match the rest of the gloss black. I don't know why BMW uses gray.

That's a superb looking car! I might go Alpine White on my next one!

Well done

Got the roof and antenna wrapped in gloss black as well to complete the look. I'd say the car now looks exactly how I want it to look!

Very nice !