Bumper air duct grill question

[Alx]

Hello,

The air duct grill on my bumper is a little broken and I would like to replace it.

(It's part number 8 in the following chart: http://bmwfans.info/parts/catalog/E46/Coupe/Europe/M3_CSL-S54/LHD/N/2003/july/browse/vehicle_trim/m_front_bumper_trim_panel/)

Do I have to remove the bumper to install it or can it be done with the bumper fitted?


Many thanks for your help,

Alex

[NZ_M3]

Can be done with the bumper in place, but you would need to remove the trumpet portion of the airbox and the bottom wheel arch plastic liner - that way you can pull the plastic intake tube off the hole (undo the steel band first) take the grill out and pop the new grill on.

Done.

Or if you have small hands - you can also leave the plastic wheel arch liner in, and just take the carbon splitter off and get to it from there.

[Alx]

Can be done with the bumper in place, but you would need to remove the trumpet portion of the airbox and the bottom wheel arch plastic liner - that way you can pull the plastic intake tube off the hole (undo the steel band first) take the grill out and pop the new grill on.

Done.

Or if you have small hands - you can also leave the plastic wheel arch liner in, and just take the carbon splitter off and get to it from there.
Great, thank you for your precious advice.

I will try it this week-end.

[CraigMillwardCroft]

Can be done with the bumper in place, but you would need to remove the trumpet portion of the airbox and the bottom wheel arch plastic liner - that way you can pull the plastic intake tube off the hole (undo the steel band first) take the grill out and pop the new grill on.

Done.

Or if you have small hands - you can also leave the plastic wheel arch liner in, and just take the carbon splitter off and get to it from there.

Are you taking the mick out of certain people on this site :whistle:

[NZ_M3]

Are you taking the mick out of certain people on this site :whistle:

:blalalala: I swear no innunendo intended :hahaha:

[83SY]

I removed the arch liner, takes 5minutes to do so & makes the job alot easier.

Make sure you tighten the clip up correctly on the plastic down pipe. I didnt & it came loose at Donnington loosing power & giving everyone else a chance :hahaha:

[Alx]

I'm going to try and do this tomorrow.

So the grill attaches to the plastic down pipe?

I thought it was clipped directly to the bumper.

Stupid question, but does the "recessed" part of the grill go to the side of the bumper or does it go inside towards the pipe?

I'm sure it will become clearer once I will be working on it.

Thank you for your help everyone! :notworthy:

[AlexGTT]

I removed the arch liner, takes 5minutes to do so & makes the job alot easier.

Make sure you tighten the clip up correctly on the plastic down pipe. I didnt & it came loose at Donnington loosing power & giving everyone else a chance :hahaha:

I believe that is excuse number 84. Used it myself before.:wink::-D

[Alx]

Hello everyone,

I have tried to remove the wheel arch liner, but there seems to be a little resistance below.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I have removed all the screws and unplugged everything.

I'm afraid to break any plastic parts.

One more thing: is the air duct grill simply clipped or does it need to be glued?

Many thanks in advance,
Alex

[NZ_M3]

Hello everyone,

I have tried to remove the wheel arch liner, but there seems to be a little resistance below.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I have removed all the screws and unplugged everything.

I'm afraid to break any plastic parts.

One more thing: is the air duct grill simply clipped or does it need to be glued?

Many thanks in advance,
Alex

The grill isn't held on by anything as such - it has an alignment pin to align it to the bumper and is sandwiched against the plastic intake pipe - when you pull the pipe the grill falls out.

If you can't take the liner off (It take a bit of massaging and technically the best way to do it is to remove all the screws in the wheel liner (i.e. all of them when you take the wheel off so you can move things around a bit) - but if you pull too hard you can break the bottom alignment clip under the arch liner.

Try the removing the splitter method - if that's no go, jack the front end of the car up - take the bottom engine plastic cover off and get access that way. Once that cover is off you can access just about everything behind the bumper from there.

There's multiple ways to get to it to be honest and it's what you are most comfortable with - if you still want to stick to the wheel arch liner method, then loosening the long bolts that hold the bumper so you can slide it sightly forward will also help (without pulling the whole bumper off).

[Alx]

I will try this.

Thank you very much! :)