Quote:
Originally Posted by n55x3
mcli, your car is awesome! I too have a min Grey M Sport 335i and would like to replace the badges. How hard was it to swap them out? For the tires, do you have to take them off and pop the badges out from the inside? What about hood and trunk? Do you have to pry them off or are the attached from the back somehow? Also, are these CF badges decent quality compared to the OEM badges? Also, the link you posted was for e90 body style. I assume they are all the same size?
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The website picture shows an E90, but the roundels are correct for the F30/F32. Just specify your year/make/model & they'll send the correct ones. The quality of the hood and trunk roundels is exactly like OEM. The wheel roundels have a small plastic outer ring that is not really noticeable, but I initially was concerned about missing the silver steel ring on the OEM ones. No matter, once installed - the plastic ring isn't noticeable. The steering will roundel is actually a sticker, because it's too difficult to remove the OEM one. However once installed you really can't tell and it looks good.
Installation:
Hood: this is actually held on via very strong adhesive. I recommend getting a heat gun and going around the edges of the roundel until it warms up a bit. Then place a microfiber cloth on the hood so you won't scratch it, and take a plastic trim tool & gently pry the edges of the roundel up until they start to release. you'll need to hit the local auto parts store for some gummy adhesive, I didn't have a problem finding any and it adheres very well. The carbon fiber hood roundel that you receive has two posts sticking out of it. You need to just take a pair of pliers and bend these (plastic posts) off as you won't need them since it adheres via adhesive.
Trunk: this roundel is held on via two posts going into two grommets in the trunk. You don't need a heat gun for this one, so just use your microfiber cloth and trim tools at the 2 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 8 o'clock, 11 o'clock positions and gently pry that roundel loose. Then you just line up the new roundels posts into the grommets, gently push in, and bob's your uncle.
Wheels: take a very fine flathead screwdriver, I used tiny ones meant for watch repair, and gently pry out the wheel roundels. No need to remove the wheel or anything. They pop out rather easily. Then just line up the new roundels & pop them in.
Steering Wheel: apparently it's just about impossible to get the OEM roundel off the steering wheel, so they send you a sticker that covers it. Take your time lining it up and press to adhere.
If you don't use a heat gun to soften up the hood roundel, you'll be in for a frustrating time. Trust me on this one… Go get a $15 heat gun at the local big box home-improvement store and you'll thank me later. You'll also use the heat gun whenever you replace the reflectors with body color painted ones (should you decide to go that route).