'11 535i. For some reason the club sent me an emblem to put on the front grille of the car. It looks pretty cool, so I opened my hood and saw I couldn't get at the inside of the grille without removing... stuff. As you might imagine, I'm not much of a DIYer. I'm even ok with the lack of the dipstick. Am I missing something or is this impossible for a mechanically challenged owner?
You were sent a limited edition grille badge because you bought raffle tickets. You need to remove the protective coverings to gain access to the kidney grille. I've seen some people pop out the grille to install it. I wouldn't recommend that. I've also see some people fasten the wide piece to the badge, insert it through the grille and rotate. I don't know if I'd do it that way either. You may need your shop install it if you don't want to remove the plastic shroud.
It kind of depends on what model you have and where you want to put the badge. I put the ///M stripe badge in the lower air intake on my Z4 M Roadster (not on the kidney grilles) and the easiest way to access this area was to pop out one of the kidney grilles, which is a piece of cake on a Z4, and then just reach down to the lower air intake to hold the retaining bracket and nut. Ease of installation will depend on the model and how easy it is to access the area where you want to put the badge. See if it would be easier to access from below by taking off the screws on the leading edge of the engine underbody panel.
I realize the last post here was 6 years ago but thought I'd share my 2 cents... I have a 1999 E46. For models that have a similar grille setup you DO NOT need to remove the grille to install the badge. What you do need, which will make it much easier, is to stop at a hardware store and get a #8-32 WING nut. The nut that comes with the badge will require you use a wrench to tighten it (which is why I think most people remove the grille... to make for easier access). A wing nut, because of it's shape, will allow you tighten it with your hands. Attach the rod to the badge, put it through the outside of the grille, now through the inside of the grille put the bracket trough the rod and screw the wing nut till it's tight. Don't tighten it all the way at first, just enough so it doesn't fall. Close the hood, check the placement, adjust as needed, and then tighten it.
Agreed, it is, but the #8-32 will work... at least with the US Standard Logo badge. Just take the rod to the store and see what fits, I went to Home Depot which only carried standard for the wing nut so it was a bit of trial and error. Anyways, #8-32 worked fine (it was slightly snug but went through ok).
An update for anyone wanting to put a grille badge on the lower intake grille on a F8x M3/M4. I recently ran over something in the road which ended up taking out the side camera near the right front wheel well, as well one of the proximity sensors in the right front of the bumper cover. To get to the right side camera, I had to jack up the car, take off the RF wheel, take of several of the 8mm screws that hold in the fender liner and the right side under-engine cover, and peel back the fender liner. I was able to retrieve the camera and stick it back in it's correct location. However, I couldn't figure out any way to get behind the bumper short of removing it. To do this I also had to take off the LF wheel, remove the left side under-engine cover, remove the plastic oil cooler cover, and remove three bolts to drop the oil cooler. Then I removed the rubber gasket and the Torx screws along the top endge of the bumper cover (in BMWs super engineering approach, six of the screws are one size, and the two outermost screws are a smaller size...). Then there were two more 8mm bolts on each side, at the junction of the bumper cover and the front fenders. After all of the fasteners and panels were removed, the bumper cover came forward enough to be able to reach down and snap the errant proximity sensor back into place. I put the bumper cover back in place and secured it at each corner and across the top. Before I buttoned everything up below, and since the oil cooler was no longer in the way, I mounted a BMW 100 year BMW CCA grille badge on the lower intake (my M4 is a 2016, and Euro Delivery was done during the BMW Centennial celebration). Then I bolted the oil cooler back in place, screwed on the oil cooler cover, screwed on the right and left under-engine covers, and screwed in all of the 8mm screws on the bottom edge of the bumper cover. I wouldn't got through all of that just to mount a grille badge, but since I was in there anyway, I finally got it done!
