I have to say this was one of the best instructional videos I've seen in years. Great tips that worked a treat. Job well done guys. Thank you.

Thank you for the video. Took me about 20mins to replace both parts.

Just wanted to says thanks for this video and supplying the grille. I bought and fitted the grille. Car looks a million times better now. :)

Great video guys , just a couple of things that make removing the top grille easier ( from my own experience ) .When removing the nuts take a 10mm socket and pack it with tissue paper so that the "self tapping" nut cant slide into the socket too deeply .Then take a flat had screwdriver and slide it under the "washer" .Apply gentle pressure downwards with the screwdriver to the washer when unscrewing the nut and you will find that they come off a lot easier .When attaching the new grille the nuts should be self tapping so using a 10mm socket should do the trick instead of "pushing" them on in the manner you did in the video .Hope this is useful as its what I have found works best when I have removed and reapplied the top grille several times .

Great tutorial guys! Can’t wait for mine to arrive!

Great vid guys need more mini stuff👍

Thanks lads. Swapping my grills in the new and happy to tackle now that I have seen your how to video

This grille set looks like the black version of the one I have in chrome. Years ago, when I fitted mine, I had fits trying to get the steel clippy things onto the plastic pins. Ir was still a bit loose. My solution was to fit a pair of grille badge holder plates and fab up a small piece of aluminium bar for the mounting screws to go through, so the grille badge holds the grille in the opening in the bonnet. For the lower section, I used a Dremel and opened up the bumper cover behind the grille to let in more air, as we get a lot of rather warm weather here in Azirona, and every little bit helps when it's nearly 50°C. The grille lines up fairly well with the round holes in the aluminium bit behind the bumper cover. I had the same problem you did with the end clippy thingies not wanting to stay snapped in. My solution to that was to use the same #8 socket head cap screws I used to hold in the bonnet vents I added (see earlier comment about temperatures here) to keep the ends tight. Since then, I have upgraded the intercooler and set up a custom scoop for it (because it was half blocking the opening and starving itself for air flow), following the old Mopar "Shaker" pattern. Had to cut the bonnet again, but it sure drops out of heat soak quickly now....

These are available to purchase on our website: www.powerfuluk.com/catalogsearch/result?q=mfg452

Just fitted mine today. Looks better than the stock on the electric blue r53 ties in with black mirrors and trim :)

Your going the wrong way with the drill and to keep from stripping the lower grille tabs take the bumper off and push the insert down to release. Those nuts screw on and off just as a normal one use a wrench and go slow it's just plastic it's cutting into no reason to ruin every part that comes off the car. I usually recycle my unwanted parts by simply posting them on Facebook for people less fortunate who need them to repair their cars. Cheers

Ok. In case this helps someone else, use a heat gun and melt the tabs on the back until you can distort them into bonnet to form a seal. Creates a way tighter fitting. Wear gloves and use common sense. The original bmw and even the newer supplied fittings just don’t work. I went one step further and masked off the bodywork behind grill and sprayed it matte black. Thanks again for getting in touch. Means a lot!

Wish i had read some of the comments on here first, it is so easy to damage the existing crome mini parts, they bend and snap with hardly any effort, as previous posters have said its good to recycle your old mini parts to help others out. Once fitted however these grills look so much better than the bling.

Not sure about the material for your grille kit, but the one I just purchased was made from ABS. From my 3D printing hobby, I know that a soldering iron makes easy work of embedding heatset nuts. I just cut off the plastic stems and predrilled for M3 heatset nuts. Then attached the upper grille with some short M3x10mm sockethead bolts and some washers. Now I have a solid connection that can be serviced repeatedly with nothing more than a 2.5mm hex key.

Hi. Are these easy to fit with factory spot lights in place?

Would they bend around better if you heat or put it in the sun

fits genuine spotlights auxiliar lights?

Where did you get the clips from online as i need to get some for fitting a grill i bought second hand

What is the plastic tool you are using?

Heads up. The early model r53 lower grill. The clips do to align, at all.

What size socket ?

Just tried fitting the grill. The self tapping nuts provided only work on the top pegs as they are thinner all they do on the bottom is strip the plastic pegs because they’re too thick to go through. Then when you put them on the pegs along the top for a second time after a thread has already been cut it ends up stripping the thread and making it useless because the grill doesn’t have a curve and you have to force the nut on. It forces you to use those hex washer things that you then can’t get off. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now

10:10 where did u buy the clip for the grille? I can’t find them

Hi Guys, so when I tried to buy the mesh grill on your website, it states - WILL NOT FIT ON 2006 MODEL. But in this video you install the mesh grill on a 2006 R53 convertible 😊. Please advise what mesh grill I should buy for my 2006 R53?? Or confirm whether the info on your website is incorrect.

Boom just bought one. :D

It looked like you were TIGHTENING the screw on the top grill as the chuck appeared to going CLOCKWISE "RIGHTY TIGHTY"

Good video and helpful comments/tips for fitting and removal of these parts. I personally prefer the less sleek old-school look of the OEM grill that was on there. Even more, I like the pre-facelift bumpers with extra chrome thingys from 2002 - 2004.

Good upgrade guys. But come on Simon L200 upgrades.

The top grill is a bastard 10mm nuts also do the trick 👍

Nice video, could you post where you bought the replacement mesh grille from?

Okay the little nuts aren’t coming off! They turn but don’t unscrew! Any idea what I can do??? I bought this exact same grill for my 2003 R50

Where can I buy this front grill?

Where can I get the nuts/washer style bolts to refit the new grill. I don’t have the original bolts because whoever owned the car before me just glued it on.

Where can I get that grill ? Cheers !

Just bought one of these. The quality of the parts are fine, the fixings are appalling. Loose upper grille, loosen lower grille. Bit of a bad taste in my mouth now! Really need to supply a bit of paper explaining what the different fixings are for. Anyway of supplying a replacement. I’ve just binned my old grille!!!

This reminds me of when i had an E46 M3. I was tormented by the cheap and nasty trim clips that BMW are addicted to using. Utter, utter crap. In fact, owning that car put me off BMW forever. Ive got an R53 JCW as a toy, and surprisingly, the Rover part of the equation is equal to BMW in terms of cheap and shoddy quality...I actually thought it would be even worse.

Great video but man use some gloves!! Your hands are a mess....

The fit sucks...