How the heck do you remove the lower bumper grill?!

[The HACK]

After 9+ years of ownership, and various high speed activities with it, the front end of the coupe looks like it needs a repaint bad. As in bad enough I can't even stand it. Besides the scrapes on the fangs, the amount of sand blasting at 120+mph by staying glued to the car in front has left the bumper looking in really bad shape.

I took off the bumper Sunday to prepare it for a repaint by the local trusty bodyshop, got the emblem, kidney grill, headlight washer cover, and the reflectors (did break one, but no one will notice when I glue it back) off with relative ease, but the lower grill was nearly impossible to remove, although it look the most simple/intuitive of all the parts besides the emblem.

TIS and looking at the back side of the bumper, it looks to me like you simply push the tabs up and the grill should slide off? Is there any magic trick to this? The tabs seem to be too close together, I can't get enough leverage to push them off individually.

I'd like to figure out how to do this before next Saturday so I can drop it off at the bodyshop over the holiday weekend and pick it up in a few weeks once it's all done and cured, so I can put a layer of 3M paint defender on.

[inTgr8r]

I did mine last year but it's not easy.
I found it easiest to start at one end and work your way across (bottom and top)
What worked for me was to cut some plastic shims to wedge in between the tab and grill opening as a guide for the tab's locking edge to slide through, as you pry the grill off.

Warming with a heat gun keeps things pliable.

[The HACK]

Originally Posted by inTgr8r

Warming with a heat gun keeps things pliable.

Hm...Okay I'll give that a try. It was around 55ºF when I was working on trying to take it off.

[Daemonblitz]

When I sent my front bumper for repaint I went through the same process. I just gave up in the end and let the bodyshop do it, I am surprised the didn't break it.

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by inTgr8r

I did mine last year but it's not easy.
I found it easiest to start at one end and work your way across (bottom and top)
What worked for me was to cut some plastic shims to wedge in between the tab and grill opening as a guide for the tab's locking edge to slide through, as you pry the grill off.

Warming with a heat gun keeps things pliable.

Yep, it's a total PITA. A beer or two on hand helps.