front grill clips broke

[jcnpa]

Pulled the front grills from my 06Z4M yesterday to prep for blacking them out and when I did a few clips snapped off from the car that hold the grill in place. The pieces must have fell inside the bumper as I did not see them laying on the ground. I would have tried to super glue them back on but so far I have not been able to find them and the car has been driven so they may have even fallen out.

Has this happened to anyone before and if so did you find a good way to keep the grills in place where they snapped when remounting them?

Thanks

[BruceJ]

Try to post some pictures.
This is a problem that has plauged many of us, including me. The grill internal mount is attached to the bumper by heat deformed plastic pins from the bumper that go through the mount.

Front Bumper Grill Mount - Couple things happen to these:
1. The Front Bumper Grill Mount has clips that hold the grills in - these can break.
2. The Front Bumper Grill Mount comes loose from the bumper.
3. The Front Bumper Grill Mount itself breaks.

There are no replacement parts for the mount that holds the grills in - short of an entire bumper.... or carefully getting them from a donor used bumper. If so, most likely they can be supplied from any style of E85/86 Z4 front bumper.

If the clips from the bumper are intact and the internal mount is simply loose then this may be fixable, there are plastic bonding compounds - but you will most likely have to pull the bumper off - see the link:
http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthre...t=front+bumper

If its mostly just the mount loose from the bumper, if your fingers are small enough, try this - While you are pushing the grills in put a few fingers through the grills to hold/support the mount. Once attached it should all hold together if only one/two clips are broken.

You can also use 3M Trim Tape to attach the grills to the bumper. You can get this at most auto parts stores. All contact surfaces for the tape need to be cleaned with rubbing alcohol first. Be forewarned - the trim tape is very strong when properly applied. Heat and steady pressure are the best way to detach it afterwards.

In case you dont already know it - the unofficial Proper way to remove and replace a fully functional grill is (kudos to STIHLBOLTS for showing me):
Removal: Push straight up on the grill, then pullout from the bottom
Replace: Slip top into place, push up then insert the bottom of the grill

Good Luck

[jcnpa]

Thanks for the response BruceJ. Unfortunately mine is number one as you described. My drivers side came out pretty easy but the passenger side broke a clip when pulling out and surprisingly to me also putting it back in. I have used 3M trim tape before on many occasions so that may be the route I take as I have to take them out again. I did not like the way they came out after plasti spraying them so ordered new ones from ECS Tuning.

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Those grill tabs are connected with the bumper and it's a poor design. Unfortunately if you pull the grills out incorrectly (top first instead of bottom), those bottom clips will break off.