DIY: Grille Removal

[MikeYo]

whole process took about 2 hours.. I waited about 15 minutes inbetween light coats. G/L and PM me if you have anymore questions.

[ckp]

^thxs bro.

[ketchupfreak]

Does the emblem pop out as well or did you just mask it?

[InTgr8r]

Originally Posted by ketchupfreak

Does the emblem pop out as well or did you just mask it?

Yes it pops out from behind the grill.

[ckp]

^+1

[CRUZcontrol240]

Wow, extremely helpful thread! I bought a Midnight Black Grille from the dealer and it came with a set of instructions. But with the pictures MikeYo provided, it made it so much easier. I noticed there was an extra step in the dealer instructions consisting of taking off extra clips on the side rubber panels. MikeYo's instructions bypassed this step and it still worked perfectly. It's about a half hour job, but took me about an hour and a half. I was proud of myself, seeing that I don't normally do DIYs. The dealers were charging up to $150 for install--HEEEEEELL NO! I'm glad I did it myself...GOOD iSH, MikeYo!!!

[MikeYo]

No problem sir!

[tiffanynn]

thankss a lot. =)

[MikeYo]

Welcome!

[GeeWizzard]

Originally Posted by treacherous

I decided to go ahead and swap in my new OEM grille this morning.

Not sure if this is because I have an X but I only had to remove 7 (10mm) bolts to remove the top cover. I also removed the 2 (10mm) holding the coolant recovery tank in. It just made it a lot easier to get my hand in there since there are a couple pins that hold cover in place that you have to pull rearward to remove that end of the cover.

In addition the nuts that held my grill in place were 10mm instead of 8mm.

I would also have some narrow needle nose pliers handy to release the clips. This makes that process fairly easy. I just used the flat nose screwdriver to release the clips holding the hood release cable in place.

All in all pretty easy and only took me 15-30 minutes.

I did my Midnight Grille swap this weekend. Thanks to the OP for posting the great instructions. Also, was coming back on here to post almost the identical post above. Had 7 10mm bolts, not 10, had to undo both reservoir bolts, and slide the resovoir back an inch or two, and my grille bolts were 10mm, not 8mm. Took be about 40 minutes all in, mostly because trying to get the push/pull clips that connect the corragated hose underneath the plastic, were a serious PITA to get undone.

Maybe it's an X vs non-X discrepancy? (I have an X).

Thanks to you both!

[MikeYo]

No problem! Everybody seems to be so appreciative of this thread lately.

[jran76]

Yeah, thanks. I just installed my midnight grill, and the Infiniti instructions stink. Yours made about 200x more sense.

I am fairly competent with technical things, and I had a hard time with Infiniti's crappy instructions.

[jran76]

Originally Posted by GeeWizzard

I did my Midnight Grille swap this weekend. Thanks to the OP for posting the great instructions. Also, was coming back on here to post almost the identical post above. Had 7 10mm bolts, not 10, had to undo both reservoir bolts, and slide the resovoir back an inch or two, and my grille bolts were 10mm, not 8mm. Took be about 40 minutes all in, mostly because trying to get the push/pull clips that connect the corragated hose underneath the plastic, were a serious PITA to get undone.

Maybe it's an X vs non-X discrepancy? (I have an X).

Thanks to you both!

My 09 non-X had the 10mm nuts on the grill. There were no 8mm nuts anywhere. I also took out both res. bolts.

[MikeYo]

welcome

[twalls]

I'm going to be doing my 04 this weekend and you told me what paint to buy.. I really appreciate it.. I'll post pics of the finished product after complete..