[Big_CG]

Just finished this job. The paint match and finish quality from IND was outstanding.

Here are some tips.

I wouldn't even attempt this without drilling out the two plastic rivets first. IND includes extra rivets and a plastic rivet gun is $20 from Harbor freight. Clearance is too tight and its not worth fighting with the fender liner.

Popping the body color trim is very simple.

The hardest part is removing the old reflectors, followed by removing all of the OEM adhesive. I used a lot of goo gone, plastic scrapers, and cut up hands to ensure it was a perfectly prepped and clean surface for the reflector to mount to.

I used a heat gun but it was still very hard to remove the oem reflector as it was a tight bond. I didn't want to heat the bumper beyond "hot" to the touch with the heat gun and it took quite a bit of time.

I would budget 2 hours per side to do it properly, unless you get lucky and all the oem adhesive comes off without delaminating. In which case its a 20 minute job. My car is a 2020 model.

[parkstr8]

I had Ben do mine when I was in for other stuff...

[chefwong]

I just ordered my set from IND and stumbled across this thread...Car's not even @ 150 yet.

Is complete fender liner required if you need access or just more or less about half the blind rivets coming across from the bottom going up.

However, it seems that by -just removing the 2 tabs- in the back should be sufficient enough ?

[IND-Distribution]

Originally Posted by chefwong

I just ordered my set from IND and stumbled across this thread...Car's not even @ 150 yet.

Is complete fender liner required if you need access or just more or less about half the blind rivets coming across from the bottom going up.

However, it seems that by -just removing the 2 tabs- in the back should be sufficient enough ?

Removal of the entire fender liner is not required.

[Flying Ace]

Sigh, I want to do this, but have PTSD from doing the reflector on my M6. Looks like the same PITA process but now with the added + tab.

[nZtiZia]

Originally Posted by Flying Ace

Sigh, I want to do this, but have PTSD from doing the reflector on my M6. Looks like the same PITA process but now with the added + tab.

i wish the fronts were simple snap-ins like the rears (at least on the G05). i would have to do this twice a year around state inspection time, but it's such a PITA that I've relegated to staying OEM

[chefwong]

for the next person to stumble upon this, wheels off or full fender removal is not required. Just simply remove the 2 rivets, release the tab and there is plenty of room to work from removing it from the inside approach. I did remove the flare but did not do it on the other side, after doing 1 reflector.

Must be some sorta new VHB tape as on both reflectors, there was at least 2 spots about 2"+ of VHB that remained on the body and not the reflector. I was steaming the helluva out off it. My unit also has a option to spray out boiling water.....Cleanup/proper surface prep took the longest. I used goo gone, followed by 3M adhesive remover, then some leftover soap wash, rinse, leaf blower vac. Then a final wipe with Prepsol.

[ddnmkun]

Anyone knows the part number of the plastic rivets? Thx

[JimVR4]

I can't help you with the rivet part number. I just released them and re-used what I had.

[IND-Distribution]

Originally Posted by ddnmkun

Anyone knows the part number of the plastic rivets? Thx

07 14 9 140 786

[ddnmkun]

Thanks everyone for the input, to pay it forward, a few things I recognize during installation.
1. If possible, do it when the car is new, cause it's pretty easy to separate the adhesive and clean it out.
2. I don't have a heat gun, but the hair dryer will do.
3. Using plastic pry tools help make the job easy, especially after thumb push lose the bottom, use the plastic pry to slice it through.
4. Buy the Harbor Freight Hand Riveter tool, it comes with the same plastic rivets that the car has. https://www.harborfreight.com/hand-r...ets-97757.html
5. Hardest part is to fit the Cross into the dipped spot, trick is start guided it in from the bottom up.
6. It’s 10mm, not 8mm, 2022 model year.

[Keyser Soze]

Did mine today on an X5 built on Jan 18 and delivered on Feb 16.

If you have the capacity/workshop tools removing the wheel/fender linings etc would be easiest but this is still a pretty normal DIY with some patience and strong fingers and some thin mechanics gloves. The tips here are great and as mentioned, that second layer of black fender liner blocking the rear access to the top of the reflector makes this a trickier job than on cars like F10's but still doable. Take your time, drill out the rivets and pry them out. Use gentle heat gun application, loosen the bottom of the reflector first then work your way up. A little goo gone on a rag makes quick work of the left over adhesive, but you will still wear your fingers out finishing it up. Doing this on a 3 year old car would be way harder.

I would add mask off everything around the work areas and even mask off the exposed part of the new painted reflector as it can easily rub against the paneling sliding it in.

NOTE: Federal Highway Administration DOT law (I think § 393.11)
specify(and the inspection state folks already know this) that vehicles are required to have orange reflectors on the front bumper a minimum of 16 inches off the ground or the vehicle is out of compliance.

I would advise that everyone removing their front reflectors to also keep a few strips of orange reflective tape in your glove box. As mentioned in some Bimmerfest posts years ago, where an astute lawyer mentioned that if you got into an accident and there were pics of the front of your vehicle in the accident reports, etc you could absolutely get your ass handed to you by someone paying attention to the DOT laws if your front orange reflectors are missing.

So basically if you get into a major crash, try to crawl out of the wreckage of your burning vehicle, ignore the screaming children for a few minutes, and slap a couple of those orange stickers on the front bumper before emergency services arrive

[PandaSPUR]

Originally Posted by ddnmkun

Thanks everyone for the input, to pay it forward, a few things I recognize during installation.
1. If possible, do it when the car is new, cause it's pretty easy to separate the adhesive and clean it out.
2. I don't have a heat gun, but the hair dryer will do.
3. Using plastic pry tools help make the job easy, especially after thumb push lose the bottom, use the plastic pry to slice it through.
4. Buy the Harbor Freight Hand Riveter tool, it comes with the same plastic rivets that the car has. https://www.harborfreight.com/hand-r...ets-97757.html
5. Hardest part is to fit the Cross into the dipped spot, trick is start guided it in from the bottom up.
6. It’s 10mm, not 8mm, 2022 model year.

My GF would not be pleased if I took her dyson for a DIY project in the garage lol.

[srfmsk]

Also did mine the other day. Agree with the above posts that I wouldn't even attempt this without drilling out the 2 rivets (on each side) and replacing them. Also, heat gun would probably be better than the hair dryer I used and the biggest pain was detaching the reflector and removing the adhesive.

Would highly recommend taping off the paint surrounding the reflector as I definitely scratched mine while trying to pry the old reflector out.