removing lower grill and side kidney grills?

[JayW]

How do you remove the side kidney grills to remove the lower center grill? I found a lower grill and wanting to fit it as it has the honeycomb face rather than the slat style which I don't particularly like.

[Pearls]

There is a tool in the tyre replacement kit for removing the fog surrounds, then all you need to do is pull out the plastic front grill. It will need quite a pull as they have lots of clips holding them in place.

[JayW]

Anyone?

[benjamin]

Hi, in your spare wheel section is a little tool which is a thin piece of looped steel with a sort of hook on the other end.

The hook end goes through a little hole in bottom of the kidney grill/fog surround, and you should be able to pull it towards you using the hook to pull the grill off. I find that pulling it towards the middle of the car aswel as towards you helps.

Hope this helps.

[JayW]

Thanks mate, i will take a look tomorrow

[JayW]

How hard is it to pull the middle grill out? Do I need any tools or just brute force?

[Norbreck21a]

Middle Grill is a PITA ( at least it was on the Wife's new Blue GT) !!!

It's held in place by a row of small plastic moulded clips top and bottom that when pushed into the bumper spread out on the backside (about 4 or 5 each side). So to remove, firstly you need to unclip the grill at either edge (left and right). These clips are easy to get to and unclip rather easily once you have removed the outer foglight grills. Once you have it release at each edge, pull forward and you will then see the first of the upper and lower clips referred to. If you reach behind the grill by putting you hand through the fog light grill aperture, you should be able to reach the first few on each side (top and bottom) and squeeze the clip together and pull forward, repeat as much as possible.

I found the middle ones were the hardest to reach (as my arm wasn't long enough), so eventually used a pair of 90° pliers to reach though the gap created by pulling the grill (where the clips had been released) forward and bending slightly. I was then just able able to get the pliers in to squeeze the remaining clips together and eventually the grill came out. Much scraping of knuckles and forearms but definitely doable. Just be careful you don't damage the slots moulded into the bumper panel itself where the grill clips push through. These "slots" in the bumper itself are quite near the edge so the plastic is quite thin, but also fairly pliable, so just be a little careful.

There is a reason why ElsaWin says you need to remove the bumper skin itself to remove the grill, but with care (and a little patience), it can be done without, as I proved

[JayW]

Took me 2 hours to remove the middle grill!!! Fml! Eventually managed to do it. I wedged a flat blade screwdriver in between the bumper and grill itself using abit of cloth to not damage the paintwork and just 1 by 1 unclipped the top notches. Took me 5 minutes after i figured that out lol.

The sides and bottom clips were a doddle to do, just the top bits were a nightmare.

New gti grill looks soooo much better , very happy with the result!