So, went with the "typical" modification over the past two weekends. I know that people make jokes about this upgrade being the first thing to do, but honestly, I have not seen an X-Type in the DC area with both the upper and lower mesh installed.

All parts purchased from Mina (what excellent customer service, btw, I highly recommend them), though it was a Christmas present from a very wonderful girlfriend. First girl to ever get me something for my car, should probably marry this one.

Anyway, I've attached some somewhat hazy iphone camera pics for you future modifiers to compare the different looks.

Word to the wise, the upper conversion is quite easy to do alone. I modified the existing (old) insert with my Dremel and cut the plastic veins away. It was quite easy, actually. Took about an hour.

Different story for the bottom grill. I went over to a good friend's place because he's a bit more mechanically inclined than I am and, more importantly, he has way more toys than I do.

The grill kit does come with install instructions for both upper and lower, however, I believe in being as readily prepared for battle as I can be. I read through these forums trying to guage how others approached the lower grill. The whole trick is to get the plastic diffuser (or splitter) out from behind the bumper cover. People had done this one of two ways; taking off the bumper cover, or leave the bumper cover on and cut it away.

I decided not to take off my bumper cover. My diffuser/splitter was held in place by 4-5 rivets located at the top of the plastic piece. There is also a wire that leads to/from the fog lights that's held in place by the splitter. So be careful.

It took about two and a half hours to complete the lower grill. We took our time and made strategic cuts so that the splitter came out in 3-4 chunks. Once that's out, the lower mesh fit very snug into the opening (without being held in place by the screws). In fact, at first I thought it wasn't going to fit. That's how snug it fits, but it will fit. You just have to apply some pressure to fit it into the opening.

Finally, the grill's held into place by four brackets and six screws. My advice would be to have a partner help you with this part (one to hold the brackets in place and the other to insert the screws). We topped it off by putting a dab of black paint onto the screw heads. This made them all but invisible.

Overall, I really like the new look. Updates the car by a few years. Makes it sportier, yet still has an elegance. Nice, fun upgrade to do.

In the pics you'll see the old grill; a couple shots of just the upper installed; then a final shot with both upper and lower installed.

 

Nice Job and conversion!

I did the same on my wife's X-Type at her request.
We decided on a Black SS lower mesh instead of the shiny SS. We also decided on mounting the mesh in back-of the splitter. We tried it several ways and we didn’t like the "mesh only" looks, we went for subtle.

 

Looks much better and newer!