When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I'm talking about the central ones, upper and lower. On cars with the Black Pack option, are these plastic or metal? And are they actually black, or dark grey? Finally, is it a flat colour or does it have a metallic effect?
I am fairly certain they are direct replacements, but you can call Chris and ask him. I used a couple of the grills to fill the openings of the rear bumper/diffuser from F/X Designs because I did not like the black honeycombed plastic that was sent with the bumper.
Thread resurrection time. Anyone with the black pack grilles, how well do they resist stone chips? I ask because I got a set of grilles then primered them and painted them black then lacquered them and now they have a number of stone chips after about 2 months.
I can get a set of OEM black gloss grilles but they're pretty expensive for what they are, I don't want to go down that route unless I know they'll hold up properly to stone chips.
Thread resurrection time. Anyone with the black pack grilles, how well do they resist stone chips? I ask because I got a set of grilles then primered them and painted them black then lacquered them and now they have a number of stone chips after about 2 months.
I can get a set of OEM black gloss grilles but they're pretty expensive for what they are, I don't want to go down that route unless I know they'll hold up properly to stone chips.
I believe that the Jaguar Black Plastic grills are solid black and not painted. I don't have the black pack on my XKR but the stock grills are black plastic. I can't see any stone chips but even if there were you would not be able to see them .
I have the Mina black grilles on mine. They are great quality but a real production to get installed. Just a tip though, the stock grilles are maybe 10mm deep. The Mina ones are maybe 3mm deep. Not an issue except that you can see your car colour through the grille. What I did was to put some black wrap around the inside of the car past the grille so you couldnt see the silver any more. Looks great. No problem with stone chips, the coating seems to be plasticky though the mesh is metal.
Apropos another thread though, actually getting the grilles (and carbon bonnet vents) from Mina took forever with various issues. Chris was really nice and threw in some extra stuff, but given that you are in Scotland I thought to give you the heads up. You might be better getting someone in the US to pick them up and courier them to you.
This is what my car looks like with the Mina grilles and cf bonnet vents (and also referencing Powerhouse's thread, some wrap on the lights - sacre bleu!)
Last edited by BruceTheQuail; 04-11-2016 at 04:45 PM.
The Mina grilles used to go over the old ones but apparently you could see the old ones through the gaps so the new style replaces the old grilles. Mina say you can remove the old ones without taking the nose off the car but I was worried I'd break something (my skills stop at wrapping and some might say not even that) so I had a panel beater take the nose off and put them in. They said it was a bit of a production but it wasnt expensive.
If you have already painted your old grilles, you could probably put the Mina ones over the top, check it out with them.
The Mina carbon vents are pretty cheap and look great. I got them because I could never effectively wrap the OEM vents because of the shape. The side vents I wrapped in 3M carbon. That was easy peasy because of the shape. The headlights were a bit of a production to get right but I was happy with them. Wrapping gets much easier the more you do it, and it is quite addictive. My wife has fended me off wrapping more of the XE, but I managed to do the side sills (with her permission) and blacked out the middle of the front spoiler (which she either hasnt realised, or is ignoring). But I've been banned from wrapping the blades.
Last edited by BruceTheQuail; 04-11-2016 at 06:41 PM.
Yeah the Mina ones are a joke IMO. Definitely not worth the wait. I'll be selling a new set of black Mina grilles here soon if anyone wants em.
They look amazing I will say that, but the install is a freaking joke. So bad in fact I decided not to use the ones I just got (and waited 5 weeks to get) and I will be ordering the oem Jag black mesh ones.
I had Jaguars black wire grill installed on my XK when my silver plastic got sand blasted to death. That was in 2013 (i think) and they still look new today.
No comparison between the plastic look and the real wire mesh.
BTW anyone know if the wire grill from an '07 will swap with a 2010 XKR?