hello everybody

[trkraus]

i recently acquired an 03 530i sterling gray metallic, i believe its called, off ebay and am making my first post in this lovely forum. apparently i cant post any pictures because I'm new heh

its really nice and I'm looking to put a couple cheap mods on it to make it look even nicer. I ordered a 530i logo in matte black to replace the chrome one from bimmian.com and want to order some black kidneys for the front to get rid of the chrome. Where is the best place to buy the new grill from? Bavauto, bimmian, eurodyne, ebay?
I am also considering replacing a couple of the interior lights with blue lights, maybe like the ones on the bottom of the doors, but honestly I don't have any experience modding cars so I don't want anything too hard. Also might want to replace the angel eyes with bright white.

Bought the car for $10,700, its 03 with premium package, sport package, no heated seats or xenon lights, and 85k miles.
What do you guys think of the deal? Also it was really close to home so we could pick it up and not pay to have it shipped.
Thanks in advance for any help!

[RJLupin]

Welcome to the forums

Congrats on the buy .. if the maintenance work is in order, it does sound like a good deal .. sterling gray ftw

Also, auto or manual?

[rrcompton]

Congrats....thats a pretty good deal considering its a '03. I bought my 01 530i Sport w/ 70K miles for $10.5K and that included TTL.

Id keep the OEM grill and just spray some plasti-dip on it, I wouldnt mess w/ aftermarket stuff. I used plasti-dip spray on my grill, it took about 10 mins to do + time to let it dry.

About blue interior lights, you can put LEDs in there. I put white SMD LEDs in my door puddle lights (bottom of the door panels). I got them from Superbrightleds.com. Ive used their LEDs bulbs in several of my vehicles, they are very good quality LEDs.

Anyway congrats again on your new ride!!

[apstewart]

FYI, if you upload pictures somewhere like imageshack, flickr, etc, you can post links to them. Maybe not inside the forum URL tags, but plain text like

http://www.forgiato.com/wheelindex/concavo.jpg

^ that. (Just an example URL I used in another thread ). I love Sterling and would love to see the car whenever you have a chance! Congratulations on the purchase.

[trkraus]

thanks everyone!
its automatic and black interior also

and i cant post images or URLs, so no pics for now *sad face because I can't use smileys either*

and I think I'd rather buy a new grill than spraypaint it tbh, it may be cheaper but it sounds messier and might not look as good? but idk

[Jason5driver]

Originally Posted by trkraus

thanks everyone!
its automatic and black interior also

and i cant post images or URLs, so no pics for now *sad face because I can't use smileys either*

and I think I'd rather buy a new grill than spraypaint it tbh, it may be cheaper but it sounds messier and might not look as good? but idk

+1!
Do NOT plasti-dip anything.
IMO, that it is cheap and tacky.
You have the right mind of thinking to buy the grill new as black.
Bimmian is a good place, as welll as Jo at www.Euro-Dyne.com .
You can get the lighting and grills from Jo.
You can also use www.PhotoBucket.com to host images.

Thanks!
Jason

[legitsnowe39]

Ive heard from many people just PM jo at eurodyne and hell get you basically anything you need for your car .

Anyways welcome to Bimmerforums glad to see you got a good deal

[trkraus]

heres the auction picture havnt gotten around to taking my own yet

h ttp://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w180/trkraus/00.jpg
(you have to remove the spaces between the h and ttp)

here are the prices for the blackout grill from places shipped
$69.90 @bavauto, $85.00 @bimmian, $46.68 @DDM, $50.00 @EuroDyne

go with Eurodyne?

[legitsnowe39]

I have nothing against DDM, i know them locally and they are very good guys. But go with eurodyne! Or whatever you want to, either one of them are good (whichevers cheaper shipped?). Bimmian's a ripoff, they sent me the wrong bulbs last time i ordered from them.

And here you go . Pic of Trkraus' new car. Looks good!

[zman]

I have the DDM grilles and can attest to the good quality.

Nice ride BTW!

[trkraus]

thanks for posting the pic!
and I just ordered the black kidneys from Euro Dyne for $50 shipped, should be a nice upgrade.
people seem to like both the DDM and Euro Dyne but i saw in another thread a few problems people were having with the DDM grills so I just went with Euro Dyne.

[legitsnowe39]

Those grills are going to look good, but i just noticed something, the lisence plate holder/frame/molding piece, it looks discolored? Maybe get a front lisence plate delete strip and get it painted correctly, or if your keeping it at least get it painted correctly? Other than that the car looks perfect!

[trkraus]

Originally Posted by legitsnowe39

Those grills are going to look good, but i just noticed something, the lisence plate holder/frame/molding piece, it looks discolored? Maybe get a front lisence plate delete strip and get it painted correctly, or if your keeping it at least get it painted correctly? Other than that the car looks perfect!

yea i recently noticed that as well, kinda pisssed cuz I saw it after I had already bought the car. It looks like part number 51 11 7 005 978 from bavauto, IDK why the previous owner got it.