03 E500 Lower Bumper Grills
 

I'm doing my Spring wax job on my car and would like to remove the three lower black plastic grills on the front bumper to better clean and wax them.....maybe even re-paint them. Can someone let me know how to remove them.........I recall reading another post some time ago that these plastic pieces just snap in and out but I need someone to confirm before I try it. I also might think about buying a different style lower grill......saw some wire or mess ones in the AllMercedes.com catalog that might look good.

they should just pull out.
my car has the sport amg style bumpers so i have just 1 big grill at the bottom and it just pulls out.
as for painting them clean them with soap and water use a duplicolor prep wipe,use a scotch brite pad from the parts store to scuff it up good then go over it again with the prep wipe.
find the paint that best matches what the grills are now mine when like a satin so i used semi gloss black duplicolor but make shure you use there adheasion promoter first its like a clear primer so a few coats of that then paint.
if ya need more help pm me.

Great...........glad to find someone who's already refinished these type grills. By the way, I just started the job of painting my brake calipers and used the Duplicolor Silver spray paint and it worked well. My brake calipers are looking very nasty especially the bolts with the rust on them. I plan to post a thread on the process I used to clean and paint them with a photo. I've never participated in a car show before and I'm entering my car in the local chapter of the Mercedes Club of America Deutsche Marque Concours car show on May 3rd and that's forcing me to spruce my buggy up for the event.

Okay, I removed the grills yesterday.......the two sides ones came out easy but the center one was more difficult. I double checked the attachments by using my extension mirror to look behind the grill to confirm they were held in with the pressure clips. I used an "L" hex wrench to hook into the back of the grill to pull at the upper locations where the holding brackets are located......the bottom of the grills just have little tabs. So, you need to release the gills by pulling on the upper part of the grill, not the lower. I've posted a photo below that shows the backside of the grills so the brackets can be seen. Now comes the next step.....preparing the grills for painting and then spray painting them.

Here's a shot of the refinished grills after I cleaned them and applied three coats of Satin Black spray paint. I just now put them back on my car and they look great. Today it's completing the cleaning and silver spray painting of the rest of my brake calipers.