2nd Gen CX-5 Front Grille Replacement

[ruthrj]

Anybody replaced the grille on their second gen CX-5 and have some tips on replacement process? My car took a rock to the face last week and I’m fortunate it didn’t hit the emblem, paint, or bust straight through to the condenser.

The gloss black part for my Turbo goes for north of $500 on some websites, and my dealership wanted over $800 with tax. Nope! I found a gloss black with the chrome accent pieces on the bottom on eBay for $120ish shipped. I’ll toss the chrome as I’ll be able to reuse the gloss black and red turbo badge accents from the vehicle.

The aftermarket part looks ok. The glossy finish looks a little cruddy in spots but it’ll get the job done. What’s most frustrating is learning there are rivets that attach the top fascia to the grille. I was going to take a couple of hours this evening and replace it, but I don’t have a pop rivet tool. I’ll pick one up from Harbor Freight tomorrow before I take the bumper off the car.

 

[ruthrj]

I finished the replacement today. It went ok other than forgetting to move a couple small plastic parts from the old grill to the new one. I didn’t notice I forgot to reuse the plastic pieces that go between the top painted fascia and the headlights. I’m hoping there won’t be a whistle or wind noise on the highway, but there’s no way I was pulling the bumper off again and drilling out 8 brand new aluminum rivets at that point lol!

The painted parts are VERY soft. Be careful working with those. You have to be gentle flexing the tabs back to unlock the grill from them. They don’t really spring back into place either when popping the new grill in. Getting the top fascia off the grille was a bit of a head scratcher. Clipping the rivets off with wire cutters from the underside was easy enough. The trick to getting the fascia to unclip was to push a narrow non-marring trim removal tool between the grill and fascia at the tab points FROM THE FRONT. Trying to release tension on the tabs from the back was fruitless.

Oh, fun note. The red turbo badge is no different than the normal black badge you probably don’t even know is there on other models. The stock badge is literally a black badge painted red, it’s not a red piece of plastic.

The new grille looks great even though it’s a knock off ebay part. I’m really kicking myself for forgetting the two small plastic pieces between the headlights and top fascia but oh well. You have to be looking up at that spot from down low, and even then you’d have to know you messed up to realize a part should be there. Most important thing is the grille is functioning as a structural guard again. Another rock on that side and the condenser would be toast. My picture doesn’t show it, but the grill was absolutely shattered 6” outward in every direction from the missing chunk.