Painted Reflectors- Front, Rear, or Both?

[NJDJ]

I was thinking about buying some color matched reflectors a d replacing the existing ones on my 2016 Carbon Black X5 50i. What is the consensus? Should I replace both fronts and rears or only the front ones? I fell pretty certain that replacing the fronts would be an improvement, but I am wondering if replacing the rears will look like something is missing. Can anybody share a picture of a dark colored X5 with the rears replaced? Thanks for your input!

[Googone20]

The front ones make a much larger impact to the look of the car. I personally like the look of both front and rear painted. Cleans the overall look of the car up. It looks way better. There are several cars on the forum with painted reflectors in the threads on here. This will give you an idea of what Carbon Black looks like with the fronts done. Much cleaner.

[NJDJ]

Originally Posted by Googone20

The front ones make a much larger impact to the look of the car. I personally like the look of both front and rear painted. Cleans the overall look of the car up. It looks way better. There are several cars on the forum with painted reflectors in the threads on here. This will give you an idea of what Carbon Black looks like with the fronts done. Much cleaner.

Thanks for those pictures! Could you possibly share a picture of the rear too? The front definitely looks nice! Also did you powder coat your rims? It looks like we have the same set up and I am thinking about doing the rims in black or gunmetal.

[MizikeTSK]

I opted to just have my front reflectors tinted to go with my other black accent parts (grill, roof rails/rack) and eventually rims. I did not want to color match front since outline of the color matched part stood out too much for me on a white car. Tinting might be a cheaper option since your car is already dark.

[NJDJ]

Originally Posted by MizikeTSK

I opted to just have my front reflectors tinted to go with my other black accent parts (grill, roof rails/rack) and eventually rims. I did not want to color match front since outline of the color matched part stood out too much for me on a white car. Tinting might be a cheaper option since your car is already dark.

How did you do the tint? Did you do it yourself or hire someone? Pictures?

[Googone20]

I actually don’t have the tears done yet, but I will be doing them very soon. My wheels are actually a OEM X5///M 612M wheels in the gloss black finish. They are 21x10 front, and 21x11.5 rear with Michelin Pilot Super Sports 285/35/21, and 325/30/21’s. The silver wheels in the bottom picture are my stock 19” wheels which I am running Blizzak’s on for the winter months.

[MizikeTSK]

Originally Posted by NJDJ

How did you do the tint? Did you do it yourself or hire someone? Pictures?

My cousin did them when he tinted my windows. You can find a pic in the Random X5 shot of the day thread should be within the last 2-3 pages of that thread.

[mrod81]

Here you go...
They match the bottom really well. Looks much better in person.

[NJDJ]

Originally Posted by mrod81

Here you go...
They match the bottom really well. Looks much better in person.

That looks great on your car! After a night to sleep on it, I was actually leaning towards not doing the rears because I think they may serve more of a purpose than the front reflectors. If you're parked at night there is no other light other than what's coming out of those reflectors if somebody's coming up behind you. At least with the side ones in the front you're typically going to have your lights on when somebody sees those. You will still be pretty darn visible. Additionally, your bumper is somewhat different than mine. I have the M sport bumper. I think the painted reflectors actually look better esthetically on your bumper than it might on mine. Mine just has these holes were the reflectors go and I think they might look empty or like something's missing if they were painted.

[Maverik259]

Just spray paint them. It's super easy to mask off and getting the fronts out is not worth the risk in potential damage and the cost imo. I bought the color matched fronts. And ended up scratching one pretty bad cuz there was just no way I could fit my hand and the trim piece in there from the rear under the fender without scraping it against the back side of the fender.

And don't get me started on having to remove all the old 2 sided tape that doesn't come off the inside of the bumper when you finally get the oem one out. I spent over 2 hours with a hook and flat blade and heat gun trying to get it all off so the new piece would sit flush.

A month later I did the rears cuz they just pop off and I cleaned them and sprayed them gloss black and they look perfect. If I could do it again I would saved $120 and just use the same black paint and adhesion promoter and taped off the bumper. Now with that said I have a carbon black car so going with black matches near perfect. White or other colors may not look great

[M302_imola]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

Just spray paint them. It's super easy to mask off and getting the fronts out is not worth the risk in potential damage and the cost imo. I bought the color matched fronts. And ended up scratching one pretty bad cuz there was just no way I could fit my hand and the trim piece in there from the rear under the fender without scraping it against the back side of the fender.

And don't get me started on having to remove all the old 2 sided tape that doesn't come off the inside of the bumper when you finally get the oem one out. I spent over 2 hours with a hook and flat blade and heat gun trying to get it all off so the new piece would sit flush.

A month later I did the rears cuz they just pop off and I cleaned them and sprayed them gloss black and they look perfect. If I could do it again I would saved $120 and just use the same black paint and adhesion promoter and taped off the bumper. Now with that said I have a carbon black car so going with black matches near perfect. White or other colors may not look great

You think the paint would stick to the reflectors? I inquired about getting mine painted when I had my fender flares painted and the bodyshop guy said the paint will not stick to them.

[Maverik259]

Originally Posted by M302_imola

You think the paint would stick to the reflectors? I inquired about getting mine painted when I had my fender flares painted and the bodyshop guy said the paint will not stick to them.

I used some bulldog adhesion promoter whenever I paint plastics. You could always sand them slightly. And then just a rattle can and some clear coat for protection. Going on 8 months I think. Full winter.

[M302_imola]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

I used some bulldog adhesion promoter whenever I paint plastics. You could always sand them slightly. And then just a rattle can and some clear coat for protection. Going on 8 months I think. Full winter.

That's good advice. You think this would work as well for the fender push pins? I installed body matched fender flares (mineral white) but push pins are black which I don't care for. Not sure how well the paint would hold up in the wheel well though.

[Maverik259]

Originally Posted by M302_imola

That's good advice. You think this would work as well for the fender push pins? I installed body matched fender flares (mineral white) but push pins are black which I don't care for. Not sure how well the paint would hold up in the wheel well though.

Don't see why not.