When disassembling the front grille, I removed all 5 M10 nuts securing the black plastic frame, but the nearest the hood latch is steel and it won't come off. It is loose, I can spin it with a wrench, but it doesn't seem to want to come off. Any hints please?

 

U shouldn't have to be removing any steel nut. There should be 2 or 3 flat clips towards the top where the grill meets the hood on the inside and the front grill should pop right off. The clips should be directly above the top line of nuts that you removed.

 

For a 02 CLS?

 

Yeah, you're talking about the front grill attached to the hood right?

 

Sorry about the confusion, I was following SilverKnight's instructions. The first step is to remove the six bolts attaching the plastic frame, to the hood. The nuts are all plastic, except for the one by the hood latch, it is steel and it is a bitch to remove, I think a nut is welded on the other side and I can't remove it. It just keeps spinning and does not back off. I turned it many times. This seems like a lot of extra work. Please see this link:
Silver Knight's Instructions The nut I am referring to is the top row, in the middle.

Thanks a bunch for your help.

 

Sorry, try this link:

Silver Knight's Instructions.

 

That's weird cause all I did was remove all 6 plastic nuts(no metal nut) and pop the 2 clips and that was it. You shouldn't be removing any metal nut. Has your car ever been in an accident? There shouldn't be a metal nut holding the grill...just 6 plastic ones along with the 2 clips.

 

use magic, it always works

 

I got it guys, thanks for the help. The washer was rusted to the threads! Grille is on, I'll post pictures if I get a hold of a digicam. Thanks a lot for the views!!

 

can you do this to a lower center grill part? i did the upper one and i like it alot.

 

Sorry, haven't checked back in awhile. Um for the lower grille, I think it is much more difficult to mount...possibly having to remove the bumper.

Do a search on the forum and see what people think.

B

 

for the bottom one, get a Madza6 bottom grille, trim to fit. Sportier yet stock (got the idea from CharlesNguyen). Will have a thread for my car pics.