How To Replace BMW E46 Roundel Badges

This post doubles as a how to guide to replacing E46 BMW saloon bonnet, boot lid and wheel centre roundels / badges.

Skip to the how-to guide.

The roundels on my car were looking very sorry for themselves; cracked, faded and corroded, more than likely due to the lack of any kind of regular cleaning by previous owners. As a proud BMW driver, they needed freshening up to best show off the E46's timeless good looks.

For those who want to replace their E46's roundels, here are the sizes and genuine BMW part numbers you need and the tools required:

• 82mm for the bonnet / hood (P/N: 51148132375) 
• 74mm for the boot lid (P/N: 51148219237) 
• 68mm x 4 for the wheel centres (P/N: 36136783536)
• these fit the popular MV1 (style 72) and MV2 (style 135) wheels 
• Plastic trim pulling kit 
• Thin piece of plastic or card 

I sourced my roundels from eBay, the bonnet and boot lid roundels from one seller and the wheel centre caps from another. The former came to £22 posted, and the latter £11.98 posted, total spend £33.98.

The front and rear roundels are genuine BMW, but the wheel centres are pattern copies. They all arrived ok and appeared to be very good quality. I was cautious not to purchase some cheap stick on badges, which would more than likely look worse than my current ones after 5 minutes of being fitted.

Anyway, onto fitting them. The wheel centres were easy to fit, just pop the old ones out and push the new ones in. You can see in the image below how much fresher the new ones are in comparison.

How to guide

A word of warning, do not use any metal tools when removing trim parts from a painted surface, it is likely to badly scratch the paintwork.

The bonnet and boot lid roundels can be tricky to remove due to their fitment type, nevertheless with a little patience and tact you shouldn't have too much trouble. The process is the same for both the body mounted roundels, so for the purposes of this guide, I'll just show the removal of the bonnet roundel.


Step 1

The roundel sits down tight to the bonnet, using a bit of thin plastic, gradually slip it behind the badge by working it side to side.

Step 2

The thin plastic gives a safer surface to lever against, also if using plastic it gives enough leverage to pull the roundel away from the bonnet, such that you can insert the largest plastic trim pulling tool you have.

I had previously bought a full set of trim pulling tools in anticipation of replacing the speakers.

Step 3

Once the trim tool has sufficient 'bite' behind the roundel, start levering the roundel away from the bonnet. It's tough but eventually it pops off and will likely reveal an unsurprisingly gunky surface.

Whilst the roundel was removed, I cleaned up the area and added a layer of wax to help prevent future build up.

Finally, I fitted the new badges. It's pretty simple, they just press into place. Prior to fitting, I added a small blob of silicone sealant behind to help secure and keep them in place.

Before and After

 

Old vs New

The boot lid roundel wasn't as bad as the front, but why not have a fresh one?

Old vs New

Let me know what you think in the comments below and share any tricks or tips you've got for removing the roundels.