How to remove 2024 Silver Sahara Grille Insert

[GMX]

Wanting to remove the silver grille insert and paint it.
The blue painted surround is attached with some unusual rivets preventing the silver insert from being removed.
The rivets are black with three expanded petals inside holding the silver center shaft.
Don't want to break anything...asking here before attempting to drill them out or use a small dremel cut off wheel and replace with normal pop rivets.
Is anyone familiar with these unusual rivets and how to remove them?

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[Blues Fan 30]

This is why I just masked mine. It was a pita but then i wasn't worried about breaking or damaging anything or running into silly roadblocks along the way. That being said, I'm also interested to learn.

 

[GMX]

Doing some searching, I believe the rivets are tri bulb "exploding" rivets...
Tri Bulb Rivets (albanycountyfasteners.com) watch the video in the link
I was unfamiliar with these before now...
Should be able to drill them out and replace them...

 

[dwhee6756]

I wanted to do the same thing last October. But was unable to figure out how to remove the trim from the grill. The grill removal is a piece of cake but the trim is a royal PITA. I was going to try to paint with Plasti Dip using masking tape and ended up removing the PD since it didn’t have the sharp edges to “tear” correctly. I’ll be watching! Thanks

 

[GMX]

I dove into it yesterday.
It is not for the faint of heart! LOL
I hope this helps some others here...its a bit long and involved and I'll post pics, but having someone else video while I worked would have been better...

Grille removal from the vehicle is straightforward and there are youtube videos that cover it.
The front camera and its lens washer hose disconnect by squeezing a small metal clip on each.

The grille is made up of the outer painted (blue in my case) surrounds (4 pieces), silver painted headlight rings with attached 7 slot trim (in three separate sections) and finally a black plastic
"base"grille...

Several tiny 7mm screws must be removed. The front camera and bracket will fall out at that point, so don't drop those.
It took me about 2 hours to disassemble the pieces on my bench as I was trying to release and not break any of the numerous plastic tabs.

After carefully releasing almost all of the tabs, I discovered that there is one tab on each silver headlight surround that can not be released until the blue front surround is removed first.
So, I had to re-click all the numerous tabs back into place that I had just spent so much time releasing...sheesh.

The top edge of that blue surround is riveted to the black base, and those rivets must be drilled out to separate the blue from the black before much further disassembly.
So it would be best to start there first before doing anything else.

My only mistake was on the first drilled-out rivet...when I tried to cut off the inside of the drilled out rivet using a dremel and mini cut off wheel. DO NOT DO THIS.
The heat from the tool melted a small area of plastic surrounding the rivet head.
I will have to fill that area, (maybe using JB Plastic Weld) and redrill the hole or possibly use a small washer with the new rivet before re-assembly.

After that, I used side cutters and pliers to remove/tease out the remaining drilled out rivets with no issues. Then proceeded to remove the blue fascia from the black grille. The top of the black grille has a few nubs that fit into recesses in the blue, so use a plastic trim tool to pry them apart and then they separate with a pop

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[Blues Fan 30]

Holy eff...you're making me glad I actually spent the time and just masked kine off. @dwhee6756 pd can be done, it's just a tedious tape job. The end results are worth the effort though.

 

[GMX]

There is a rubber strip on top of the trim (partially seen in pic) which I removed using a dental pick to prise the little green plastic christmas tree "rivets" out without damaging them. That piece may or may not have to be removed, but I did so to make clearance when drilling out the rivets.

 

[GMX]

We Jeepers are a crazy bunch, aren't we? LOL

 

[Blues Fan 30]

We Jeepers are a crazy bunch, aren't we? LOL

Hey someone had to take the plunge at some point I guess just glad it wasn't me haha!

 

[mjg4xe]

If only they would just offer a black appearance package on the Saharas for all the silver trim and badges ?

 

[dwhee6756]

Wow, you guys are my heroes!! @Blues Fan 30 you have to be way better with painters tape than me!! Did you use paint or PD?

 

[Blues Fan 30]

Wow, you guys are my heroes!! @Blues Fan 30 you have to be way better with painters tape than me!! Did you use paint or PD?

I used plasti dip just in case because it does clean up easier for any possible/accidental overspray. Also just in case I ended up not liking it for whatever reason it makes it easy to reverse. I will say, doing the rounded parts SUUUUCKED! Just took a lot of patience. Also I recommend card stock vs regular paper to create the shield around as its more rigid.

 

[GMX]

Finally finished the grille.

Lightly scuffed the silver parts using 400 grit sand paper, followed by two coats of dupli color primer, three coats of color (wanted some contrast, so didn't go black) and three final coats of duplicolor clear.

I think it turned out very nicely and my wife likes it!

Had to wait for the special rivets to arrive from Amazon before I could reassemble everything.

Black Exploding Pop Rivets 3/16" Tri-Fold Medium Aluminum Head Steel Mandrel .040 - .354 Grip Range Fastener

The rivets are a good match for the original rivets.

I repaired the melted rivet hole using JB Weld Plastic repair stick and then drilled out the repair for the new rivet. That stuff worked well. It dries white, but the black rivet head completely covered the repair.

The camera and its tiny washer are held in place with screws and a plastic support that takes a minute to figure out. I've included pics of the connectors for anyone interested.

A smear of lithium grease on the Jeep frame holes allows the grille to clip back in easily.

Be sure to take pics as you go to note where all the little clips and screws go before disassembly...you may need them when it all goes back together several days later...I did.

Before:

After:

I also removed and painted the fog light trim rings using Mopar black paint for the hardtops.
If I get ambitious, I may remove the bumper and paint the tow hooks to match the grille.

 

[JPB777]

want to do the same on my sahara ,

what do you guys think of these ? cant find anyone that actually did it, curious how the headlight housing would work.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CPY6KJKJ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A1365LFSU0N8WD&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CPP49MMD/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=A2NWNX09SD5P2V&th=1

 

[JPB777]

Update received and installed today. Looks pretty good for cheap overlays. We’ll see how long they last

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