After seeing theweeb's picture I think I am staying with the stainless. It looks good on a dark color. I guess it's just a matter of preference. Some like blondes, some like brunettes, some like them all!

 

They do look great on those wheels.
I just remembered I have a set of those new growlers in red I bought for my XF. Maybe they'd look better on mine as well. I really kinda like the older growler on my black wheels though.

 

I, too, would love to get one of those license frames that hides under the bumper. Just seeing the look on the cop's face when he stops me for no front plate -- and voila! there it is -- would be worth the cost. But at least once a day I grind the nose on some slight incline, often my own driveway. The gizmo would probably be wrecked within 24 hours. I HATE how low the nose it, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

I have also changed my grille and badge and while I still love the look of mine, the top picture is striking and my vote goes for this design.

Mark

 

Mine too by a long way.

 

A little suggestion, if you paint the mesh black yourself, be sure to use a self etching primer first. Otherwise, you'll be forever touching up the black. It may still chip a bit but not nearly as easily.
Also, here's a pic of e side view of the new growler. It has a beveled back so when you snip off tabs and use 3m tape, it will have a cut back lip on the car. Very easy to pop off is some shady person wants it! I lost one first week. And the fact that it won't sit flush on the nose really bugged me.

And just a cautionary note, the newest new growler won't fit in the adamesh bezels. The growler with the black sunburst background.

 

Word of advice on those retractable plates. Look before you leap. Even the better ones do not last very long. Have bought two, thinking the first was a quality flaw. Not so, they do not last more than a few months and then the motors and the mechanisms tend to stick. They are fun for a while, but at $100 a clip, they are too expensive for their service life. And this was in an ideal climate!

 

I finished installing the adamesh grille. Decided to leave it stainless. Installing this one piece grille was quite a job on this 04 model year. About 8 hours including all the cleaning I did since it was apart.

Also installed the new badge while I had the bumper off. That took me a few hours but most of it was for fabricating the black bezel.

I am really happy with the new look.

Before:


After:






Badge Detail:

 

Ha ha!! I painted my bezel today too!! Hated it chrome.
I'll agree on your car that badge looks great on the nose. I just wanted mine to match my XF grille.

Bezel looks awesome!! How'd ya do it!! Also really like the chrome grille on red.
And you can always paint it if you ever get tired of it!!

 

Now, lets work on those side markers!! Clear!!!

 

I like the look - not as overpowering in the stainless as originally anticipated - nice job

 

Yours looks much better black. Nice work!

Because the nose is not completely flat under the badge, I used a polyurethane hydraulic seal and cut the center out of it. It has that smooth machined look with sharp edges but was soft enough to handle the bend and fill in the gap.

So the bezel is just stretched over and snapped around the mounted emblem. No need to glue it.

I thought it was a genius idea.

 

Yes, it looks awesome! Source? Part #? Cost?

 

Genius is right!!
We think alike. I'm always looking for unique ways to customize my car!! Outside the box is where I live.
I was brave and ripped off the leaper off the back of my XF and made a lit growler badge!

 

Badge lit!!
I hate my iPad flips my pics!!!!UGH!!

 

That looks freakin' awesome! I really like the fact that it is recessed into the nose, not bulging out like my factory mesh. I may have to do this mod...

 

Based on what I found under the bumper on mine, I think there is a reason for that bulging mesh. You will have to remove the two center protrusions to go flat mesh and that takes a while. The adamesh instructions said "cut the two plastic center supports". Yeah right. Mine were aluminum so I had to dremel off the rivet heads top and bottom in order to slide them off.

Pic before I removed the unwanted center supports.



if you don't remove the two center supports then you will end up with something like this. Grill is not recessed where it should be.

 

Emblem came from Welsh Enterprises About $27

Polyurethane "bezel" came from M&W Hydraulics in Tampa. It's an SKF seal. Part# FSU25-2.50-SQB. About $7 You'll also need a dremel to cut the center of the seal out.

 

I could not bring myself to mount the plate in the center, so used the lower holes for the upper part of the plate. I just did not want the plate to dominate that awesome mesh!

 

I'm soooo glad we don't have front plates in NC!!