Blacked Out Kidneys: Why?

[Fusion]

Oh and this

[M-technik-3]

In the eyes of the beholder. Used to like them on my Polaris Silver but looked silly on my Zinno.

[Fusion]

Because everything on my car is black and when the kidneys are chrome, it looks awkward.
If I had an early model, I'd leave em.

[Roysneon]

It's hit or miss, albeit mostly ends up as 'miss'. I tried it out for a while, but went back to chrome a while later.

[themoonman]

When i first picked up my car it actually had the blacked out kidneys and one of the first things i did was swap out for the chrome.
Looking back, i some what miss them. It didn't look too bad. I might have to test fit them with how my car looks now

[Jand3rson]

imo, if done correctly and tastefully it can make for a more aggressive look.

LOL, really? How do you do it correctly and tastefully?

They either black, or they ain't.

[F34R]

Bought my first e30 in 2003, I did not belong to any forum and blacked them out. Reason? I FUCKING LOATHE CHROME.

Chrome kidneys only look good on alpina and euro henna e30s with matching chrome bumpers.

[PootieTang]

i think it looks fine on e36's and newer, but on our cars, with the black grills, it just winds up looking cheap

[DisgustipatedAP1]

Blacked out kidneys looked perfect on my Delphin with carbon fiber hood. Very aggressive/mean.

[nickflic3]

I did mine because I like how it looks.

I had a goal from the minute I got mine to do a blacked out grill area. Works well with smoked head lights. Do (or don't in this case) as you like; all comes down to personal taste.

My own personal belief is that cars with non-smoked headlights and all euros should all have chrome kidneys

[Fourbanger]

Looks okay on an alpine:



And on schwarz if the car is done right, like the pics above. That said, I wouldn't ever black mine out.

[tcvd]

Stock kidneys > any color but black kidneys > black kidneys
The whole reason black kidneys look so horrible is that it just hides the kidneys and the kidneys are essential to the way the grill looks. It looks awkward with nothing breaking up the center. Looks like one of the old muscle car's grills like camaro or mustang. The twin center kidney grills are one of bmw's distinguishing traits. They look bad for the same reason black wheels and "blacking out" cars looks bad - because it takes away all contrast.

Alright that's my best way of explaining why it looks bad.

[VinniE30]

Stock kidneys > any color but black kidneys > black kidneys
The whole reason black kidneys look so horrible is that it just hides the kidneys and the kidneys are essential to the way the grill looks. It looks awkward with nothing breaking up the center. Looks like one of the old muscle car's grills like camaro or mustang. The twin center kidney grills are one of bmw's distinguishing traits. They look bad for the same reason black wheels and "blacking out" cars looks bad - because it takes away all contrast.

Alright that's my best way of explaining why it looks bad.

[e30trooper]

Body color kidneys are more rice than 688477896 blacked out kidneys combined.

truth

[Bimmerguy91]

I just like the way it looks. Some cars do look better with the chrome though