DIY: How to remove the front grills WITHOUT removing the bumper

So I had a grill with some bubbly chrome I wanted to replace. Did some searching and the common response is to remove the bumper. Really didn't want to do that if I could avoid it, so I looked at the replacement grill and noticed it's held-on with 7 clips. If I reached in the grill I could feel and get to all 7 clips, but with your fingers there's no way to get into the center of the clip to depress it.

Then it hit me, the radiator hose removal tool!




I got mine at a Big Lots, but you can get them at most automotive stores or Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/OTC-4521-Hose-...sim_sbs_auto_1

With a flashlight you can look in the grill to see where the clips are. Starting on the bottom 3 clips insert the tool and get it under the center of the tab:



Then, just angle the tool up and depress the center tab while gently pulling on the grill to remove that tab:



Once the bottom clips are released move to the top. Start with the clip nearest the center of the bumper and continue until you have the grill removed:



Here you can see the old grill at the top and the new grill on the bottom. Old grill had the chrome starting to bubble at the top left:



Now just push the new grill back-in and you're done!



Took all of about 10 minutes to replace. On a related note, if anyone needs a driver-side chrome grill with some slight bubbling let me know.

Here's the IMGUR gallery in case you want to see larger pictures:

http://imgur.com/a/8sfjl#2ZOSS

I've also attached the pictures in case IMGUR deletes them eventually.

WOW! Score! Thanks for writing this up!

Nice! Great job on figuring that out. I did the grill removal with a standard screwdriver and I can tell you I used every swear word in the book.

Thanks for the kind words. I've already snagged several good write-ups from here so it's nice to be able to give something back.

I had to wangle mine out with a table knife! Ha. This would've been handy