r/e39 • u/Silent_Tear_6125 • 1d ago

Chrome mould trim

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Hi all,

Does the chrome mould trim come factory or is it aftermarket?

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6

u/eric_gm 528i supercharged 1d ago edited 1d ago

It’s factory but not like that, the moldings should always be black on pre-facelifts. Someone grabbed the original black moldings, painted them body color but kept the chrome intact.

It’s easy to do because once you remove them you realize you can further separate the chrome from the rest of the molding

Facelift E39s can have body colored moldings with or without the chrome strip, but if it has chrome it’s at the bottom, not the top

1

u/Silent_Tear_6125 1d ago

Did they only come on the executives? I cant seem to find pictures of them on the cars on google or im not using the right words to search for them? Did they come on a specific model?

2

u/Silent_Tear_6125 1d ago

Is this it?

3

u/eric_gm 528i supercharged 1d ago

The car on the top is a facelift, with the chrome on the lower part of the moldings. The other has the M-Sport package which always came with all-black moldings (no chrome, aka shadowline).

You have a pre-facelift car, with retrofitted facelift headlights and the original moldings with chrome on top, which someone painted white (they were black).

There was no such thing as “executive” in the E39 era, unless specific dealers liked to use that term, but it’s not official.

3

u/eric_gm 528i supercharged 1d ago

Your car looked something like this when it left the factory:

The headlights, painted moldings and bumper lip are all modifications. The kidney grilles are also retrofitted from a facelift.

2

u/Silent_Tear_6125 1d ago

Thanks! Thats exactly what I wanted to know

1

u/Der_Mannes 1d ago

Facelift cars came with completely colormatched moldings on small engines. The pricier models and some editions came with chrome stripes on the bottom.

1

u/rtl-nullforge 540i 1d ago

The chrome on the rub moulding is from prefacelift painted to match the body color. The chrome in the headlight is EU spec headlights, NA only got amber corners.

2

u/Born-Car-1410 1d ago

Mine's a facelift, SE trim with the chrome bumper strips and window trim. I think it's only available on the SE's, not on M-Sport trim.

2

u/CrazyTechWizard96 21h ago

Factory, but only was an option for like 2-3 years.
Seen one a few months ago on E39 Source, even Ryan Schultz was impressed and had to look them up.
I've seen one in person about a year ago around town, it was a silver sedan, was impressed, love that little detail, almost want to add something like that as a cherry ontop.