Have you swapped out the chrome fog-light trim pieces on your Denali?

[KMeloney]

I'm keeping my chrome-on-black theme on my Denali, but am considering replacing the chrome fog-light trim pieces with black ones. If you've installed black pieces, did you go with OEM ones, or aftermarket? And how easy is it to swap these piece out? (What's entailed?)

To be clear, I'm talking about the J-shaped pieces that go under the fogs, and not the "vented" pieces that the fogs sit into.

Thanks!

 

[Nevermind]

I replaced all chrome front end pieces on my 2021 SLT a few weeks back. I pulled the entire front bumper off because I was changing from chrome to the black Denali style grill and figured it was the only way to replace the grille, lower bumper panel and the two J-shaped pieces in one shot. While I was able to carefully remove and transfer the GMC Letters from the center of the grille without breaking any tabs I was not able to remove those j-shaped pieces without breaking the tabs on the backside of the trim...and that was trying to carefully remove them from the backside of the bumper assembly. If you're replacing them I'd think you would be ok to just pry them off and snap in the new ones. They just snapped in to 3 or 4 slots around the black fog lamp trim piece. I think those two J-shaped pieces are the only 2 pcs that can be replaced from the front without removing anything.

I did not go with OEM I sent with a full 7 pc gloss black set off eBay. Everything fit fine including the Denali camera mount which was included in the set. Looks great too.

 

[KMeloney]

Epic response. Thank you.

 

[23SummitDenali]

I also purchased an eBay 5-piece black front trim kit for my Denali. It included the grille, upper grille trim, lower fascia, and the 2 J-shaped fog light trim pieces that you’re asking about. The fog light trim pieces take about 2 minutes to swap. Trim removal tool or flat blade screwdriver to pop the old ones off. Just know that you’ll almost certainly break some tabs on the old ones so they won’t be reusable. Then the new black pieces snap straight in. Super easy.

 

[KMeloney]

I also purchased an eBay 5-piece black front trim kit for my Denali. It included the grille, upper grille trim, lower fascia, and the 2 J-shaped fog light trim pieces that you’re asking about. The fog light trim pieces take about 2 minutes to swap. Trim removal tool or flat blade screwdriver to pop the old ones off. Just know that you’ll almost certainly break some tabs on the old ones so they won’t be reusable. Then the new black pieces snap straight in. Super easy.

Oh, I'm sure I can remove them just fine by breaking all the tabs! LOL But, I was hoping to be able to remove them in such a way that they can go back on later.

Maybe I'll just buy new OEM chrome ones and then have at these with a pry tool.

 

[KMeloney]

I also purchased an eBay 5-piece black front trim kit for my Denali. It included the grille, upper grille trim, lower fascia, and the 2 J-shaped fog light trim pieces that you’re asking about. The fog light trim pieces take about 2 minutes to swap. Trim removal tool or flat blade screwdriver to pop the old ones off. Just know that you’ll almost certainly break some tabs on the old ones so they won’t be reusable. Then the new black pieces snap straight in. Super easy.

I've ordered some factory chrome replacement pieces to have on hand in the event I break tabs off the existing ones...

...But can you tell me whether I run the risk of breaking any retaining tabs off of the BUMPER COVER that these pieces mount to? At this point I'm goof with wrecking the existing trim pieces -- but I don't want to hurt any tabs that are connected to the cover that these pieces mount to.

 

[KMeloney]

Ok, my replacement factory chrome pieces have arrived. I'm no longer concerned with breaking tabs on those prices -- just about breaking tabs on the truck-side of things.

Can anyone confirm that the only tabs prone to break by prying off these trim pieces are on the trim pieces themselves (and NOT on the bumper cover or trucks-side parts)?

 

[23SummitDenali]

Confirmed from my experience. The only tabs that broke during my swap were on the chrome trim pieces. Nothing on the bumper cover was compromised. From memory, there really aren’t any tabs on the bumper cover itself. There are just slots that the tabs from the trim pieces click into. I think you’d have to royally wrench something up to do any damage to the bumper cover. Now that you have the new trim pieces in hand, just look at them closely to know exactly where the tabs are placed and which direction you’ll need to push/pull to pop the existing trim out.