Oh you have a 2012? Well you're sol then! JK, my phone auto corrected to that, I meant 09-12. Sorry

 

It's good to know I'm not the red headed step child of the f150 world.

Thanks.

 

That's the set I used. Was even careful and still ended up breaking clips.

 

Odd, when I did my grille the clips popped out with ease. Did you have the grilles bolts removed 1st?
.

 

Grille bolts and two support bolts were out. My surround seemed to be extremely tight. I swapped my dads out and it wasn't nearly as bad.

 

Hmm, when I took mine off I used the skinny wedge between the surround and hood with a sharp downward blow on the tool with my fist in one quick motion to the side of each clip. Were you prying with the tool? If so that might explain why yours broke.
.

 

It was a semi pry with the small nylon pry bar tool. I got the first two off then when I popped the 3rd it and the 4th tab broke at the same time. Not a big deal as the bolts are suffice to hold the grille in.

 

That was the easy part for me lol

 

Okay, I still don't see any explanation as how to separate the grille from the surround. Yes, removing the whole assembly is easy, but the rest?

 

There are a series of plastic clips that go around the surround that holds the center section it. Gently start prying them open and pull the center section out.