Has anyone tried to use a non cmbs grill on a cmbs equipped car? Just curious to see what the results were. The grill is terrible looking and I would love to figure out an alternative.

 

Shouldn't be an issue because the plastic shield is just that, a plastic shield. The only thing I can think of is clearance over the CMBS radar mounted in front of the radiator.

 

I don't think clearance is an issue. I am thinking about making a custom abs plastic box the keep the module out of the weather and use the standard grill. As far as I can see the only thing the cmbs grill does is keep the module out of the weather.

 

After seeing that no one else has tried this I am a little worried. I wonder since the emblem is molded plastic in the shape of the unit that it needs to be uniform and not have the random grill shapes in front of it to operate properly... I keep thinking there has to be more of a reason than keeping the weather off of the module.

 

Clearance is an issue. You would have to cut the inner side of the emblem holder so it wouldn't be blocked by the CMBS It can be done and I don't think would look butchy. In fact you wouldn't notice anything as the grill hides it all. I'll try to take pictures later on.

 

So you are saying you have or had this setup? Non-cmbs grill on cmbs?

 

No. What Im saying is it could probably be done without looking like a hack job. The only difference with the Grills is the back of the CMBS grill has more space to accommodate the CMBS unit. The other has less space and the CMBS will block the non CMBS grill. Look at #7 and #8 in the the picture.



There is something like that on the Non CMBS grill that needs to be removed or cut to make room for the CMBS unit. They are not visible from the front. Eliminate these and it will fit fine. Ya dig?!?

 

Right on. I just don't want to waste $300+ on something that won't work. Not only is making it fit a concern, but the fact that the cmbs emblem is only made of 2 solid pieces of plastic (3d embossed base and 3d UV cover) made me wonder if it would cause issue with the cmbs system using the standard grill.

 

Since I didn't feel real comfortable with buying a non-CMBS grill for $300 and cutting it all up, unknowing if it would work, I went with the next best thing. I had the emblem masked around the logo, then had both the grill and emblem painted gloss black. The OE setup just looks out of place IMO.

Here is stock:



Here is after it was painted:

 

I personally don't mind the shield, however that looks sharp!

 

That does look good! Does it affect the CMBS at all having it painted?

I'm going to need you to explain the process in a bit more detail. I like it so much I want to do it now.

 

It works the same as before. I ruined my last emblem trying to take it apart, so to test if paint affected the CMBS I painted the ruined one and it still worked. So, when I got the new emblem I had the outer edge of the Acura logo masked off so that it was not painted and once the outer part was painted had the whole emblem cleared. It turned out well.