tehloxely

I'm talking about the entire center license plate piece.

SteveP66

Ok guys here is my updated link............ I love the new grill !!


https://acurazine.com/forums/showpos...0&postcount=62

darksom1

I saw that, and I cleaned up your "post" a little for you. You probably were in a hurry when you did it. Not to worry though. Don't even bother to thank me, it's what fellow grillers are for!

dj pensive

in regards to the chroming of the grills where are you guys getting the chrome done and can you guys give me a rough idea of the cost

Buda

iTrader: (1)

^-- Check out this thread https://acurazine.com/forums/ramblings-12/car-name-bashing-yours-here-i-know-mine-154510/

It talks about 2 different places people have tried having chroming done.

darksom1

DJ, PM both Buda and Brettallica for that info. They each did a part of it, but aren't allowed to post it here because of vendor restrictions.

SteveP66

But without you my Dark Wonder I would have a boring grill.......

Buda

iTrader: (1)

Umm, yeah. His ego doesn't need any more help.

darksom1

Hey! I resemble that remark!

SteveP66

Hey, well I had to throw the old dog a bone......LOL.

brettallica

Hey guys, it is with great pleasure that I'm able to re-contribute to this thread again in a way that is productive.

Behold, my new, matching chrome hood trim molding!

Before (hood trim molding from a 2007 TL-S; not a good match to my other custom chromed grill pieces):




After (this hood trim molding is custom chromed instead of OEM, and is a much better -- that is to say: perfect -- match):

Buda

iTrader: (1)

^-- oh yeah! That looks much better.

darksom1

Man, that looks fantastic! Beautiful! It's amazing with that type of chroming how the subtle changes are not so subtle when you look at them!

(sniff) I'm just really emotional right now for our grille crew...just give me a moment...we just do such wonderful work here...(blows nose)...ok, I'm ok now...

The more I see our cars transformed, the more I like it (the TL). I am happy that there are some more ideas out there that I could have turned to when I did mine if it didn't work out.

I wonder how the new grille design on the 4G will be...hmm...then it might be back to the drawing board for us fellas!

darksom1

Hey Steve, I think you should update your pics in the DIY grille thread once you get that last piece on.

SteveP66

Brett - that looks really sharp!! A much better match - why, I would also say perfect !!!

SteveP66

you got it.........

darksom1

SSTTTEEEVVVEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just noticed something, that I am sure is a mere oversight on your part, nevertheless...it has traumatized me greatly...

THERE IS NO MENTION OF THE DARKSIDE IN YOUR AVATAR!!!!

How about after bow to the Buda...we put..."friend of the Dark"??? Sounds like a winner...you may proceed!

darksom1

No AFTER you put it on! Sheesh!

SteveP66

MY INSPIRATION - What's next Brett?

chill_dog

Looks great Brett!

brettallica

Thanks for the comments, guys. It's funny how subtle the mismatch was originally, but then when you have "the right setup" to compare, it really looks a lot different.

Up next is rims. I've just about had it with grill mods (blasphemy!). Actually, I'm going to redo that rear license plate trim, but that won't be a serious or expensive deal.

After that, I think it might be time for the front A-spec lip. I might reconsider painting some portions of the grill once that's installed, but I'll have to judge whether I want to do that when that time comes. I'm in wheel mode right now, though.

Kennedy

iTrader: (2)

My grill parts leave for the Alex treatment today...

Speaking of writeups, can you get the center wing of the grill removed without taking off the bumper cover?

Buda

iTrader: (1)

I'll be sending some more items to alex this week or beginning of next week hopefully.

As for the grill wing, yes you can get it off without taking the bumper off. There are 5 hex head screws holding the plastic wing on. You can access them from underneath the car. You can either use a snub nose / offset phillips or a 7mm (i think) socket. I used the socket wrench. Here is an attempt at a mockup of the location of the holes (the x's)

---------------------------
\............................./
_--.x........x.......x.--
__ \......x.....x..../
____\ ............/
_____ --------

Just a piece of advice, either wear a long sleeve or get a hand towel and put over the plastic piece that will be in the way of your left arm. You'll see it. It scratched my forearm up pretty bad the first time I took off the wing. The two top corner screws can be access from the top if you take off the plastic cover. However I found that accessing those to from the top was more trouble than it was worth.

SteveP66

If I can do it without removing the bumper you can too......

I didn't have too much trouble at all - took me about an hour

Kennedy

iTrader: (2)

I gotta ask Steve, did you pull the bumper to remove the lower trim too?
I was getting all set to do that when I get my stuff back.

SteveP66

Me - take off the bumper???


Not at all - I actually got my hands in there and changed it all out with the bumper on and all from the top. I played push & pull with the V trim. Started on the bottom and worked my way up each side - pushing from the inside and pulling a little from the outside.

Probably easier with the bumper off but I'm a chicken!

Kennedy

iTrader: (2)

Sweet. Once you have the A-spec, you have to break the tape seam on the sides to get the bumper off. Once you do it, it never adheres the same.

Granted, it's been off 3 more times, I just hate doing it. Good news for me.

SteveP66

Yeah you would have to remove all the old tape and replace it - Once I decide on the lower grill mod I'll have to do something about my new lip. The front was simple so even if I end up taking it off for the lower grills I know I can handle it.

Buda

iTrader: (1)

Now why exactly does the lip have to be taken off? Is there something underneath blocking it or is it just to access the screws in the wheel well? That's what was said about the rear lip but I can get the rear bumper off without taking off the rear lip.

SteveP66

hummm, good point............maybe there are some screw or bolts under the lip the need to be removed?

Oh by the way - stay tuned - I have an enhancement to my lower grills coming soon to a thread near you!

The paint is drying....lol

And, no I didn't paint the lower grills......lol

Kennedy

iTrader: (2)

For the entire front bumber, it doesn't have to come completely off, but you have to pull the tape loose to get the edge to clear the fenderwell.

To get the grills out, they only come out from the back, and the lip mounts to lower recess interfering with the lower grills removal. You pretty much have to completely remove the lip to get the grills out. When I did mine I left it attached in teh center.

SteveP66

Ok, I have had enough of those door edge guards that go on the lower grills - and now with my chrome job the true chrome door edge guards won't match.

What do you think of this attempt?

I used 2 sets of the 07 TL/TLS trims......OEM they are too short to cover the grill so I had to do a little splicing together.

You can still see a little gap which I think I can fill - sand a little and touch up so that you wouldn't know they are two pieces.



Head on - not too bad .......






Here you can see the splice which I plan on doing a better cover up job on.



Ok, so what do you guys think?

It's only on with 3M tape right now......holding tight but could be removed if I can't get the splice completely masked over.

brettallica

I'm diggin' it. Which "trims" are those again? I mean, where on the car did those come from?

SteveP66

Those are the lower grill trims on the 07's......... I think if I get a little bondo tomorrow I can fill & sand that little gap. It doesn't look bad - but I know it's there.

I was going to paint them Aspec gray but I think the body color worked better.

Kennedy

iTrader: (2)

Wow Steve, that's really cool. Much better than our ghetto door edge trim.

Think I could do this mod and keep it the natural aluminum color yet splice them cleanly?

Wow... those things are $13 each. That's a $50 experiment there.

SteveP66

I think I got them for $10 each but I could be mistaken..........you could get by with using 3 of them if you wanted. (as long they sell them individually)

The only difference I can see so far is that the outer ends wouldn't have the "nice end" from the OEM trim. But I could see it working with a flat cut on the end.......

I would imagine you could splice them better than I did - although I have to say I didn't do a bad job at all.

It's not a clean easy cut but more a trial and error because there is a little angle to the splice cut. I'm going to try to get them a little cleaner over the weekend - the skies just opened up here and we are having thunderstorms!


I'm not sure about leaving them aluminum - I suppose if you could get the right cut it would work - I had to paint mine because I didn't have 2 of the same sets. I had one TL and one TLS.....

darksom1

Fortunately, the NBP already comes with this "mod"!

SteveP66

It does? How so?

sandiegodrive

Ok darksom,

Per your request I took some video of the lights after sundown.

I'll have it up in about 1 hour or so.

darksom1

That's my dawg! I'm staying up all night just so I can see.